CHANDIGARH: India’s ambassador to the U.S.A., S.S. Ray, administered Punjab like a dictator and left behind a trail of terror, blood and tears. That is how most observers viewed his tenure in the state way back in 198689. Gurbir Singh who served for some time as general secretary of Punjab Pradesh Congress (I) Committee wrote a strongly worded letter to the President of India R. Venkataraman condemning the Ray rule in the state and likened him to Hitler.
“At home we have adopted the policy that state might is right, suspicion is proof, disputing official policy is anti-national and blind subservience is patriotism. This, in turn, has led to the philosophy that if to preserve peace the executive has to violate the law then so be it in the national interest,” Gurbir Singh had commented.
Gurbir Singh further stated in his letter that he had written to all members of Indian Parliament a letter regarding the grave implications of the 59th amendment to the Constitution which suspended citizens’ right to life and liberty. The police under governor Ray’s nose removed at least one batch of about 100 letters after these were posted at the Sector 22 post office controlled by the Indian government “If citizens of India cannot petition their M.P.s in a lawful manner then what future do we have for our democracy?,” he asked.
The News time, an Andhra based English daily, took notice of the existence of undercover vigilante groups organized by the then governor in the following terms: The exposure of the undercover vigilante groups indulging in killings of an S.S.P. and S.P. at Pauala by one such agent and the open disclosures by these sponsored killer gangs in the media clearly tar clearly tarnished the image of Ray’s government even as it sought to prove that the state itself is spreading lawlessness and creating extra constitutional forces in the society.”
The newspaper further wrote: “A balance sheet of Ray’s tenure on the law and order proves that 5000 persons including suspected militants were killed during the 32 months of his rule even as 10,000 persons, mostly Sikhs, were put behind bars.
The various black laws enacted by the central government especially for Punjab were widely misused by the police and the administration under Ray’s rule to curb all dissent even as politicians, journalists, doctors, trade union leaders etc. were incarcerated by invoking the provisions of the now notorious National Security Act.”
“Instead of roses and smiles Ray wished for Punjabis, he left for them a legacy of thoms and tears. And there is no love lost between Ray and the Punjabis particularly the Sikhs, The man had been responsible for the demise of all political parties and established democratic institutions in Punjab during his 32 month long tenure as administrator, He who did not know even the language of the masses in Punjab ran the State in such a manner as to give the worst of bureaucracy to the people and offer the security forces the image of the “occupation force.”
Ray’s closeness to Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi is too well known to be recounted. Author and journalist Kuldip Nayar in his book, The Judgment, gives clear account of how Ray was at Mrs. Gandhi’s side to advise her on how to evade the Allahbad high court judgment setting aside her election as M.P. Even on the eve of Emergency in 1975, Ray played a role in advising her to impose severe laws to run the country and not to make India a soft, democratic state,
He was later rewarded by making him governor of Punjab where Ray sanctioned large scale killings of Sikh youths in fake encounters with security forces.
Article extracted from this publication >> February 5, 1993
