The Punjab problem as seen by the Indian government is that of a rebellion in one of its colonies much as the British viewed the Quit India movement. All out efforts are being made to keep the valiant Sikhs suppressed. Their places of worship are routinely desecrated and have been demolished, their women have been humiliated and Sikh youth are slowly sought to be exterminated. Why else the vehement opposition to allowing Amnesty International into Punjab?

Ina recent effort to install a puppet state government, a ministry thrown out in 1987, to enforce direct central rule was sought to be revived through the courts. The judiciary in a rare moment of independence threw the case out. India shudders at the prospect of a free and fair election in Punjab. The result would not only bring Sikh nationalist leaders to the fore but also expose the horrible crimes being committed on the Sikhs. India has tried every repressive method and failed. It is in a total state of denial as it will realise in time that the problem did not lie in Punjab or with the Sikhs, it was in Delhi itself. So the more repression it tries will result in greater resistance to it. For the Sikhs it is not a matter of politics alone to demand freedom, Delhi through its terrible actions has made it a matter of faith. The alienation of the masses is complete and irreversible. The Sikhs will not tolerate any compromise on its demand for freedom.

The blindness and bankruptcy of the Indian leadership so soon after the country was formed after a long struggle with the British proves the hollowness of its foundations. The state terrorism in Punjab rather than solving the “problem” has led Kashmir and Assam to start their struggles for freedom from India.

Japan and Germany were literally in ruins around the time India got its independence. Today, India is in ruins. Japan and Germany are economic superpowers.

Even in its foreign policy India has been opportunistic and dishonest. It supplied chemicals to Iraq with which Saddam Hussein tried to hold the world to ransom. It also supplied the same chemicals to Iran while the Gulf ‘war was raging. Today, while there is a unsanctioned trade embargo and blockade of Iraq, India seeks to send in food to gain a few petty barrels of oil if and when this crisis blows over. India swallowed the tiny kingdom of Sikkim while it screamed of neo imperialism of the West. Recently it bullied Nepal into moving away from China, its northern neighbor. Its dubious role on the island of Sri Lanka did not solve anything but caused widespread death and destruction.

India has made a bed of thorns for itself. the world witnessed sweeping reforms and changes in the style and functioning of governments over the past few years. Totalitarian communism as a system of government was declared a failure in Russia. India did not draw any lessons. The state refuses of let go of an enfeebled people’s throat. It refuses to recognize that it is eventually killing itself. Deregulation, decentralization of power may have kept the diverse collection of peoples together.

All of Europe is coming together while India is falling apart, what is India doing to save itself from its inevitable fate? It is using guns.

Article extracted from this publication >> September 14, 1990