Jagmeet Singh Brar is a young Congress (I) rebel member of the Indian Parliament from Punjab. He is the son of Gurmeet Singh Brar who happened to be a leading Akali and former minister. Brar does not see eye to eye with chief minister Beant Singh. A few days ago he announced his charter of demands which includes assertion of Punjab’s rights to its river water. Brar’s demand is that all interstate agreements after 1955 should be scrapped and that the S.Y.L. canal should be dismantled. He has also raised a few other demands. He also announced his plan to organize a march to Amritsar and to start a morcha for the fulfillment of the demands. The march from Muktsar to Amritsar and the morcha are perfectly peaceful, legitimate democratic ways of agitation but the Punjab government banned the agitation and arrested hundreds of Brar’s supporters.
‘The episode is revealing. It clearly shows that the so called restoration of democracy in Punjabis force. Even a member of the ruling party cannot democratically agitate for any demands, Secondly, India’s puppet government in Punjab is ‘opposed to the state’s major demands and is averse to its interests. Otherwise there was no point in banning a march whose aim was to highlight an issue about which the people are greatly agitated. Thirdly, the Akalis are merely paying lip service to the public issues and are content to making meaningless noises. Whatever the immediate fate of Brar’s morcha, it will certainly have a long term effect on Punjab: the people are getting increasingly aware of their nights. The Akali groups cannot sweep under the carpet the all-important river water issue. It will have to be faced one day.
Article extracted from this publication >> November 4, 1994
