In scores of articles, essays and commentaries since Operation Bluestar I have sought to present the increasing perplexity, misery and agony of the Sikh community _ from a variety of angles and perspectives. In my effort to reach down to the underlying fuses I have examined in some detail the state of the Sikh psyche at war with the Center, and at war within itself. All these questions involved an understanding of the turbulent Sikh history, of the long dream of power, and of the nature of the crisis Of character in the Akali leadership, among other things. I have been particularly interested in the community’s regression and isolation as phenomena of wounded pride and eroded image. Without a peep into this nuclear side of the story, it would be idle to talk of “the Punjab packet” which, in any case, is already a national joke. Much of the lethal militancy ‘is directly related to this problem. Of course the horrendous loss of lives in this conflict between the State and the Sikhs is a matter of great shame and nothing whatever can justify it. In fact, it’s so un- natural, so out of character, so wanton in character. But strong communities like the Sikhs, the Rajput’s, the Pathans have always made “izzat” and image a question of survival. To be sure even as such attitudes are born of “spiritual strength in moments of Crises, they can also induce need- Jess “‘sacrifices”, and a state of “false consciousness.” How to break Gut of this prison of vanities is the real issue.
Thus it hurts the Sikhs like hell that their “imago” or the idealized image has in a matter of few years received a body-blow all over the world. A brave and proud and patriotic community with an unparalleled service to the nation suddenly finds itself out in the cold, friendless, distrusted and maligned. To put it in another way, there has been a palpable disjunction between the two traditional aspects of the corporate image the “prime” image of positive nature, and the “sub-image” of a negative character.
The prime image is the image of energy, enterprise, chivalry and sacrifice an image best seen in the “Gursikh” image apotheosized in the poetry and fiction of Bhai Vir Singh. Service and compassion are the two twin virtues that sustain this image, above all. It’s also an image of serenity in the midst of action and storm. And even when we descend to a lower plateau, the positive image is potent enough to give the Sikh qua Sikh an air of achievement, of distinction, and even a generosity and prodigality. There is magnanimity of the spirit that instinctively helps preserve the moral rhythm of his life, It’s finally an image that administers to his vanity, and which once evoked admiration and envy. All that lies almost in the dust.
As for the sub-image, it’s hardly flattering that image traditionally projects the Sikh as an uncouth, unlettered creature given to instinctive, violence, and prone to provocation and recklessness once his hackles are up. That’s the “Sardarji” image which in its lighter aspects has gathered endless jokes around it, and in its grimmer aspects, an air of dread and distrust. So long as the going was good, whatever the nature of Sikh grievances and the perfidy of the Congress in that regard, the prime image and the sub-image lived in tandem comfortably enough. There was never a danger of the sub-image overthrowing the prime image. Probably this assurance permitted them to laugh away the jokes directed against them,
And then came a radical change in that image when the negative or the uglier sub-image came into play, and the media and the state agencies blew it up to such proportions that a Sikh came to be seen as a monster from beyond, an orge to strike terror in your heart. It was, indeed, this sub-image which Rajiv Gandhi exploited to the hilt at the time of the 1985 elections to the Lok Sabha. And if I recall those shrinking and venomous ads in the national dailies and glossies, and on the Congress posters which obliquely represented the Sikhs as a community of taxi drivers and thugs and traitors, it’s only to remind the leader that when the images get distorted on such a prodigious scale, the political reality cannot be encourage distortions in our body politic. I have, let me add, no great regard for Maneka Gandhi in view of her dastardly role during the Emergency, but it still sticks in my throat the couplet repeated from door to door in the Amethi constituency against her candidature “Sardaron ki beti, ghadaron ki bet” or” A daughter of the Sikhs cannot but be a wait or,” One could weep for it, but one could not easily forget or pardon such an outrage. For this crime alone, the Congress leadership ought to go down on its knees, and ask for forgiveness. You cannot punish a whole community for the crimes of a handful of outlaws and misdirected youth.
How, then, to break the Sikh sullenness which comes to increase following the monkey tricks of the ruling party from crisis to crisis? Nor is there much hope from the present lot of noisy, self-serving and obscurantist Akali leaders. Frankly, there is no way we can alter this irrational situation ill there’s a radical change in the perceptions of the opposing parties. And in politics such a change ‘s possible only for periods of war or national calamity. Once over, the old game of power returns to the old tracks. Occasionally, a Gandhi rises from below to cause a National consciousness to flow in a given direction, but more than one Gandhi in a century is a political extravagance. So,-an awakened “minority” of thinkers and activists has to be fashioned to meet the situation. Musing over the subject, | ran into this passage some time ago, a passage from Paul Tillich’s book, “The Eternal Now.” I think, it deserves to be reproduced here:
In the ancient world, great political Leaders were called saviors. They liberated nations and groups within them from misery, enslavement and war. This is another kind of healing, reminiscent of the words of the last book of the Bible, which says in poetic language that “the leaves of life are for the healing of the nations.” How can they be healed? The prophets give the answer: Nations are saves if there is a small minority, a group of people, who represent what a nation is called to be. The question of saving power in the nation is the question of whether there is a minority, even a small one, which is willing to resist the anxiety produced by propaganda, The conformity enforced by threat, the hatred stimulated by ignorance.”
How then to create that spirit of non-violent. spiritual and moral energies which the Sikhs created during the Nankana Sahib tragedy and the Guru-ka-Bagh Morcha, and brought the British rulers to their senses? Surely, there is a need to sheath the sword, and uncocks the gun, a need to restore the Sikh image at home and abroad. The movement envisage may have a Gandhians shape or something else, it hardly matters. What matters is the birth of such freemasonry of free but committed spirits. And for this not only sympathy, but also empathy is needed.
Article extracted from this publication >> May 29, 1992
