By Punjab Sikh Lawyers Council

Manuism has all along been thriving on the principle of “divide and rule”. Wherever direct exercise of power is not possible, this pernicious ancient Indian System has tried to govern through puppets.

‘A time tested device employed by Maunites has been to out rightly purchase leaders of minority communities, project these leaders through a media hype as “patriots” and swimmers of the “mainstream”. An effort has always been made to make minority communities leaderless by either purchasing their leaders or if that is not possible to liquidate these leaders. There is no need to illustrate these points because the Manuites tactics are too well known however, it is pertinent to cite from the recent Punjab history. First, an effort was made to buy over Sant Jarnail Singh Bhindrawale. When he refused to oblige, the Sant was liquidated. These elements succeeded in taming the other Sant namely Sant Harchand Singh Longowal.

The Operation Bluestar and the Rajiv Longowal accord are sides of the same dirty coin; the coin being the Manuite policies of repression and blackmail on the one hand and of purchasing leaders on the other. That precisely was the design behind the Operation and the Accord. This reality could not be hidden for long. The whole world is now aware of the Manuite strategy behind the Operation Bluestar and RajivLongowal accord.

Certain elements at one stage tried to defend the Operation. They took it as an incident rather than a neo-political approach on the part of Manuitesq. They were slow to grapple with the reality. Similarly, many people initially thought much of the RajivLongowal accord. The Accord was nothing but a unilateral announcement of victory over a minority.

A few Sikh A major misfortune of minorities, Dalits and regional accord.

The Panjab episode the Operation Bluestar and Rajiv Longowal accord must serve as a warning to all minorities and regional parties as well as democratic minded elements belonging to the major community. They must never allow themselves to be deceived by the Manuites. They must take a leaf out of the book of the Panjab. They must correctly understand the phenomenon: whether it is a Longowal in Panjab, a Farooq in Kashmir etc., it is a question of fishing out puppets to weaken minority

“Punjab is being used by the Manuites.as a laboratory to test the efficacy of their neo-imperialist, racist and hegemonies ideas.”

communities from within. A carefully nurtured public image of these minority leaders should not serve to overlook the reality.

Those who fought and maneuvered to win elections in Panjab on the basis of the RajivLongowal accord have been discarded by the Public in Panjab. They must not be allowed to stage a comeback on one platform or the other. They must first account for their misdeeds. These same very elements consider the public naive. They rely on the proverbial short memory of the public. They are angling for another accord after the fiasco of the first accord. Any such efforts by opportunists, neo rich and dishonest elements are bound to fail. Because of these choices before the Sikhs are limited, either to be running dogs of the Manuites and in the process lose their identity or to fight against this evil and defeat it before it became a curse for the entire South East Asia. Thus the Sikh struggle is not merely aimed at self-survival but, in its historical consequence, will prove to be liberator of the entire subcontinent from the pernicious designs of Manuism. Parties springs from the absence of control over means of education and information. The radio, the television and the print media directly or indirectly are controlled by the Manuites. Consequently the struggles and aspiration ‘of these sections of our population either doesn’t find expression or are inadequately covered. The national and international image of these sections is often distorted.

The voices of truth represented by tiny struggling newspapers belonging to minorities, Dalits and regional groups are often throttled. At present a dozen odd such small newspapers are facing wrath of the Maunites all over the country.

The strategy of the Manuites during the Emergency was to suppress democratic dissent “indiscriminately” This strategy underwent a change after 1980. The first to be picked up were Dalits and other groups for attacks. Severe, discriminatory laws against these groups have been framed. These laws are now liberally being used against all minority, Dalit and regional newspaper.

Most of the democratic minded intelligent belonging to the majority community failed to see these sinister games of the Manuites, did not protest in time against these assaults and watched as spectators all these years.

All democrats must understand that the main issue in Panjab is not terrorism. Terrorism is a byproduct of certain other phenomenon. The fact of the matter is that Panjab is being used by the Manuites as a laboratory to test the efficacy of their neo-imperialist, racist and hegemonies ideas. Before long these ideas are bound to be applied with or without modifications elsewhere not only within the country but in the entire South East Asia.

We call upon all minorities, Dalits, Regional groups and democratic minded national parties to wake up to these harsh realities and untidily meet the challenge from the Manuite revivalists, a typical Indian ancient form of fascism.

Manuism is the philosophy of the followers of Mannu. He was the man who gave the Hindus their laws which, amongst other things defame women, consider non Bhramins as untouchables, and advocate the conversion of all religions into Hinduism either by assimilation or at the point of a sword.

Article extracted from this publication >>  April 21, 1989