January 26, 1986, has come and gone, leaving the ruling Akali Dal in a quandary. The architects of the Rajiv-Longowal accord have no plausible answer or explanation to the Center’s unilateral postponement of the transfer of Chandigargh to Punjab. The transfer was not linked to any condition like compensating Haryana by a simultaneous handing over of supposedly Hindi-speaking areas of Punjab to it. ‘Akali leaders argue that Mathew Commission’s failure to identify such areas is not their problem and should not have affected the schedule of Chandigarh’s transfer. Their argument appears rather naive in the context of majority community’s long history of betrayals.
- Surjit Singh Barnala, Balwant Singh and the other champions of the accord were not unaware of the solemn commitments of M. K. Gandhi and Nehru to Sikhs and their subsequent somersault. Similarly, Master Tara Singh and Baldev Singh were familiar with the role of Chandu Lal and Gangu Brahmin. ‘They also knew what Dogras like Dhian Singh and Gulab Singh did to destroy the Sikh kingdom.
The truth is that Tara Singh and Baldev Singh sold the Panth for their selfish motives and their despicable roles have been re-enacted by equally selfish band of Akali leaders. The transparently deceptive antics of Barnala and Balwant Singh were plainly clear to perceptive Sikhs who tried in vain to prevent the sellout. They were ignored and were forced to Part Company and adopt a different course.
The accord in itself had made a mockery of the Dharam yudh Morcha and was a ridiculously inadequate compensation for the unprecedented sacrifices made by the Sikhs. In fact the Sikh signatories to the accord had shown callous indifference to the sacrilegious destruction of the Akal Takht and the macabre massacre of Sikhs. In their anxiety to hastily occupy the ‘chairs’, they compromised even with those who were directly involved in engineering anti-Sikh riots. They have not bothered to get the guilty punished even after four months of their getting into the saddle. Instead, they have been waging a relentless “crusade” against the already besieged Sikh youth just to please the Central government.
Their latest move to call another Sarbat Khalsa convention will mean a second Operation bluestar.’ Indian army, according to the White Paper, attacked the Golden Temple to flush out separatists’ who had forcibly’ occupied the holy temple. Now Punjab police and Para-military troops will repeat that performance to ‘flush out’ Damdami Taksal and AISSF volunteers who are engaged in the task of rebuilding the Akal Takht in accordance with Sikh traditions. The Golden Temple will witness the tragic spectacle ‘of Sikhs killing one-another and the Indian government will show the world the ‘sanctity’ that Sikhs themselves attach to their holiest shrine.
No Sikh with a conscience can close his eyes to the impending catastrophe. There is still time to prevent it; all efforts must be made to make the Akali leaders realize their folly of playing a self-destructive game. They should, instead, direct their attack on those who have violated the accord and not settle scores with their own brothers. Barnala can redeem both himself and the situation by summoning an urgent session of the Assembly. He has the necessary majority to get the Anandpur Sahib resolution through. With one stroke, he would be able to neutralize all the Rajiv-inspired noise in Haryana. Rajiv cannot afford to dismiss his ministry because he knows that dismissal of Barnala ministry would mean contending with the reality of Khalistan.
Article extracted from this publication >> January 31, 1986
