Sensible people, both in India and abroad, have begun to realize that Delhi is not interested in solving the Punjab problem. It never was. It has again reverted to the old policy of pre-variation that late Indira Gandhi had adopted, which proved disastrous for the country but brought rich dividends for the Congress (I). Delhi knows that the problem is essentially political and would not admit any solution other than political. But it insists on pursuing potentially dangerous police solution just to keep the pot boiling. To further confound the already hopeless situation, it has armed the police with draconian powers and so subverted the judicial processes as to reduce them to convenient instruments for ruthlessly implementing the policy of murder and suppression. It is being deliberately done to instigate a violent reaction which they know would surely widen the communal divide, and thus ensure electoral victories for the Congress (I).
Congress (I) rulers are more than conscious how dangerous communal harmony in Punjab and elsewhere can prove for its power base. It is a situation that they mortally dread because they see in it the clear reflection of their own doom. The day there is all quiet on the communal front, the economically downtrodden masses are bound to direct their anger against the corrupt and anti-people government of Rajiv Gandhi. To dissipate and divert the seething discontent, communal clashes are engineered by the Congress (I) functionaries who also misuse the official machinery for their nefarious ends.
It was Delhi that instigated Punjab Hindus to disown their mother tongue by projecting legitimate Sikh aspirations as seditious and antinational. Hindus all over India have come to suspect Sikh bona fides to such an extent that they have begun to behave as if the creation of Khalistan were not only inevitable but round the corner. It is this fear that prevents Punjab Hindus from supporting even such demands as the merger of Chandigarh with Punjab and its legal rights over the river waters and hydroelectric projects. They feel that once allocated to Punjab, these resources will be irretrievably lost to a “foreign” country.
It is not just a coincidence but a calculated design that the only clause of the defunct Rajiv Longowal accord that has been implemented relates to the digging of Sutlej Jamuna Link Canal which benefits Haryana at the cost of Punjab. And it is significant that not a single Hindu, whether in Punjab or outside, has shed even a crocodile tear over this gross injustice to Punjab.
Sikhs have come to be treated as enemies in their own land. Indian government is not fighting the militants among them as is being made out but the community as a whole. Militants have appeared on the scene only recently, whereas the Sikh problem dates back to the time immediately after independence when Jawahar Lal Nehru contemptuously dismissed promises made with the Sikhs by saying “circumstance have changed”, when Patel as Home Minter of India sent a confidential circular to the Deputy ‘Commissioners which described Sikhs as a “criminal tribe” who were to be made aware as to “who were the masters and who the slaves”.
Delhi felt no hesitation in allowing Laldenga to form a government even though he had been waging an open war for years together to establish an independent country. It forced Sri Lanka to hold dialogue with the Tamil guerrillas. Without any preconditions like laying down their arms. But dealing with Sikhs, its standards change. It is a game that Delhi cannot continue playing for long and hold the entire community in subjugation. Sikh alienation has reached a point of no return and no solution short of complete freedom (Puran Swaraj) will now be acceptable to the Sikhs} Wisdom: lies in= recognizing this reality and qi avoiding the unnecessary bloodshed.
Article extracted from this publication >> November 27, 1987
