Simranjit Singh Mann MP
President Shrimoni Akali Dal
22/4/90
Raja Vishwanath Pratap Singh
Prime Minister
New Delhi
My dear Raja Sahib
Waheguru Ji Ka Khalsa
Waheguru Ji Ki Fateh
Your ascent to the exalted office of Prime Minister brought hope that an era of value based politics and respect for democratic Institutions had dawned in the Indian sub-continent.
Therefore, your visit to Amritsar in December was greeted with great warmth by the people of Punjab. In contrast, your recent journey to pay homage to the martyrs of Jallianwallan was memorable only for its noticeable public indifference. Why has hope turned into despair in only four months?
If you recollect, in Ludhiana I requested you to overhaul the Punjab administration. Normally for political parties not shouldering the burden of office, it is of little consequence who runs the civil and police administration.
However, when the administration is a symbol of misrule, corruption, moral turpitude and grave human rights abuses, silence amounts to complicity specially for the President of the Party which won the Lok Sabha elections in Punjab.
Therefore, your retention of this repressive and venal machinery is a total endorsement of the disastrous and hated policies of your predecessor. I cannot believe that a man of your convictions and responsibilities would readily adopt a policy which keeps alive unrest and human suffering in and around Punjab. I am forced to conclude that you are a victim of council by such advisors who have vested interest in the perpetuation of the President’s rule in Punjab with all its evil consequences.
I will send a separate note on these advisors. For the present let it suffice to say that they include some anti-Sikh and anti-Punjab opinion makers of Jallandhar who represent the forces that caused the partition of India, reorganized the present Punjab on communal basis and have kept North India burning. They are aided by leaders of political parties with no chance of entering the Punjab Legislature through elections let alone forming a Government. This alliance is cemented by a nexus of Comrade Surjeet. From 1942 to the present day, event wise, I will inform you of the treachery of the Comrade against the people and country of India. A power broker for successive union Governments, money bags and such Government servants most guilty of violence and corruption in Punjab. The Comrade’s heart is in Moscow but in body he keeps your company.
In addition, you are represented by a Governor of slow reflexes and insensitivity to public feelings. All this has placed you in a false and unenviable public position. Your case is that the timing of elections in Punjab depend on peace which is being disturbed by Pakistan. In other words an elected Government in Punjab is not a constitutional right but depends on Pakistan. Taking this argument to a logical conclusion, Punjabis are being told that restoration of democratic rights and relief from an oppressive state machinery is not the responsibility of their own Government but depends on the good will of Pakistan. Surely, this could not have been your intention when you opted for the status quo in Punjab.
Whatever your policy, the fact is that governance of Punjab and the protection of its interests is no longer a right of the people but rests in the hands of power brokers, corrupt business, officials committed to self-aggrandizement and India’s relations with other nations. This has only strengthened the demand and reinforced my conviction that Punjab must have autonomy. Any referendum on this subject will prove me right. This is the best solution for peace and national unity.
I must caution you that suppression of democracy and human rights by the use of force can only have grave results. Already, the detention of thousands of citizens without trial, brutal torture and termination of life by fake encounters has only provoked defiance and resistance by the law abiding citizens. Moreover, the creation of a police state by suspending constitutional safeguards can only be viewed with revulsion both by posterity and the community of nations whose opinions we profess to value.
If however, the Indian state with its declared ‘ might’ feels powerless to hold free and fair elections in Punjab, how will we silence the demand that the Government seek assistance of the U.N. for this purpose as was done in Namibia. Instead of standing on false prestige and functioning in constant fear, the Government should restore the democratic process so that the Punjabis can feel some ‘glow of freedom’ promised by our first Prime Minister. Restoration of rule of law, Civil Liberties, respect for human rights, democratic and constitutional order must take precedence over rule through brutal force and whims of an unelected Governor, his Advisors, Secretaries and a Police Chief.
With kind regards.
Yours sincerely
Simranjit Singh Mann
