We publish bereunder an enlightening Dissertation on the Sikh situation visas-a-vis the Congress (I) Government by a Legal Luminary, Let the State and Sikhs, in India and abroad, take cognizance of it for introspctioa.
I have not served the Sikhs, I have served myself because I am Sikh. I am a Sikh though I do not took one, Being Sikh, I see no al or moral conflict of any kind in being at the same time a Hindu, I am a Hindu and a Sikh. I do sot conflict.
I cannot ever pretend that half of m: Sikh and half of me is Hindu. Every cell in my body, every blood corpuscle in my body, is both Hindu and Sikh at the same time. I have tried to look at the problems as a selfish Sikh would look at them. Being a selfish Sikhs, I do not do any injury to any Hindu, to re the interest of both are so totally convergent that a selfish Sikh cannot harm a selfish Hindu and vice versa,
My standing in the polities of India is well known, I am a strong and merciless critic of the Government that was and is, I had believed long before my Sikh friends realized it that the Government was in the hands of the most corrupt and the most incompetent, I have been saying it for almost the last two decades. It is only that my Sikh friends did not believe it. They are beginning to believe when the consequences of that corruption ¢ incompetence are on their bead, I hive many political battles to Sight with the Government. I have presumed to tender advice to the Government in the hope that the most insensitive of governments are occasionally sensitive to public opinion and good advice. That good advice has so fallen on deaf ears.
If you ask me to tell you how much hope there is of our solving the current problems. I must tell you very honestly that the present Prime Minister’s antecedents and his known accomplishments inspire no confidence. When Mrs Gandhi died, I was approached by a Press correspondent to record my reaction. It is a tradition of India that when a person dies, we do not speak ill of the dead and we forget all that person did.
I am not one of those who subscribe to this tradition or fallow it. I was a very strong critic of Mrs Gandhi while she lived. I bad said in no unmistakable terms that she was leading the country cowards disaster. And when she died, I could not overnight change my opinion, almost every other pol in the country did. Pressed to make a statement, all that the press could get out of me was that “in a democracy, we do not remove political leaders by assassination, I am sorry that she died the way she did. But the country will require at least 25 years recovering from the damage which she has caused to the country.”
This statement of mine was not liked. It has been used again and again against me. Tam proud to say that, I have adhered to truth even in the midst of tragedy and that perhaps is the true test of one emolument to truth. I have made no secret of the fact that even in dying Mrs Gandhi di¢ the greatest. damage to the country. She left the country in charge of a person whom I do not consider qualified to be India’s Prime Minister. But ray saying so is neither here nor there. He has made his way to that position by the democratic process.
It is true that the Opposition was splintered It had fractured look but it is no part of the ruling party’s business to give the country an Opposition or to repair its fractures, The opposition could not repair itself. It deserved to go under and it did go under very deservedly.
The democratic process whether we like it cornet has affirmed this man as the leader. If the problems of the country have to be solved, they have got to be solved with this man as the Prime Minister and you cannot fly in the face of reality and just say; “I refuse to look at aim and refuse to admit that he exists.” He exists and he is very much there, I pray for him. I want him to be a success, in that sense, Lam different from all Opposition politicians in a way, because for the sake of India, want the Prime Minister to succeed. Therefore, I pray for him, however incredible it may sound to some ears. I hope he will have the wisdom, the statesmanship and access sources of energy which he conceaiedir all of to be able to rise to the occasion and to grapple with the country’s problems.
The Sikhs living abroad have the advantage of, being at a great distance from India geographically. And, when one is at a great distance, ode has the advantage of seeing things in proper perspective. Nearness sharpens perception of detail, but it does not add to the breadth of the perspective. Then they function in a political set-up in which they have perfect freedom of ex precision and action, Whereas, I do not wish co under estimate these advantages, let me make it clear that they can be dangerous too. What they perceive is what is conveyed by transmission through the media and “through a large number of carriers of news. Reality has the habit of getting distorted when it travels and the greater the number of persons through whom it is conveyed to the final recipient, the greater is the degree of its distortion. I shall not raince matters. I shall take the risk of truth depressing the people living abroad. It is my duty to warn them that the long distance that exists between them 2nd the seat of the problem has a tendency to make them irresponsible in thought, utterance and action. The Government, after the ignominious Blue Star Operation of June 1984, published a White Paper. White Papers are published for the purpose of suppressing black truths. The Government was putting across an excuse and a justification for having attacked the Golden Temple. I do not know how many of the Sikhs living abroad have read that White Paper. I suggest that none of ‘them has the right to form any opinion and to arrive at conclusions unit’! They have studied the document. I am a lawyer. My training as a lawyer teaches me that I cannot practice my professes unless {have listened carefully to the arguments of adversary. How many of them have L the carc.to order a copy of the White Paver, study it from cover to cover, line to line? 1 suggest shat their judgments are geometer, their judgments are ill-informed and their deliberations lack the necessary data on which informed judgments must rest.
The Government in its White Paper to justify what they did in the Golden Temple, relied not on the actions of the Sikhs in India because they could not, but they relied on the actions of the Sikhs abroad. The Government White Paper admits that never, never, never did the Akali Dal or the Sikhs Present a demand which could be considered as a secessionist demand. In other words, the Sikh community in India has be a acquitted by their worst enemy of the charge of being secessionist. The Government White Paper publishes the original 43 demands of the Akali Dal. Not one of those 43 demands has the remotest possible reference to secession partition of India. Unlike the demands of the Muslim League in pre-Partition times which went on increasing as they were met and with the Muslim League the Congress Government is in alliance today the Akali Dal reduced their demands from 43to 15. Not one of those 15 demands, even by torturing the English language, can be made remotely to insinuate a demand for petition, a separate State for the Khalsa.
The Sikhs presented demands which were in no sense Sikh demands. It was childish of them to have presented these demands as ‘Sikh demands” Sikhs are naive; they are innocent. Believe me, they do not know Politics. Let me pay them a compliment: They are too pure for the impure politics of India.”
One of the Akali demands was that India’s political life should be purged of corruption. Now, how is it a Sikh demand, may I ask? It is the trade unions, the Labour movements and everybody who is in the labour force who should be asking for fair wags for labour. Why have Sikhs taken upon themselves the demand for fair wages for labour as a Sikh demand? I do not know. That shows their innocence, their jack of political guile and perhaps to some extent their lack of political leadership.
These demands were reduced from 43 to 15 and could have been reduced from 15 to three, and even when they are reduced to I do not think there is still a Sikh d among the three.
I met Sant Longowalji some time ago, I talked to him on May 2, 1963, in the Golden Temple. After I had met him, I went and met Sant Bhindranwaleji in the adjoining part of the Golden Temple compound. I had a long chat with both of them. Sant Bhindranwaleji recorded whose conversation with him on tape recorder and I understand on good authority.
I asked them both: what do you want? What Sant Longowalji sud, J recorded the Next morning in the form of a letter to the President of my party. But even before, I called a press conference right outside the Sant’s room and said, ‘this is what the Sant is saying,” The Sant heard what I said to the press and he confirmed exactly what I had produced as a’ summary und gist of the conversation. He said three things to me: “Tome Hindu-Sikh unity is an article of faith, I do ‘not believe that India can be defended without Hindu-Sikh unity. Without a secure, united and strong Punjab, India is not defensible. If Indian goes down, both Hindus and Sikhs will go down with it,” The second thing he wild me was that, “we are prepared to sacrifice our lives, if necessary for achievement of some of our demands. But use of violence and taking of innocent lives for the purpose of achievement of any political demand is inconsistent with the Sikh faith.” And third, he said: “there shall be Ro Sikh demand which shall not be within the parameters of India’s Constitution.” In other words, at least on May 2, 1983, from, Sant – Longowal, I had a clear repudiation of any possible demand for the Partition of the country.
Then, I went to Sant Bhindranwale and asked him: what about your attitude? His reply was slightly different but very interesting; I do not know how many of the Sikhs have had the Opportunity of talking to Sant Bhindranwale while he lived. To my mind, intellectually he was more alive, more clever, more witty, more humorous, more incapable of being imposed upon, I asked him: “what 0 you think 2” He said: “Khalistan had been offered to us once. We rejected it, this time,’ if people throw it in our lap, we will not throw it out.” I am giving the exact translation of the words which were used by him in his inimitable Panjabi. In other words, even he said. “We will be reluctant recipients of this gift if you want to make it to us. If you put that gift in front of us, we will not spurn it as we did once before.” He was not for it. Those who swear by Sant Bhindranwale will please recall that was not the demand of ever Sant Bhindranwale, Sikh history suppose this attitude. Whether there are differences between Hinduism and Sikhism, whether Sikhism is a part of Hinduism or not all you leave controversies side! One thing is clear; that Sikhism vas born to protect Hinduism. If Sikhism was born to protect what Hinduism stood for, then surely there could not have been any serious conflict or divergence, there may be reforms, there may be improvements because Hinduism means thousand things to thousand kinds of people, Sikhism could have concentrated on a particular set of doctrines which it considered more important, essential and pure. But Sikhs were born to Protect the Hindus, there must be something wrong somewhere (hat today there is a feeling of distrust, a feeling of lack of oneness between the to, who has brought it about?
Everybody knows it and I shall not, there- fore, talk about it,
In 1947 came a supreme opportunity for the Sikhs to claim a State of their own. How many of the Sikhs have taken the trouble to read the Transfer of Power documents? All the volumes are now available; the documents reveal that the British did their best to persuade the Sikhs to ask for Khalistan as a separate State. They instigated them, set them up, but the Sikhs did not fall into that trap, The Sikhs decided; “Our destiny lies with Hindu India and we shall stick together, we shall sink or swim together.” This is quite consistent with the previous historical role which the Sikhs had played Lam proud of that role of Sikhism and Sikhs. Lam an eye-witness to what happened during the Partition. 1am a victim of Partition myself, I started life in Bombay as a refugee with a ten-rupee note as thy only property and I know who suffered the most for the country’s independence and Integrity.
If up to May 1983 no responsible leader in meet the young, I always remind of the dictum of Oscar Wilde life and the old believe everything. The middle aged suspects everything. But the young everything.” It us with this misgiving indulge the company of the young. After they are the future Leaders of the co y we who are on our way out, do not now as much as they do, But the question is. ‘Shall we proceed upon the presumption that they know everything much better than all of us who are old” How does a new State come into existence? Is there one who 3s a qualified economist who can outline the economics of this hypothec State called Khalistan bow many districts, how much population, possible income, possible budget would it have? I am not an economist. I am only a lawyer. But, I talk about economics because economists are so hopelessly divided among themselves that they never reach a conclusion. I believe that the so-called State which some people have in mind will not have enough resources to pay the salaries of its ministers, its officers and diplomats. How does a land-locked State, which has no port, survive’? What kind of commerce, trade and Industry will it have? What Kind of outlets will it have, surrounded on one side by Pakistan and on the other by Hindustan? Will it survive only by playing one against the other?
I keep my mental processes unimpaired and I don’t neglect my homework. I prepare as I prepare for a case which I have to fight in the court the next morning. f sit’ down and coolly think how this State will ran a state, is run by men of good character Hot enough to create a State. We created an independent India and when we created it, we had a galaxy of brilliant stateside, more brilliant that any the world can boast of. Look at what has happened. Creating a State is not the solution of the problem. What
Happers when you have your own state? Some politicians get a better, standard of living now a new Chief Minster, new President new Ministers, new ambassadors, but nothing happens to the common man.
It is the politician’s greed which creates such problems.
I am sorry to say that the days of the city States are gone. Only the Greeks could sustain them 2500 years ago. That phenomenon is not gone to what happened to the small States in Last Europe ? All of them have been a gobbled up and today you cannot even recall their names. How many remember names like Lativia and Gothonia?
The International tendency is towards expansion, mergers and fusions and not bifurcation and division. Small states are not just viable. They exist on sufferance. I am too much of a democrat to dismiss any idea out of hand. I am willing even to examine Khalistan. But today my reaction to Khalistan is that it is a fantasy story straight from the Arabian Nights, only it is not as amusing or harmless. And that brings me back to the point at which I departed from my main theme. J was making the point that what the Sikhs living abroad do has a tremendous impact upon the destiny of the Sikhs. A Sikh in India is trapped in an unfortunate situation. He is in danger. He is in mortal danger. The Government White Paper has admitted in clear terms that the demand of Khalistan or partition of the country was not made within India. It was never presented by the Akali Dal or any Sikh organization in India. It says that the demand of Khalistan was born abroad. And yet the Sikh com- munity was punished for that demand! I have been saying that the Sikhs are greater patriots than many others. ‘have been saying that Sikhs have defended India and that is why India is independent. Let us give credit where it is due. Even in the heat of excitement a group of intellectuals and the best that the country can boast of, met together, deliberated together, examined evidence and boldly recorded their conclusion that the Congressmen have been guilty of murder of innocent Sikhs. Despite the power of 400 members of Parliament supporting the ruling party, a few intellectuals can honestly assess evidence and come to the conclusion that the rulers are guilty of murder. When Sant Longowal was) impress need and host of leaders were arrested in the Golden Temple complex, at least one poison got up and said that this commitment to civil liberties requires that Sant Longowal should be defended and the benefit of the rule of law should be accorded to him. Ever since that day, I have been fighting his battle in the courts not that I have discovered among the rulers any commitment to the rule of jaw near that the judiciary has shown terrible enthusiasm when it comes to protecting the Sikhs in their constitutional rights. We have a bunch’ of lawyers who are willing to stake their existence and their political future for securing to the Sikhs the benefit of the rule of law on which over society is supposed to be founded and of which we are justly proud. I went to the courts, field habeas corpus petitions. The Sant should have been released on the first day by a Government committed to the rule of Jaw. He should have been released by the judiciary, by its verdict long ago. I do not want to dwell more on this topic, but what ought to be done now in the face of June and October happenings. I watched from close quarters what happened in June I am an eye-witness of what happened in October-November. There is n0 doubt that thousands of innocent Sikhs were burnt to death. There is no double in my mind that they were burnt to death with the assistant of the Government .
There is no doubt in my mind that the Government today consists of murderers and the fact that there are 400 and odd Members of Parliament to support them does not change my conviction or my verdict. I do not consider the Prime Minister as clean as he thinks he is, or as he reported to be. Responsible journals like the New York Times, the Washington Post are praising the Avro pilot turned Prime Minister. Who do the Sikhs think is going to help them to create Khalistan? The Super Powers are interested in their trade, m their commerce. When Mrs Gandhi and Ms Thatcher met for the first time, they could not carry on their conversation for minutes because both arc strongly egoist women. But, when the prospect of contracts, unitary and armament, contracts of millions of pounds arose, Mrs Thatcher made a public pronouncement that “Mrs Gandhi is the greatest Woman . cast of Suez’, by implication that she herself is the greatest woman west of Suez. The world is governed by economics and commerce. Do not live in a world of intrusions. Come down to earth and realize that the might’s of Sikhs can be defended in India by the strength of Sikh character alone.
The Sikhs are a respected community in India in spite of whatever has happened. Take my testimony for that. Millions of Hindus respect and Jove the Sikhs. There may be a lunatic fringe whom I call the Satyen Rath Prakash Hindus who feel differently, Forget that lunatic fringe.
You go to Tamil Nadu, you go to Andhra Pradesh, you go to Kerala, go to any part of India, The Sikh enjoys love, respect and security. An overwhelming majority of Hindus want Hindu-Sikh unity at all costs.
A few dumb people in my party criticized me for pleading the Longowal case. It will cost votes, they argued. ‘’Hell with your votes. Sitting in Parliament is not the end of my life. I have a commitment to causes which are superior to either parliamentary life or to any kind of political existence.” I threatened to resign from Parliament and from the party, this brought an instant reaction. The whole party rallied round me and accepted my line.
It may be that all were not genuinely converted, but even they did fall in line and no discordant voice was to be heard thereafter. A huge political party which even while it has suffered a defeat in the last Parliamentary elections, has captured a significant percentage of the total youths, has now adopted the Sikh cause as its own and Hindu-Sikh unity as a part of its political credo. The Sikh faith is safe in India. Thousands and thou- sands of Hindus believe in the Sikh Gurus.
The Sikh faith into vital for anybody to trample upon. It will survive the many and onslaught of any Government and a few Aurangzebs of the year 1985 Every Opposition Party today 1s united on this one great issue—that the Keshvan and Bharati Judgment has to be respected and no parliamentary majority, however large, can tinker with the basic features of India’s Constitution. Minorities are ultimately protected by the Coastitutica and by the character of their leaders. Tam myself a member of a minority group, the linguistic minority called Sindhis. I write my Sindhi in a script which resembles Punjabi It is called the Arabic Sindhi script. When I came to India as a refugee in 1947, the Maharashtra Government was headed by Morarji Desai and the Central Government was headed by Jawaharlal Nehru, two most powerful politicians one is Maharashtra in Bombay and the other at the Centre. And both ordered me, a refugee with a ten-rupee note as his only possession you must stop learning your Sindhi in the script in which your forefathers taught it to you. You must write in Devnagri script.” There was « peremptory circular and a notification issued by the two Governments.
What did I do? I purchased a book used to cast four annas those days. It was a copy of the Constitution, and went to court Courts had character. The judge were willing to affirm bur an rights written in the Constitutor. And with the help of that four anna book, I persuaded the Bombay High Court to deliver a judgment that this member of the Kiazuistic minority called Sindis will continue to learn his script in the script of is choice, in the Arobic script, in spite of Jawaharial Nehru and Morarji Desai. And even today that is the law of the country.
Incidentally, the Anandpur Resolution says that the Akali Dal wants to strengthen the Central Government. But the method of strengthening the Central Government it suggests is to strengthen the parts. So a strong Central Government is not contrary to the Anandpur Resolution itself, Strong Government in India can be created by strengthening the various parts which are subject to its jurisdiction. Tae Anandpur Resolution contains demands for purification of public life, for fair wages to labour, for greater autonomy, for fair distribution of fiver waters and so of and so forth. Once you put this secession business out of the way, what remains in the Sikh demands? Chandigarh, Chandigarh must go to Punjab. It is not a Sikh demand; it is a Punjab demand. The Punjab Hindus have already supported it, may be reluctantly. And, to that extent, the Sikh demand has been adopted as the demand of all Punjab. Where 2 capital of a country or a State is located is a matter of no consequence. It is just emotional; it has some symbolic value: So, let it be. But the basic demand of the Sikhs is the demand for the fair distribution of river waters; I understand the love of Arab for the horse. I understand the love of peasant for his fields. And I understand of one whose prosperity depends on agriculture, his love for water. And if the Sikh wants a fair distribution of water and if he thinks that the present arrangements are unfair to him which power on earth can prevent him from litigating that clam? I have told the Prime Minister The poor Sikhs are not asking for a decree ; they are asking for a right to file a suit” If the Sikhs want to file a suit, give them the right to do so, 1 cannot see any civilized Government refusing this. I cannot see any honest Government refusing it, but Mrs Gandhi’s Government refused it because Mrs Gandhi bad decided that she was to take on a new role to her life, a role which she did not live long to enjoy the role of the protector of Hindus against somebody. And that somebody accidentally happened to be the Sikhs. It could have been the Muslims; it could have been the Parsis; it could have been the Christians. But, by a pure accident of history, Sikhs came handy and so she divided two brothers Sikhs and Hindus from each other. She had no interest is solving the problem. Surjeet, a CPI (M) man, has gone on record publicly to state that three times the Sikh problem was solved and yet, Mrs Gandai went back, because she was determined to keep It alive. She had planned that there shell be a conflict between the Hindus and Sikhs in which the grand strategy was that Hindus shall be first left unprotected, let them be killed for a while, let them become angry, so angry that they will seek revenge. The Hindus and Sikhs will then go at each other’s throat. And then I will tell the Hindus: “Look, only I can protect you,” Stupid Hindus did not under- stand the cruel plan. And we to the stupid Hindus and Sikhs—fell in her trap. She paid for that sordid game by her life. But, those seas less killer unwittingly converted a Machiavellian into a martyr. Her successor resumed the game at the point where it was interrupted and gave it a more sinister twist.
It is a tragic story, the end of which is not in sight. But now that the son is safely in the saddle and need not play the game any longer, is it too much to pray and hope that wisdom and statesmanship will dawn ?
I am a finer patriot than the Prime Minister (Indira) (Gen. Shabheg Singh).
