AMRITSAR: India on Thursday launched an election campaign billed as the solution to a decade Of Sikh insurgence in Punjab state after deploying 350,000 troops and police to guard candidate and voters.
But the plan ran afoul of most Sikh politicians, who announced a boycott. They claim the polls will be rigged and New Delhi will soon sack any independent minded state government, Their decision was partly influenced by militant groups battling to turn Punjab into a Sikh homeland to be called Khalistan — land of the Pure,
Sikhs form only two per cent of India’s 850 million people but are in a majority in Punjab. Most other Punjabis are Hindus, the community which dominates India and which Sikh militants accuse of discrimination against minorities. “Even an honest Hindu will not vote in these elections, said an activist for the election boycott movement, “He will also know that Punjab has been cheated.” Not so, said a Hindu cloth merchant in the town of Dhaliwal. “The right to vote is the only right we have in Punjab, “he said. “The Sikhs have a point. But I will vote. In the villages, bullets will rule. Here, in the town, some people will vote.” There was so far no sign of a campaign by the contestants — the Congress party which rules in New Delhi the opposition Bharatiya Janata party and. the Akali Dal (Kabul) the only. Sikh group defying the boycott call,
A political scientist at Amritsar’s guru Nanak Dev. University says the elections will be a turning point one way or another. “Electing a government which has no ethical validity can raise alienation to a Point where the undemocratic means of the militants spread among the people, “he said, “But the government can also create a situation where there is some hope of a return to normalcy. If it is allowed to function this government can at least make a modest beginning.”
Estimates are a maximum 20 per cent of Punjab’s 132 million voters will show up for the polls.
Article extracted from this publication >> February 28, 1992
