By Vidya Bhushan Rawat,
Almost 30 years ago Punjab was burning and Sikh were the target of the ‘nationalists’. The issue of Punjab and Sikh identity were much larger and need a proper analysis whether the promises made during the transfer of power were fulfilled or not. The demand for autonomy of the states grew. On June 3rd, 1984, Indian army was asked to ‘flush-out’ ‘terrorists’ holed up in the campus of Golden Temple. No news was coming in. The only resource for credible information was BBC and its two reporters from India Marc Tulley and Satish Jacob who reported the entire event boldly. Mrs Indira Gandhi came on All India Radio and spoke to the nation about the necessity of ‘army action’ as innocent lives were being lost in the firing from the Golden Temple Complex.Many senior persons died including DIG J.S.Atwal who was killed outside the complex when he came out from worshiping.
The problem was not about the gravity of the situation but why did it happen and why was it allowed to go that much out of control ? Was Congress unable to fight Akalis without creating an alternative of the party. Was not Jarnail Singh Bhindarwale, a creation of former Chief Minister and later home minister in Indira Gandhi’s cabinet before becoming the president of India, Gyani Zail Singh ? These are serious issues which reflect how we create such a situation for political power and use the religious card.
The killings of innocent Hindus in Punjab had put the nation on brink of a bigger disaster. The BSF and other paramilitary forces were already there and we are know what happen in war zones. There have been huge human rights violation in Punjab during those days in the name of fighting against insurgency. Punjab police became notorious in collecting ‘chanda’ and innocent youths were arrested and dumped. The real number of killed people is still not known. Punjab people still feel emotional and hurt remembering those days when they were not just pushed to the wall, when each one of them were made a ‘terrorist’ and
when the news media too played its dirty games in polarizing the debate.
Operation Blue star was a highly mismanaged effort by the political leadership of that time Mrs Indira Gandhi. Appeasing to the Hindu fanaticism, she ordered the raid on the holiest shrines of Sikhs. It was the greatest disaster though political leaders of mainstream political parties supported the government action except for Mr Chandra Shekhar.
The repercussions were wider and Sikhs felt betrayed. There was anger and despair all over. There was revolt everywhere. Hundreds of people were killed and a large part of the Golden Temple was also damaged. It resulted in much bigger gap between the Sikhs and Hindus. The political party of the day used the Hindu card for the power. The end was more painful as Mrs Gandhi was assassinated in October 1984 creating more anger and violence against Sikhs all over the country with Indian state simply turning into a Hindu state. The whole decade of 1984 was great betrayal and disaster when for the power politics
such things were allowed to grow and ended up wounding the entire community.
The issue of Punjab is not that simple to tell us that government had no option to throw away the ‘terrorist’. The first question should be asked as who allowed them to gather there ? And whether Hindu fanatic newspapers such Punjab kesari and its ‘preaching’ editors had no role in igniting the communal passions. There is no doubt that every body was playing political game right from Indira Gandhi to Akali Dal and it ended up in greater disaster.
There are loads of lessons learnt from these dark chapters of our history that it is the duty of the state to protect its citizen and negotiations are the best way to resolve a crisis. Develop and support democratic groups and individuals. It is important to understand why Sikh psyche was hurt but rather than making any positive effort, every Sikh was turned by the Hindu newspapers as terrorist. Those who have witness those days can realise how painful it was. How uncertain the life was for every one. It is time to move on. For the people also,it is important not allow religious leaders to dominate your political discourse. Punjab has seen the damage done to it.
It is time religious parties are kept aside and ask them to work for the people and not to bring religion for their failure. Today on this day, I can only say that let us move with peace and hope that whether people dead for a cause or whether they were Indian soldiers who were following the instructions of the state or whether they were innocent people and Children, each death is a death. The families lose their person. Hundreds of children became orphan, women were widowed, older people lost their loved one. So, let us moan for each death and hope that we will all agree that there is no solution to any problem through guns and army. The only solution to human problems is through negotiations and understanding each others in the spirit of give and take. Also not to make the political goons as symbol of our ‘national pride’ in the sense of making them identified with the community and religion. It is time we monitor our political class and try to understand from a rational perspective as how can the situation be brought to under control. We must also be careful of the rumor mongering machines who sale hatred. It is time to make them irrelevant
and it is possible only with a vibrant civil society and not through religious organisations.
Let Punjab move on with peace and prosperity. Do not hand over your dignity, freedom, love and compassion to political thugs. Let the people remain vigilant to politics of opportunism. Let none die for political gains of a few. This is the main theme of Operation Blue Star. It was the saddest part that I as a young boy heard, listened and saw. Hope we will learn better lessons from them and move ahead without concealed hatred and prejudices. There are more important issues in the state. Migration has not helped the people though it might have helped a few. The violence against Dalits in the state continue and Jat dominated Punjab religious leadership has not at all addressed this issue resulting in huge growth of ‘Deras’ for the Dalits and marginalized people.
The gender gap in the state is very high and a matter of concern. It is rather shameful that a bold community like Sikhs have allowed this happen in their society where people are killing their daughters. Punjab’s water level has depleted and farmers are in distress. They are selling land and moving elsewhere. It is time that these issues now become the major issue in Punjab and the beautiful inclusive state should again show to the world that their model is much better and powerful than the so called Gujrat model which was never inclusive. Let Punjab prove that the real teachings of Gurus are secular to the core and anti thesis of the brahmanical system which encouraged superstition and discrimination based on your caste. It is time for Punjab to rise and challenge all those who want to deviate from the path of its glory by using religion for political gains. It is time to marginalise those regressive political social forces who have kept Punjab subjugated for long.
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Vidya Bhushan Rawat can be contacted as at twitter : freetohumanity