Simranjit Singh Mann MP
President Shriomani Akali Dal
Mr Speaker, Honourable Members
Waheguru Ji Ka Khalsa
Waheguru Ji Ki Fateh
More than three centuries ago the ninth Sikh Guru, Guru Teg Bahadur came to the walled precincts of Delhi in a symbolic protest against tyranny and repression. He laid down his life in the defense of an idea – that human beings must have freedom of human dignity and religion. In historic irony, the followers of that Guru are today petitioning this nation to cease this tyranny and oppression in Punjab and give peace and democracy a chance.
I appeal to the conscience of the Indian nation to get out of their mind-set on the Punjab situation. We are standing today at the crossroads of history. In the balance are the concepts of democracy, federalism and secularism. Any breach of these principles is bound to colour the thinking of the Sikhs.
I firmly believe, Sir, that peace can be restored in Punjab today, but only by escalating the democratic process, not by stifling it. Allow me to remind you that at the time of the state assembly elections in 1985 and the Lok Sabha elections in 1989 when restoration of democracy was debated, violence escalated, but when elections were announced it subsided.
You Mr Speaker should be aware that those vested interests who are beneficiaries of the present system in Punjab are naturally unwilling to allow democracy to return.
The Lok Sabha elections in Punjab broke a new dawn and raised hopes of a fresh approach to the Punjab problem. Unfortunately, ever since the unprecedented success of the Akali Dal (Mann) – concerted attack has been launched by amongst others fascist and fundamentalist parties to debase the success of my party by the untenable argument that our victory was at the point of the gun.
If so, may I ask, how did Mrs Bhinder, a member of the Congress (I) win from Gurdaspur area deeply affected by violence. Or has Mr I.K. Gujral, the Honible Foreign Minister of India also won by a rigged election as he was supported by the same electorate as the rest of us. In that case Mr Gujral in all conscience should have resigned from Parliament. By the same yardstick as over 80 lives were lost in the Bihar elections, and history sheeters declared elected to the Vidhan Sabha, should we not consider the elections there as having been rendered null and void.
No, not this alone. It is now said that if elections are held to the Punjab Assembly the gun shall again call the shots. Can the Indian Union not ensure free and fair elections after years of repression in Punjab? If not, this argument leads to the conclusion that the elections can never be held in Punjab, or for that matter in the Mehems or the Amethis of this country. And Punjab is thus rendered a colony of India to be ruled by force, and to maintain which, this august House, would even distort the Indian constitution to the point of squeezing out its life and spirit. Would it not be legitimate for the Sikhs to ask, is this what freedom from British rule was all about? Or shall this House today show to the nation, to the people of Punjab that foreign powers, mercenaries, smugglers and brigands will not be allowed to perpetuate their nexus with the corrupt government officials involved as they are in a symbiotic embrace, gnawing away at the soul of Punjab. I say this on the basis of my personal experience, when in Bhatinda I and my comrades were following the Gandhian path of civil protest, the police force not only broke up the assembly by force, but seized the weapons of my security guards from the boot of my car and fired shots from them to prove that it is we who had been resorting to arms. These tactics remind one of the worst tactics that any fascist government could have ever used. It is because of this, Mr Prime Minister, that we have been asking for a change of administration ever since my release. It is sad to say
that this demand has gone unheeded. I had also warned that violence will escalate as the demand for restoration of democracy mounts and the period of current president’s Rule nears its end.
What was needed was for this government to bring in a set of officers known for their principles and secularism, to break the nexus between police and crime, to reach out to the Punjabis. If you had done this, the people of Punjab would have co-operated in every way to bring peace in the State. Unfortunately these words of caution have also gone unheeded. This government led by you Mr Prime Minister, though well meaning, stands today frozen, unable to catch the fleeting moment, which has all but slipped sway. Instead you are succumbing to the pressure of certain political parties who are asking for more police action, arms for their supporters and suspension of democracy. I promise you, what you will get in return will be temporary slowing down of violence, increased alienation of the youth and finally, resurgence of violence with greater vigour. Can we not learn from past experience and let the logic of politics prevail. And then we talk of national consensus. There is already a national consensus for the violence to end, democracy to be restored and a beginning of peace in Punjab. There can never be national consensus if political parties of all hues and shades, most with no stakes in Punjab have to site together to formulate a consensus, because then it breaks down into partisan haggling. I appeal once again, that do not extinguish democracy for a freedom loving people. Let me remind you, that the argument of danger to the integrity and unity of India is an old and hackneyed one. It was an argument used in 1975, to scuttle the democratic process in the whole country with the declaration of emergency and subvert the Indian constitution. My senior colleagues sitting here, ranging from Mr Advani to Mr Dandavate to Mr George Fernandes and many ‘others, who at that time protested against the same argument and were locked up for that.
How can your conscience allow you to resurrect the very same argument against Punjab today. Or let me ask you once again! are you going to impose an emergency in Haryana after what has happened in Mahen. For the same drama will be repeated wherever the elections are held. I would like to believe that you are all honorable persons and would not like to be condemned by history as people with double standards. Great leaders are guided by principles, and not temporary expediency. Let me remind you that during the American Civil War where there were hundreds of thousands of causalities President Lincoln ordered and held national elections.
I also hear another argument being advanced, that let elections in Punjab be postponed as it would cut Mr Mann down to size, it would give the so-called moderate leadership a chance to reassert. Mr Speaker you are well aware that the leader is elected by the voter and not imposed from Delhi. Let me assure you that you can postpone elections as long as you want, but when they are finally held, the people of Punjab will once again come out and vote only for those leaders whom they consider as truly representing their interests, and not those, who in the past, on one pretext or another, have betrayed the Sikh Panth and Punjab. Mann is only a symbol of Punjab’s aspirations. Mann the man is dispensable, Mann the symbol will burgeon ever more. The past Congress Government carried out unabated repression on the people of Punjab but towards the end of their term they were forced to realize that the bullet is not the answer. I am sure that within a short period of time the forces that are ranged against us will also realize that police repression, the denial of constitutional rights and the terror of the State will boomerang. But then it might be too late.
I have a vision for Punjab and a sense of destiny. If not I, someone else, will implement it one day. It is a vision of a land where there shall be prosperity, where there shall be justice and
equality, where the dishonest shall be punished and Truth prevail. It shall be a land where people shall come from far and wide to live and to be protected. I want this land to be in India. By treating us as you are, you are already increasing the chasm between us. Posterity shall judge us all. If this amendment is passed, you push Punjab a step away from you. We can be won over by love and understanding, justice and equity. But our collective subconscious and our historical legacy compels us to rebel if there is democratic bull-dozing by a brute majority. The lessons of this are for other minorities to see. With this I leave the decision in your hands.
Sat Sri Akal
29/3/90
