The forum gazette vol 2 no 8 april 20 may 4, 1987

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Vol 2 No.8

New Delhi, 20 April- 4 May 1987

Fortnightly

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A Faltering Second Fro~t

in Punjab

NEWSHOUND

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Extremist Campaign fizzling out

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Satindra Singh At present, Punjab enjoys bout a fortnight ago, Sikh 1ft ' fundamentalists opened the dubious distinction of lead~'=another from in Punjab ing the country in the per to strengthen their support capita consumption of liquor. If base. They have launched an the '· . anti-liquor campaign aggressive and systematic cam- gathers further mom ent,um, it ' paign against what they call may well prove disastrous for "accretion of the evil Hindu the state for two main reasons . practices in the Sikh way of One, it will result in the relife." On the face of it, their emergence of illicit brewing of crusade against drinking, meat hooch for which Punjab was eating, ostentatious marriages, once deservedly notorious use of cosmetics by Sikh throughout the country until women and ' trimming of hair the e nd of the sixties, To e radiand beards by Sikh males is cate this evil the then chief more or less unobjectionable. minister, Mr Pratap Singh But the same cannot be said Kairon, not only ordered' the about the motives behind their opening of more liquor vends, move as well as its ramifica- but also reduced the price of tions. country liquor, to save Punjabis I Take, for instance, their from spurious liquor. His "war" against drinking. No shrewd policy has been sc rudoubt, the Sikh fundamen- pulously adhered to by aU suc talists enjoy scriptural support cessive governments in the ) . it. But their primary objec- state, whatever their political ~ .. e is to adversely affect the affiliations. The other reason Barnala . government s already \ which has even more dreadful strained financial resources. implications - is that nonThere were not many takers availability of liquor, win surely of the liqu9r vends when these result in a phenomenal growth of were auctioned late last month drug consumption. Opium and and most of those who had the hemp eating is already ramcourage to, bid for these have pant in the Doaba and Malwa been ' forced to offer only regions of the state. limited supplies. During my Moreover, forcible converrecent visit to some of the sion in any form runs counter towns of PUbjab and their sur- not only to the basic Sikh rounding villages I noticed that tenets, but also against the most of the liquor vends were heroic Sikh heritage. The Sikh half empty and only a few po~ Gurus did not believe in proular brands of whisky, rum, gin selytising by sword but through and beer were readily avail- persuasion, They fought agaable. For other brands one had inst those Muslim rulers who to place an advance order, tried to , enforce Islamic fundeposit earnest money and damentalism by the sword. pick up the stuff at an agreed Two of the Sikh Gurus - Arjun time. Dev and Tegh Bahadur - had to lay down their lives in the Supportj~mong struggle to .ensure an individual's right to follow his/her Women for Antiown conscience. Both Bhai Liquor Campaign Nand Lal, the most prominent codifier of Sikh heliefs and There is no doubt that their anti-liquor campaign has won practices and Kaura Mal, a the Sikh fundamentalists instant highly respect~d personage in support and sympathy from Sikh history were not ':Amrit Sikh women, who, much to dharis" (baptised SinghsJ. their mortification, daily witMeat Eating ness the heart-rending scene of the hard-earned money literally the "going down the drain" as it Fundamentalists were since the advent of the The Sikh fundamentalists Green Revolution in the state in are on even more vulnerable . the late seventies. Whether the Sikh women's support will help ground for their move against reduce drinking among their meat eating. For one, no Sikh Guru has prohibited its conmenfolk is difficult to surmise. sumption. Only the other day, Habits die hard, bad habits seldom, if ever. Continued on page 13, c~/1

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CONG-I CAUSING DIS·C ORD · IN U. P.

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By r\k hil Anand

The communal hysteria being w orked up in Ayodhya in particular an(t1 Uttar Pradesh in general, over the issue of Ram Janambhoomi and Babr! Masjid is heading for a large-scale massacre of MusJims in Ayodhya This stark destiny is not unknown to the parties involved: the state government, Hindu and Muslim communal leaders and also a sizeable sectio n of the ruling Congress (I). In fact, they all seem to be callously unconcern ed about the dangers inherent in the situation. While the state government treats the issue as one of law and ord er alone, both Hindu and Muslim leaders connected with the Ra ni Janambhoomi Mukti Vagna Samiti and the Babri Masjid Action Com mitee respectively, put fOIWard the' argument that one or the other temple or mosque does not matter, but it is the place which is of emotional significance, and claims to it cannot be given up.

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The ruling Congre ss (I) has contributed to this high dra m a in a typically 'Indira style' by providing general secretaries to both the warring committees. While Dau Dayal Khanna, a former UP Minister and Congress (I) leader is the gene ral secretary of the Samiti, Chaudhary Mohd Muzaffar Hussain Ka chhauchwi, a form e r legislator and Congress leader is the general secre tary of th e Committee. Referring to this situation Mohd Hashim Ansari, secretary of Anjuman Mohafiz, Mazabir Masjid Awadha says: "WE are face to face with the state government on the issue of Babri Masjid. The government

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is mad afte r the majority. At last the stage would be ours. We will do everything to protect ourselves; even that which should not be done." Th ere is no hiding of the fact tha t while saying this he appears scared a nd there are e nough reasons for him to be fe aff ul 'of the future. Ror th e Ra m Ja na m bhoo mi move m e nt is be ing built a ro und the prem ise that no n-Hindus, obviously Muslims, h ave no place in Ayodhya , M L1slim s in this tow n number less than pn e thousand, as aga inst a Hindu population of 70,000. In view of the state go ve rnment's poor recOl'd 'in protecting minorities' in a series of riots in the last

decades, Muslims don 't pI a!.,; muc h fa ith on the enfOrCem p.ll f age ncie s for th e ir protect jon.

Point of No Return That the issue ha s reached fI point of n o f'e turn becom e:; obvious by the rem Mks of Ma hant Avedya na th, 'ch airman of th e Ram Jana mbhooll1i Mukti Yagna Samit i in Gora khpur. The mahallt hn lieves "th e Hin dus must unit" in d efe nce of their rights ;!,,(/ forc e the government to r eaL ,.~ their agon y concerning Ha m 's birthplace , Hindus wo uld nfl' tolerate any un just decisioil nn the i ssu ~. Th e so-caHed 5.1 hn Continued on page 5 , col 1

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~~~--------------~-------S-a~g~ff-S-W_o_r_d The Psalm of Peace An English Translation of Guru Arjun's 'Sukhmani'

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~llIed two more persons, ~ mdulged in a number of ,looting incidents as shop~eeJX;rs" observed a bandh a$..Phagwara to-

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The Press Falls In Line By Jyoti Punwani P Singh, Executive Editor, Navbharat Times, described in an interview, the recent spate of sedition charges against journalists as a manifestation of "aggressive Hindu chauvinism", pointing out that so far, only journalists belonging to minority communities have been charged. "Aggressive Hindu chauvinism" has been building up as the dominant mood of the country over the last two years, with Operation Blue St'lr as the turning point: Today its manifestations are most visible in the media and in the style of the Rajiv Gandhi government : in something as 'small as the PM wearing a ceremonial tika whenever he returns from an official trip abroad; in the Hindu symbols at the inauguration of Apna Utsav, supposed to be a national festival; in the decision to start Breakfast TV with bhajans. In the press, the "Hindu ethos" operates far more insidiously, on three levels. The first is the most obvious: the lengthy pisces written by top journalists; the second is the way news about minorities, specifically in Punjab, is covered. Finally, the government's attack on minority journalists. The Hindu stand taken by influential journalists like Girilal Jain, editor of the Times of India, and Arun Shourie, recently shifted back to the Indian

El'press frOm the Times, has remained unaffected by the been evident for the last two Hindu wave, like the Sunday years, it has only grown more Observer's Vinod Mehta, who aggressive now. From cate- has of late, started propoundgorising Indians into "us" and ing the argument that if the "they" (ie, Hindus and non- terrorists ' continue with their Hindus), these two writers have activities, the nonItally peaceloving and tolera'n t Hindus are certainly come a long way. Girilal Jain's new thesis bound to retaliate, and Hindu these dClys is: proving that retaliation is no trifling matter, Sikhs and Muslims played no as the November, 84 riots' have part in the freedom movement; shown. Mehta makes a distincthat in fact, they sided with the tion between Sikhs in general British. This distortion is easily and Sikh terrorists; he also ackaccepted by readers brought up nowledges the humiliation all on the official version of the Sikhs have to face today, as freedom movement, dominated well as their anguish at this by the Hindu-dominated Indian but asks them to bear with it, as the price of their fellowNation~l Congress.

think: couldn't- these mad men have spared a doctor at least? "10 killed in Punjab" was another headline: of these" 7 had been victims of the BSF, part of its weekly quota of "intruders from Pakistan" who must be killed. It was not thought fit to spell that out in the headline, why spoil the impact by saying: "BSF kills 7, terrorists 3"? Going by newspapers, one must conclude that Punjab has become a -crimefree state; any murder/robbery that takes place here is the handiwork of terrorists. No newspaper thought it necessary to highlight the figures given

Journalists on trial Journalist V T Rajshekhar Editor

Publication DaHt Voice

Sukhdev Singh EditOl' Fr Benny Aguiar Editor

Dignity

Krishnaraj Editor Harji Malik Writer

EPW

Shahid Siddiqui Editor

Nai Duniya

Examiner

KhaHd Ansari Midday Editor Deepak Chopra Printeli Publisher ' AI Haj Naz Mashriqi Ansari, Editor Awaz AI Haj Syed Ansari, Printer

Charged under For Terrorist & DisArticle on DaHt ruptive Activities view of Punjab & Act 'Ma nuism' Re productio'n of above (Promoting enArticle on RSS activities in Bihar, mity between 2 groups) Sedition Article on army action in Punjab

Month Published in March.1986 March '86

Terr& Disr. Acts. Act Terr& Disr. Acts, Act

Sept. 1986

July '86

Oct. 1986

Aug. '84

Interview with J S Chauhan on Khalistan Intervifw with G S Dhillon on Khalistan

Nov. 1986

Nov. '85

Nov. 1986

Oct. '86

Reproduction of above

Dec, 1986

Nov. '86

An Ekta Trust Publication

Panel of consulting Editors Justice V.R. Krishna lyer, LK. GujraI, Madhu Kishwar, Khushwant Singh, Jaya jaitly, Rajni Kothari, Amrik Singh, , Kuldip Nayar

Chairman, Board of Editors Lt. Gen. Jagjit Singh Aurora (retd.'

managing Editor Haljit Malik

Editors Harji Malik. G.S. Sandhu, A.S. Narang,

Associate Editor Avtar Singh Judge

Circulation Lt. CoL Manohar Singh (retd)

Business Manager Jatinder Kaur Lall

Editorial (Camp) Office 4 Bhagwan Das Road New Delhi-ll0001 . , Phone : 385270, 385042 Tlx : 315220 HBLK FOR GAZETIE

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20 April - 4 May 1987

If Girilal Jain seeks justifica- Sikhs' misdeeds. The next time tion for his Hindu chauvinism there is a Muktsar or Khudda in distorting history, Mun says Mehta, don't. be surprised Shourie goes to the scriptures: if somewhere else, Sikhs are those of Sikhs, Christians and taken out of a bus and lynched. Muslims, of course, to prove The significance of such that because these three editors joining the mainstream religions have one 'Holy Book' can be seen in the translations as their ' base, their followers of Vinod Mehta's article in are bound to be dogmatic and Gujarati and Hindi papers in fanatical, unlike Hindus, who Bombay and the North. have no one particular reWhat editors spell out in ligious text to follow, and are ,their articles, the rest of their therefore more tolerant and staff express through their eclectic. Once again, the choice of lead stories and readers' scanty knowledge of headlines. First choice today theology makes it easy to fall for a lead story is Punjab. In into this trap. December, terrorists killed a BJP member, who happened to Editors tFall Into be a doctor, as well as his Line' patient. "Doctor, patient killed screamed , the A new development has in Punjab" been the "falling in line" of headlines on the frontpage, other editors who have so far making -the reader immediately

recently in Parliament, that UP and Bihar, without any terrorists, have a higher murder rate than Punjab does. Nor to point oUl that except for malJS massacres like the two bus incidents, the victims of terrorisls have been mainly Sikhs. Leave' alone pointing out all this, newspapers take objection even when Barnala, who is more obedient to the Centre than any Congress (I) chief minister, questions the BSF version of having killed 10 intruders from Pakistan at one stroke. On Punjab, anything said against the security forces is equated with encouragement to e~tremists. Police atrocities are investigated by the press in every other state to some Continued on page 14. col 1.

, Happy are the meek in spirit, who efface themselves and are poor. The arrogantly great are effaced by their own pride. He who has in him the pride of sovereignty Shall be loweredi,jnto the pit of . hell as a dog. • "" He who prides himself on his beauty Shali be turned into the meanest worm that lives in dung. He who esteems himself as a man of works Shall have . to work his way through many a life and death. He who is proud of his wealth and land Is a foot blind and senseless. When God out ofHis mercy lends humility to a man 's heart, I He gets liberation in this nt . and peace in the nel't. If a man is puffed up with his riches, He w.illiose all; not so much as a straw will go with him If he sets his hopes on a multitude of men and anns, They may melt away in the shock ofa moment. If he crows over others for his personalbrave~, _ Who knows his person may not be reduced to ashes in a

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If he esteems nobody before his presuming self, The heavenly Judge wi/( lay him lowforit. Ifby the grace of the Guru he is 'able to efface his pride, " He will find acceptance in ~U court of God: A manmaydo thousands ofgood deeds in egoism; All are vain; he merely tires himselfout. Or he mayfeed his pride by going through various penances; He will be haled from heaven into hell, and from hell into heaven. By,no such devices can he soften his soul; How can he enter into the kingdom of God? As long as a man deems himselfgood, No goodness can approach hiTlll. But if he is humble in his heart before eve~body, , He will be known as a man of unalloyed virtue. As long as a man thinks he can do something by himself, So long he shall find no peace. If he takes credit for anything done by him, ' He shall have to wanderfrom life to life. So long as he holds some as his enemies, and others as friends, His mind will never be at rest.. So long as he is wrapped up in the illusory joys of Iife, He lays himself open to Divine retribution. But when God's mercy overtakes him, his bonds are broken, And, Guru-guided, he is released from his pride. •


-Fa~m

Fortnight Focus ~--_(iazette-

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Govt. suspected for undermining defence HOW ARMS LOBBYISTS OPERATE ew Delhi: WIN Chadha had only unprintable abuses to shout 'back when contacted over telephone by this correspondent. " Pardon his language," said one defence ministry official on hearing tIle exchange. "He's havi'ng it real bad. Arms lobbyists like him are going to have a real tough time from now on ."

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WIN Chadha runs one of the ' biggest of New Delhi's new breed of liaison agencies, agencies with briefs from foreign armaments firms. And bringing him into limelight today is the fact that his agency, Anatronics General Corporation, is the principal Indian representative of Bofors, the Swedish firm now in the eye of the cyclonic controversy rocking the country. Chadha, of course, won' t talk to reporters, but if, as . alleged by the Swedish State Radio, certain Indians received kickbacks totalling Rs 15 crores from Bofors to influence the government into buying its 155 mm .f ield howitzers, a sale worth Rs 1,450 crore, it was apparently he who handled payments. Bofors has officially denied bribing any Indian middleman, a denial supported by the Swedish and Indian governments, but as Magnus Nielsson of the Swedish State Radio (~hich like the BBC and unlike AIR is free from government control) told the Statesman, it was the company's agents and not the company itself that made the payoffs. Chadha . could well hiive been one such agent. How do lobbyists like

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Chadha operate? Do they com- selves set up such agencies. here that lobbying by the promise the nation's security in Commander M R A Rao of the liaison agents is the s!rongest earning large commISSIOns Indian Navy, for instance, rep- and a great deal of money from foreign arms firms they resented Bofors for a long time. changes hands. The money of Besides Chadha, Bofors course is always deposited in serve? Not consciously, and in any case politicians and offi- currently has another agent in foreign, usually Swiss, bank cials. who received the alleged Delhi, one Thomas Dalin who acco.unts and the sum could be payoffs are equally to blame on has an office in the Maurya a very large one indeed for a this score. But there is big Sheraton Hotel. But perhaps favourable report. money in the arms business the largest liaison agent in the Bofors Under and the liaison agencies like capital is Eureka, which repSuspicion Chadha's Anatronics are not resents a host of French firms The Bofors' 155mm howitzer unique to New Delhi. Most including SNECMA, aircraft purchase had been under susnations with large defence · engine manufacturers, Sagem, picion almost' from the day budgets have scores of arms the electronics giant, and till (March .25,1986) the deal was firms represontatives operating recently aircraft manufacturers signed. Doubts had been Aerospatiale and Marcel Dasin their capitals. expressed about the range of sault. Eureka is owned by Rajiv the artillery guns: while it had and Sanjiv Chowdhrie who are In Ne.w Delhi, arms lobbyists been claimed the howitzers nephews of Baljit Kapur, forset" up shop mostly in the late could fire up to a range of · mer chairman of Hindustan 70s when the defence ministry Aeronautics Ltd. 30 km, it has reportedly been began looking away from Mos- . found not to exceed .21 km durcow to equip its growing ing the OperatioI1 Brasstacks The lobbyists really get into arsenal. 'With New Delhi setting exercise. If this be true, the · the act during what could be its sights on arms manufacappraisal and testing reports called the second stage of the turers of France, Britain, were obviously far from acarms purchase process. InitialSweden and other ' Western curate. According to the ly, when a decision is taken at countries, agents and liaison Swedish radio, two payoffs, South Block regarding the officers were soon mushroomacquisition of a' particular each of 8.4 million Swedish ing in the capital. And there weapon, the three service kroners (Rs.168 lakhs) and a certainly was business at hand third of 1.2.9 Swedish kroners chiefs' offices are flooded with with India's defence budget in glossy advertisement booklets ' (Rs .258 lakhs) were deposited the Seventh Five Year Plan from the armament companies. into accounts in the Suisse doubling over the Sixth Plan Advertisement pamphlets also Banking Corporation on Novallocation, to more than reach the desks of senior ember 13 last year. Nine days Rs 60,000 crores. bureaucrats in the defence later, a further 2.5 million ministry. Soon, technical ap- kroners (Rs 50 lakhs) were paid Another Bofors praisal teams comprising se['- into the Swiss bank account. vice and defence ministry This, of course is only a fracAgent - Wining officers, set out on tours abroad tiun of the total Rs 15 crore and Dining to inspect the armaments payoff. The government opted for The first targets of the arms advertised, tours on which they supe['-salesmen are retiring are suitably wined and dined the Bofors 155mm howitzers from an initial choice of 1.2 military officers. As on,e def- by the manufacturing firms. field guns. Four of them · were ence ministry official puts it: In the next or second stage, shortlisted in the penultimate "Who can lobby better 'with generals and admirals than the technical appraisal reports stage: apart from the Bofors' these just retired seniors." are studied by the ministry's howitzers, there were the FhSometimes of course, retired R&D section, after which the 70, manufactured jointly by Brisenior military officers them- weapons are field tested. It is tain, Italy and West Germany;

France's Le Canon E E 15mm tracte and Austria's GH N-45. A further shortlisting eliminated GH N-45 and Fh-70; leaving the French and Swedish guns in the race. What is not clear is how the race was finally won by Sweden's Bofors. Suspicion in the Swedish radio newsrooms about...iJlegal payoffs in the Bofors deal wi,th \ the Indian government did not, however, arise out of the blue. Bofor.s does not exactly have an enviable record and since last year the radio had been investigating into its alleged illegal dealings. Taking its name from the small town where its factories are located, the firm is known to have sold arms to countries blacklisted by the Swedish government. Only recently, two of the company's directors had to resign following media disclosures about illegal dealings. Indeed, even the much respected Swedish prime minister Olaf Pal me, assassinated last year, was greatly concerned about Bofors' unholy dealings, though he assured Rajiv Gandhi that no middleman was involved in the howitzer sale to India. The Bofors scandal has in fact come as . a bit of an embarassment to India since New Delhi considers Sweden to be among its few close friends in the West. But mo'r e than foreign relations, the payoff disclosures, coming on the heels of the Fairfax fracas and the resignation of V P Singh, has set panic bulbs blinking in Rajiv Gandhi's Congress-I, with the inevitable talk of the foreign hand and indirect references to the United States. (NewscriptJ.

u.P. citizens want dialogue on Punjab CALL TO INVOLVE YOUTH IN DISCUSSIONS

--------------------------------Public OpInIOn in Uttar Prade8h and ·Bihar favours a dialogue with the extremist8 in Punjab in order to arrive at a political 8OIution in the 8tate. The .F'orum Gazette conducted a 8urvey in Kanpur, Lucknow, Fyazabad, Gorakhpur (U.P.) and Chapra and Patna (Bihar). About 150 person8 were 8elected at random and asked to give their view8 on the Punjab 8ituation. Among the8e were 80me important political and 80cial activist&

The variety of replies and resentative of this viewpoint attitudes expressed by this are the views of Dr M A cross-section of persons reflec- Haleem, a Socialist Party Vice-Chairman in ted their social roots. While the National high caste Hindus favoured a Lucknow who told the Gazette: tough, uncompromising stand ."While the killing of Sikh youth based on the issue of national in encounters by police and unity and integration, those para-military, and of Hindus by belonging to the minority com- extremists, is condemnable, the munities and scheduled castes central and state governments were highly critical of the role should talk with the so-called of the military and paramilitary extremists, so as to find a soluforces deployed in the state. tion to the problems of Similarly, while Sikhs were Punjab." generally critical of the -Barnala , Dr Virpen Saroha, who is in government, others were ap- favour of the division of Uttar preciative of its policies. Pradesh, alleged that the PunSeventy per cent of the jab problem is the creation of ordinary citizens favoured a leaders .from UP and warned dialogue with the extremists to that a high degree of honesty is sort out the issues and pro- required to keep the minorityblems and involve these youth dominated border states of in finding a solution which can India satisfied. restore peace in the state. RepChief Editor of the monthly

journal Pa~ivahan Yug, Mr Lalta . was more Misra, forthright in castigating the Congress(l) for creating the tension in Punjab and wanted the government to establish a security belt to check terrorist activity. But he w.as equally ce['tain that military action cannot offer a solution. It is necessary to create an atmosphere 'o f confidence and seek a political solution with the co-operation of all those sections which have not succumbed to terrorism.

Prasad

.Hindu Religious Leader Urges Dialogue With Extremists A different viewpoint was expressed by Mahant Avedyanath, the President of the Ram lanambhoomi Mukti Yagna Samiti, who recently visited the Golden Temple in Amritsar in a padyatra with a number of religious heads, He said pointblank "The . ,government would ultimately have to talk

with the extremists for any solution to the problem of Pun,jab. Both the sides should work· for creating an atmosphere in which this dialogue is possible. We had gone to Punjab and Amritsar for emotional amity betwe'en Hindus and Sikhs. But since the problem is political, it is for the influential people in both communities to come fo['ward and pressurise the government to initiate a dialogue . "The government must be prepared to talk about Khalistan and also prepared to grant such autonomy which does not endanger national integrity and is within the framework of the Indian Constitution. Although the Granthis are under the influence of the terrorists, they assured us that they favour a solution within the framework of the Constitution and in conformity with the needs of national integration and unity." The former chief minister of Bihar, Dr Jagannath Mishra, ' interviewed in his Patna residence commented . that " .. the recent stand of Barnala in

delinking politics from religious heads has created the proper atmosphere in Punjab and all secular forces should strengthen Barnala's hand in solving the Punjab problem." In the view of Mr Jaikuna Dalit, a Congress(l) M.L.A and one of . the most vocal critics of the' Dubey government "though the Barnala government has failed, its sincerity is unquestionable. I am in favour of giving life to the Barnala government because it would mean giving life to secularism and commitment to the Punjab Accord. The fall of that government would mean direct success for the extremists. "

All Terrorism Condemned "We are opposed to the killing of innocent people in Punjab by both the terrorists and the police. We oppose both terrorism and the methods used by the government to curb Continued on page 15 col 1

20 April - 4 May 1987

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ARGENTINA: THE COUP THAT FAILED By Partha S. Banerjee

o ry Aquin o co uld h ave best appreciat ed Arge ntine preside nt Raul Alfonsin's feelings last week as thousands of people packed the streets of · Buenos Ail'es ina show of support to his democratically elected government. It was -a scene so reminiscent of Philippines's ' peopl~ powe r' revolution early last year that toppled dictator Ferdinand Marcos and installed Aquino as the nati0n's president. Last wee k in Argentina, much as last year in Philippines, the threat to the government came from sections of the army and it was the general population 's rallying behind Alfonsin that really cut it short. The army rebellion centered in the north-western city of Cordoba, some 500 miles from Buenos Aires. On Wednesday (April 15), Major Ernesto Barreiro, i::Iefying a government order to testilY before a court trying cases of human rights violations, took control of an al'my base in the city. Army officers in charge of neighbouring bases refused to lay se ige on Barreiro's base and thus declared open revolt against the government. Ever since Alfonsin was elected to power in late 1983, ending a repressive military regime, human rights crimes has been among Argentina's most contentious issues. During the military ;;oule, thousands of people in the Latin American coun try were killed and tortured by the authOl'ities, a tr.a gedy most tellingly brought home by the so-called 'Mothers of the Plaza', a group of women who silently marched through the streets displaying signs with names of their missing sons and husbands. Alfonsin' s government brought an end to that brutal repression, and indeed went one step further. It constituted special courts that would look into the human rights crimes 'and already several gener-als and admirals have been convicted. This has naturally antagonised a section of the army and the Cordoba revolt was an expression of that outraged feeling.

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Inste ad, president Alfonsin trie d to defu se the revolt by ope ning negotiations with arm v office rs. It was not i1l1~ediately cle ar if the Third Corps officers had the support of the rest of the army; what was clear" however, was ,that most of the country's population was behind Alfonsin. The pl'esident in .a speech at the National Congress declared his gove rnment would not bow to pressure from the rebels. L.it.er, in a nationwide broadcast, Alfonsin declared: "Democracy in Argentina was not negotiable." Meanwhile, even as people poured into the streets of Buenos Aires to voice support for the president, the revolt spread to an army base near the capital with a colonel, supported by 150 officers, declaring support to Major Barreiro. Alfonsin had a crucial meeting on Friday with the army chief of staff and other senior ranking officers and ministers at Government House . The army generals ple dged support for Alfonsin's government and orde red ge neral mobilisation to suppress the revolt. In Cordoba, as troops moved into the barracks held by the Third Army Corps, Major Barreiro made his escape and his subordinates surrendered.

Alfonsin Accomplishes Mission

Th e, rebe l officel's at the Buenos Aires base, however held out with Colonel Aida Rico, who led the m, seemirigly in a position of strength as troops sent by th e government to take over the barracks failed in their obje c ti ve. On ,Sunday, Pl'esident Alfonsin app'e ared on the balcony of Government House to announce, amidst cheers from the crowds on the street, a personal mission he was about to undertake to win over the rebel officers. A few hours later be was back on the balcony, mission accomplished. The mutiny had been averted . But apparently at some cost. Col Rico had agreed to surrenRight Wing Bastion del' but the president was Major Barreiro belonged to clearly conciliatory in his the Third Army Corps which is speech from the balcony of considered a rightwing bastion Government House. He said the of the Argentine military. TIle rebel officers had not intended lal'gest and most crucial fight- to topple his government, ing unit of the army, it was the reminded the crowd that many focus of oppos ition to the trial among the officers were heroes of offi cers charged with com- of the Falkland war (against mitting human right s crimes. Britain, in ] 982) and that they Barre iro demanded a ge nera l had now changed their "misamnesty for all military person- taken" attitude. On Monday, it ne l so accu sed , and re ports was announced that two servsuggested that at le ast 60 ing officers of the Buenos Aires officers had joine d his revolt. base, due to appear in a CorIn a statement release d to the · doba court in a human rights press, officers of the T hird crime case, have had their Army Corps based in COl'doba summons postponed. Court said they would obey no o rders officials ·were quoted as saying from Buenos Aires to cl'ack- they wel'e a cting on political down on the insurrection. Not advice . Meanwhile,the chief of that any such order came fl'Om army staff tendered his resignathe gove rnment though the tion and observers in Buenos milital'y base at Cordoba was Aires believed that several surrounded by police forces other generals are expected to and troops. fO.l Iow suit.

4

20 April - 4 May 1987

Arms Talks: Shultz Success at Moscow The disclosures .came slowly, in bits and pieces. By the end of last week, however, it was apparent that U.S. secretary of state, George Shultz's visit to Moscow earlier this mbnth, during which he had lengthy talks with his Soviet counterpart Eduard Shevardndze and general secretary Mikhail Gorbachev, had gone a long way in advancing the superpower's Duclear disarmament talks. Said President Reagan OJl' Thursday (April 16) after being appraised by Shultz of his discussions with the Soviet leaders: "I remain optimistic of an agreement (on eliminating intermediate range missiles from Europe) this year." Later in the week it was announced that at Shultz's talks in Moscow, a new idea to solve the verification tangle was put forward by the Soviet ~ide which the secretary of state approved in principle. The idea concerned testing nuclear devices. The Soviet Union proposed that the U.S. conduct a test on a Soviet site and the Soviets at an American site. This would allow both sides to calibrate their seismic monitoring system and thereby tally theit verification procedures. Verification obviously is central to any arms control agreement and no pact can ever be signed unless both sides can ensure that the other is not violating the terms.

Narrowing Differences The Moscow talks also "helped narrow the differences between the superpowers on the elimi.nation of intermediate range missiles (lNF). These nuclear weapons, with ranges of around 3,000 miles, are targeted mainJy at European cities and military installations and the superpowers hope to reach an agreement on their dism'antling within a year or two as a first step towards arms control. West European governments are however insisting on linking the proposed INF deal with the elimination of short range missiles, a class of weapons over which the Soviet Union enjoys an overwhelming superiority. Earlier this month, in Prague, Gorbachev agree.d to negotiate the removal of the short range w eapons though this would not be part of the INF deal. Judging by the lengths the superpowers 'are going,to reach an agreement on IIrms control, it is evident that both Mo/?Cow and Washington are keen on concluding a t least the INF deal before the Reagan presidency ends in 1988. Still smarting from the Iran arms scandal, the U. S. president desperately wants such a deal to crown his eight years at tHe White House

while Moscow, keen on diverting funds from the defence budget to developmental funds, seeS the next few months as the best chance to persuade America slow down the arms race. The U.S. in any case is keen that the Soviet Union not be perceived by the world as the only peace maker, a notion th~t Margaret Thatcher, the British prime minister, tried to quash at a rece nt visit to Moscow. In an interview that was telecast live to Russian audiences, Thatcher said: "There are

more nuclear weapons in the Soviet Union than.in any other country in the world. You have more inter-eontinental ' ballistic missiles and warheads than the West. You started· intermediate weapons; we. did not have any. You have more short-range ones than we have .... We in Britain destroyed our chemical weapons toward the .. end of the 1950s, and the US did npt modernise theirs. But the Soviet Union has modernised them and has a large stockpile... " (NEWSCRIPT) •

20,000 EVICTED INCALCUnA Calcutta, April 8: Nearly 20,000 squatters 'on the banks of the Palmer Bazar canal were evicted on the morning of April 8 and thei~ shanties bulldozed in one of the city's major eviction drives. A team of about 1,200 corporation staff accompanied by armed policemen asked the residents to vacate their hutments and launched a massive -eviction drive. The evictions are being executed to facilitate the dredging of the stagnated canal which forms the backbone of the city's drainage system: The desilting operation will reduce waterlogging in the city during monsoon, a corporation official said. . The slumdwellers did not protest the sudden eviction and, excepting an occasional brickbatting on the policemen on guard, the operation was peaceful till noon. At 6.30 am groups of corporation employees and armed policemen gathered near the backyard of the Entally slaughter house on S. C. Dey Road in east Calcutta and asked the poor dwellers to vacate their hutments. The bulldozing started on the west bank of the canal and people on the eastern side of the shallow canal were given four hours to clear out. Eviction on the east side was expected to commence in the afternoon. Said Mehrun Bibi, a 60-year old housewife living in the area: "We have been hearing about the eviction for years. Just before the elections the CPI(MJ candidate from Beliaghata had assured us that the plan has been deferred. But today, just two weeks after the elections, we were taken by. surprise. Groups of armed policemen prevented us from retrieving our belongings from the huts as the huge machines razed them to the ground." She began weeping as she narrated Qer plight, and added: "We have been staying in this locality for the last 23 years, and the government has made no alternative arrangements for us. Some of my trunks and utensils are dumped on the

road. Tell me, where are the politicians who made the tall promises before the polls?"

No

Protest, No Consolation

There was no organised protest whatsoever and none of the party leaders of the neighbourfng areas was pre. sent either to console the evicted or prevent the drive. The poor residents were busy retrieving bamboo poles and broken tiles of their shanties. While some of the 20,000 dwellers earn their living by selling plastic scrap, others manufacture cheap rubber' goods, recycle rags or are engaged in distillation of animal fat. Muhammed Shamim, 35, a settler in this area from Motihari in Bihar) complained that with the demolition of his manufacturing shed, he has no employment. He said: "All the residents' in the area earned their living from , small units here . . Apart from being homeless, we have another acute problem of reestablishment." He said, for the past two days the police had been announcing impending evictions which prompted them to meet the Mayor on April 7 for a sympathetic treatment. "But the mayor turned us away very rudely saying that the demolition had become necessary and there was no reason to stop it. Similar attempts to seek the help of the local MLA of Beliaghata proved futile." The lnational forum of the International Year of Shelter for the Homeless termed the morning drive as a "brutal eviction." In a press release, the forum claimed that it was perfectly possible to carry out the dredging without shifting the bulk of "the residents. , A police officer said the day long . demolition drive was being carried out over a 2.5 km stretch on each side of the canal from the Palmer Bazar end to the occupied area near the Eastern Metropolitan Bypass . •


_________________Gal~----------------Cong- I Causing Discord in U. P. Continued from page 1 col 5

Masjid has been built on .the debris of the Ram Janambhoomi and what justification can there be for a mosque at the birthplace of Lord Ram. " Whi.l e decrying the suggestion of converting the disputed place into a national monument. he retorted: " It would be perpetuating the shame of the majority community and a permanent source of humifiation for Hindus. Explaining " Hindu" liberalism he said: " Hindus are not bothered about one or the other mandir; neither do they normally go about c1aimirg places for their temples. Moreover. it is not material if a temple is moved from one place to another. But how can the birthplace of Lord Ram be different and how can we give up a claim to this place ?" Having taken part in the joint deliberations held in Delhi with Muslim leaders. the mahant said: "It is not certain if there would be further talks. Shahabuddin is a politician and even if he ' considers Hindu claims just. how would his interests in the politics of vote allow him to accept a solution and give it to the Hindus?" When asked about the growing dangers to the life and property of Muslims in Ayodhya ' and the looming carnage of its Muslim population. he said: "Only the people inheriting 'Jaichand' culture are scared of this danger. And even if it is given up under such an apprehension. would it satisfy the Muslims?"

'\

'Evidence for Apprehensions The danger of a carnage is not only an apprehension but very real. This becomes obvious from the speeches of a number of Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh leaders at a series of meetings in the districts of Lucknow. Unnao. Barabanki. Hardwar. Faizabad. Lakhimpur. Gonda. Balrampur. Sultanpur. Rai Bareilly. Pratapgarh and others - all within a 150 km range of Ayodhya. The speeches have proclaimed that those who are not faithful to the teachings of Lord Ram are neither'patriots nor Indians.

Also significant is the fact that every call given to the respective communities by one or the other committee - either to hoist black or saffron flags or to organise a protest.· has met with total success. It is worth mentioning that the Ram Janambhqomi Mukti Yagna Samiti's call for a UP bandh on March 29 this year met with absolute success among Hindus. And so was the counter bandh call by 10'c al Muslim . leaders in Faizabad and Kanpur. Untoward events were only avoided by the prompt deployment of security forces. But are the Indian military and para military forces dependable in protecting the minorities on such an emotionally surcharged issue as that of Ram Janambhoomil Babri Masjid? At least the Muslims in UP do not believe so. Dr MA Haleem, a vjce president of the All India Socialist Party and one of the most noncommunal leaders from the minority social background . said in Lucknow: "There is absolutely no law and order and virtually there is a reign of terror in the whole of Uttar Pradesh, The state is against everybody. but its main victims are harijans. backwards and minorities. Communalism and sectarianism are being propagated by the state through the official media by highlighting the rituals and practices of the majority community. The fanning up of the issue of Ram Janambhoomi is a glaring proof of the misdeeds of the state government in this regard.

Denial of Civil Rights Alleging the total denial of civil rights in Uttar Pradesh Dr Haleem said:. "Since ·the return of Mrs Gandhi to power. section 144 has been a permanent feature in Lucknow and other important places in . the state. which has been converted into a police state. The stale and central governments ate denying the minorities their minimum religious and civil liberties - the tax ::10 fo.reign travel exchange. which would

NEWSHOUND

hit pilgrims most is the latest example of this." Mr Ibne Hasan. a Lucknow advocate with Marxist views believes "the issue of Babri Masjid has generated unprecedented tension in UP and this is the single issue which has successfully electrified both hindu and Muslim sentiment. in post-independent India. . The organisers and leaders connected with this issue are just paper tigel·s. The tensions have been so worked up that ~eemingly there is no solution to it. The only way to ease the situation is a national dialogue."

Growing Muslim Insecurity Analysing the causes for. the development of dangerous dimensions around the issue of Babri Masjid. Mr Hasan siad that consciously or unconsciously, Arun Nehru (who was then Union Minister of State of Horne) committed a Himalayan blunder by manipulating the opening of the locks of the .m andir by a court order. Muslims do not mind giving up their' claims to one or the other mosque, but tensions have been so highlighted around Babri Masjid, that giving it up will only result in generating a sense of insecurity among them. Mr Hasan added: "The leaders of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad have vitiated the social climate in UP villages through malicious propaganda to a dangerous extent. For the last three years Muslims, having faced ' the ordeal of being dubbed as traitors, are living under the threat of total annihilation in Ayodhya. Moreover, wherever communal riots have taken place, be it Moradabad, A1igarh, or elsewhere, they have suffered and fought the police and the P.A.C. Even at the present time something fishy is.being worked up. A local resident of Ayodhya, Mohd Abdul Hamid revealed . that there are about 200 Muslim families who live in Ayodhya. Threats to their life and property are growing every day. The Hindus are nursiI).g ideas

of freeing the birthplace of their Bhagwan Ram from traces of not only the Babri Masjid but also the minority population. Their targets also include 150 local mosques and 70 graveyards.

Ayodhya's Hindu / Ethos Enquiries from adminlstraJ tive sources revealed that in a ten kilometre area of AyodhyaFaizabad there are about, 4 ,500 temples and plac'1s of Itndu worship. Moreove~ out .of Ayodhya's 750,000 inhabi~nts, there are about 5 ,500 sadhus and pandas, most of them 'with unverifiable antecedents. That the local law and drder situation is far from satisfactory is evident from a report in a Hindi daily, Naye Log, published from Faizabad on March 3. The paper notes that. the terror of goondas, anti-soCial elements and criminals in Ayodhya is growing out of bounds. The use of country made ' pistols, thefts and wayside robberies are becoming a routine affair. The local police does get active after the crime, but such cases are ~oon . filed as untraced. '''The unpredictability of the pre. dominatly Hindu religious population's behaviour in any outburst of tension can only be highlighted by a seemhigly unrelated fact. During the last decade, the local , post offices have become richer by about 13 crores of rupees. Tltese deposits have come from the dormant and· dead savings bank accounts of untraced sadhus of whom there is no record: where they came from and where they went. Keeping in view that a number of bloody battles have been fought 'between Hindus and Muslims before and after Independence, it is unfortunate that the local population, both in Faizabad and Ayodhya, seems to be resigne'd to ' the inevitable. As one citizen put it: "Even in 1853 some ' 300 muslims were killed and 30 persons died in 1947; even now some may die, but so what? Who is' interested in defusing the situation?"

On the contrary. instead of seeking out a solution or attempting to checf its drift into an explosive affair all concerned parties are trying to add to the confusion anQ surcharging the atmosplulre. This would be evident from a book "Shri Ram Janambhoomi ka Ratranjit Hihas" (Tn'e bloody history of Ram Janam'bhoomi). which says. Lord . Ram appeared on September 22. 1949 at the place called Babri Masjid. The district authorities. in accordance with section 145, IPC. declared this piace as disputed and attached. anc1 then Hindus went in a civil litigation to prove their claim. In the meantime. the then district magistrate of Faizabad. KK Nayyer refused to follow the state government orders of removing the idol of Lord Ram from the disputed place and sought retirment. Later Nayyer and his wife used this episode to begin a profitable political career.

Opening of the Lock How was the lock of Ram Janambhoomi opened? The same book says: "The Vishwa Hindu Parishad had threatened to force open the lock on the Ramnawa!Di day in 1986. The state administration got active and a local advocate Umeshchandra Pandey went to the district and sessiops court with the plea to open the lock and allow him, as Hindu. freedom of worship; on wl}ich plea the said court ordered to open the lock." Siginificant is the assertion in the book: "Just as the order was passed, a ~ w.aiting city kotwal BP Singh opened the lock on February

a

1986."

Quoting page 109 of the book, a former Congress member of the Lok Sabha, who did not want to be identified, alleged: "The chief minister was instrumental in the opening of the lock and is still supporting both Hindu and Muslim leaders to fan up tensions on the issue, so . as to keep his gaddi intact. " •

By Rap

RA11'1 HAS ASK~D HARYAN4 TO MAINTAIN 1H~ VALLJ~~ OF tvtAAA~HARATA

,•

20 April - 4 May 1987

5


. __& fe_c_tl_o_n_S~ l· F&um _R_e_Vl_·e_W_S __R_e__ ____________(3azet~

Vivan Sundaram's' Journey' By Srimati Lal haps all my work is 'western' in forms from Chinese art. Matisa broad sense, because of the se, many moderns ... through medium used, and possibly these processes emerges a conbecause I am an Indian and am sistent truth . I do not see the not 'rooted' ... but I'd like to necessity to have a single style think it's not really very impor- - to stick to that style alone," tant to me whet~er my style says the artist. tilts one way or another." Exploratory What, then, are the artist's Visions primary concerns? In Sundaram's 'Journeys' ':My concern is to doc ument the process through which you exploratory visions of ship, sea arl'ive at yourself - not to aI)d harbour seem to conexpress anyone philosophical, sCiously express a - world-view, 'Ganga's Pageant' to ~es th e ti c or political viewpoint. from To be alert to my medium, to 'Crossing the Nile', 'Two Fisherbe sensitive to its nuances. To mel1 in China', 'Harb04r in look at the way I .understnad Hamburg' and 'Cargo From myself, 'lly location in history Two Civilisations'. In technique and time, just as one would as well, east and west are itenexamine some phenomenon .... sely fused to create sinuous disI'm not interested in develop- . tortions and a cerebral absting a set 'style', one that can be ·raction of tone that is a noticeimmediately identified with a able departure from the artist's more figurative, commonality of ideas, imagery previous a nd medium. My teacher at naturalistic studies. Here, there M.S. University in Baroda, K.G. is the same quality of poetry, of Subramanium, to me epitom- deep mystery, that is Sunises a wide, varied look - a daram's hallmark, but more look I have great admiration · intensely so, as the artist · for. He upturns so many of our appears to be groping for a conventional notions of'rooted- new form, a new language. ness' by using diverse quota- This 'searching' imparts a tio I? s, by parody, by employing further power, even a quality of Continued on page 13, co/3

On Indian- ness' in modern Indian art I

"I believe that the stereotyped, simplified notions of 'Indian-ness which we carryon the exterior can lack exploration . - this is a 'Iook'which can be conservative and tyrannical. I'm critical of such strong neo-traditlonalism that carries with it several loaded implications - for example, is one 'national' or 'anti-nationa/~ .. ? It is not always possible to have a shared language. And I cannot be a populist: to be so would mean my death as an artist Western artists like Delacroix, Matisse, Gauguin, Picasso, 'went outside' their own cultures to evolve new idioms. The Indian artist too, has a right to do so, and must assert this right He can taJse any location as his startIng point If this is done more actively, political intervention becomes more possible, a new respect can be gained in the west II

)

On I Universality' in art

he political oppositions of the 'traditional' and the ' modern' in art .conities of choice among critics Illes of choice among ClrtlCS and artists. VYhile some talented and established cri tics like Arany Banerjee of Calcutta (who pa~sed away suddenly on the April 22) assert the vital necessity of a 'traditional' component in modern Indian art, others, like the Calcuttabased Punjabi painter Rajen Bali, are vocal about the need to break away from such traditional idioms. In the words of Arany Banerjee, who was himself a painter: "An Indian artist's works, I am firmly convinced, should proclaim his Indian identity. This does not mean taking resort to that wishywashy stuff · that is, for some reason or other, known as the New Bengal School. Or shutting up like a clam and remaining

T

6

20 April - 4 May 1987

isolated from the art isti c happenings of the world. Nor does it make an artist a complete Indian of today, for the chasm of history can make a person as distant as th e gulf of geography. Jamini Roy was not a clam ... not only did he make several copies of French Impressionist works, he also employed their styles in his own pictures." Rajen Bali, on the other hand, proclaimed in a recent interview in the capita l : " 1 have always been telling people to break away from tradition, -to dip into yoUI' own minds for themes, and let your own voice grow .. . a creative medium should be universal in its appeal and not restrict itself by community, religion and such like. What is 'Indian-ness'? Am I not an Indian? What is Indian art if it d e nies an artist the freedom to express?" Bali is of the opinion that "Tagore was the first modern Indian pain tel'

to break ·the stranglehold of tradition. " A ma jor aspect which is, perhaps by necessity, overlooked in Bali's statement is that Tagore's art was utterly original: it had no derivatives whatsoever. Its ' univel'sality' stemmed from the manner in which it delved deep into the inne rmost mind of . the post, itself a world in mic roCOSIll.

Vivan's Journeys · Vi lIa II Sundaram 's most recen t e .\ hibilion , e ntitled 'Journeys', for ty ~vorks in soft pastel on paper that were on at the Gallery Aurobindo in April, gropes towards an expression of the latter idea l. Its content is mystical, spirit ual, abstractly elaborating upon an awareness that " the world is large, and is one. " In its m ediu m and form of ex pression, however, one cannot overlook the influence of western modern art: as the artist him se lf co nceds: " Per-

"Today, we can strike out with whatever baggage we have: we can utilise all the richness of our own contribution, Jamini Roy, the Bengal School, Sher-GiJ, and also incorporate western contributions. The previous generation, Akbar, Souza, Padamsee, went to the west to 'discover the avant-garde: as it were, but today's Indian artist is more capable of being accepted in the West on entirely his own terms. But this should not stop the .process of .selfquestioning that's vital to a new language. It's this which can liberate, not all the lingams and the so- called Indianisms. "

On the Indian in his own art: "I would like to. believe that my palette is not entirely of western origins, that much the same colours may be found in Indian miniatures and eastern illuminated paintings. .. in my pastel work 'The Orientalist: a non-rational, nonperspectival (hence non-western) use 0; space is employed. The blue here is an 'artificial', Indian blue; the orange is Indian and decorative. A 'flat' Indian perspective is used to the left of the picture."

On art and contemporary reality: "I have given visual form to Pablo Neruda 's poems and expressed the injustices of the Indian Emergency in 197577. I have also set up the Committee for Communal Harmony in Delhi to counter growing communalism. I am a topical artist, I do take up certain immediate themes; but ye~ one goes beyond these. Historically art takes time to be comprehended and it is necessary to work in relative isolation... I'm not at all in favour of the Apna Utsav kind of popularisation - this has to be a slower, educative process; indirect methods are much more effective."

.'


o___________ f&u m fl e_c_tl_o_n_S d R_e__ _R_e_v_ie_w_s__a_n___ (3azet~

An Allslralian Looks At India Jats, which made every Sikh a leader!

Australian academic Robin Jeffrey ha s made a valuable contribution to India watching chronicles with his WHAT'S HAPPENING TO INDIA (The .Macmillan Press Ltd, London, 1986: pp. 249 .. price not listed). Jeffrey taught in a government high school in Chandigarh in 1967-69, spent time in Kerala doing research for a book OTT Nayar dominance, and is a Senior Lecturer in politics at La Trobe University, Melbourne. His varied experience and his confessed fascination with India, par-ticularly Punjab, invests this highly readable, informative book with an understanding often lacking in drier academic works. This is not a scholarly treatise. Nor is it a journalistic 'quickie'. Well researched, it is, in a sense, contemporary history, in which the human p e rsonalities come alive. The author has relied heavily on newspaper ana magazine sources, and this injects ·a sense of immediacy into the work. But the character of the study compels the writer to deal in a somewhat perfunctory manner with some aspects of what is happening to India. He explains in his preface th .. t he decided to write the book in answer to the question (which he has made the title), which was repeatedly being asked in November 1984 after Mrs Gandhi's assassination. He gives his answer through an analysis of events in Punjab over the past two decades, an analysis he extrapolates to cover events in the rest of the country. For in spite of factors unique to Punjab, the author's view is that in essen'ee developments "in other states are dictated by similar forces and pressures. These he traces to the impact of certain components of modernisation increased government activity, expansion of communications in every area, both in transport and media, spread of ideas of competition - on the older cultures.

Impact of Modernisation on Punjab In Punjab, which he knows well, Jeffrey traces how such modernisation has sharpened ethnic differences (as it has in other parts of the country), how, when exploited by short term political considerations, ethnicity can lead to violence. " For national politicians to encourage aggressive, ethnic ·assertion - as the Congress (I) party did in Punjab between 1978-80 - simply to undermine political rivals, is fraught with dangers. It ought to be regarded as the equivalent of poision gas in the second world war or nuclear weapons ... " . These are strong words from the author. He argues these points convincingly in discussing ,the growing assertion of Sikh identity, in analysing Mrs Gandhi's electoral arithmetic after 1980 and while explaining the events ·leading up to the assault on the Golden Temple. The book is divided into chapters on "Ethnicity", " Punjab", "Sikhs", " Innovations", "Politics 1947-1977", " Faction", " Explosion" and finally "What's Happening to India? Besides

presenting in detail Punjab developments to illustrate what is happening in the rest of the country, Jeffrey's "pook is a strong, almost impassioned plea for federalism, as the only way to preserve the Indian nation-state with ·its enormous population, its five major religions, 15 official languages, thousands of caste groupings, 22 (s ince then 24) states with their dozens of sub-regions. Again Punjab is the glaring example of the dangerous consequences of Mrs · Gandhi's desire " to hold all the reins in her hand" . But Jeffrey warns " If voters are constantly frustrated - if central governments disregard local pride, aspirations and opinions - the possibility exists for secessionists to acquire popularity. " Punjab is only one example, Andhra another, and no state is immune. Jeffrey's relation of the Punjab story to the larger Indian perspective ensures him a large readership oQtside India . What is of greater interest to Indian readers perhaps is his analysis of specific developments, of the interact·i on of various factors, such as the revolution in communications with the traditional violence inherent in Jat culture, and the rapid spread of literacy in the state with the politicisation of Sikh youth.

one of th e lowest figures in the country. Betwe en 1961-66 only 2,280 kilometres of road were built. But in one year, 1969-70, ·the added lengt h was 1,920 kilometI'es, and by 1975 there were 25,000 kilometres of road. By 1980, 9.'> per cent of villages wen~ linke d by sealed roads. By 1974 seventyeigh t percent of the primary age c hild ren in Statistics on Punjab Punjab were in schoo ls, the second highest figure in the His statistics on Punjab as a country. More than 80 per cent. cQmplete picture will come as of the rural population h ad secondary schools within eight a surprise to many Indian kilometres. The number of readers. In 1980, Punjab's students ' increased estimated Gross Domestic Pro- college duct per person was Rs 2528, from 35,000 in 1964-65 to 1, to,nearly 20 per cent greater than 000 in the mid-1970s. Not that the education was progressive. second placed Maharashtra. the contrary, literacy including Bombay. Occupying On 50,400 square kilometres, 1.5 increased from 27 per cent of the state'li population to 41 per perce nt of India's land area, Punjab, in recent years, until cent in 1981 , 47 per ce nt for males and 34 percent for 1984-85, produced more than to million tonnes of foodgrains females. So eliminating boys of annually, about seven per cent ten and under from th e statis. tics, this meant that in 1980 of the national total. The stat~ has 10 per cent of three out of every five males in India's TV sets, 19 per· cent of Punjab could read and write. Circulation of all lang-uage its tractors (1985 figures), Punjabis use more than twice as daily newspapers pub-Iished in much electricity per hour as· Punjab I'egistered a 312 per . the "average 'Indian", and since cent increase from 1967- 1979 1976 the state claim!! that every with a 541 per cent increase in village has electriCity. Punjabis Gurmukhi script papers. These significan t figures put more than three times as much fertilizer for each hectare directly influenced people's of land as the average Indian attitudes a nd reactions ·a nd farmer, and of that la nd more played a vital role in the sociothan 80 p er cent is irrigated economic an d political devagainst the national average of elopments Jeffi'ey . desc-ribes. 28 per cent. The average Pun- Coupled with the low GDP from industry, this also helps · jabi has a life expectancy of 65 years, for others the figure is explain the deep-seated frustraiion of yo ung, literate Sikhs, 47. But with all this, less than 2S per cent of the state's GOP. many of them in the All India Sikh Students' Federation. comes from industry. This is

The Revolution in Communications

Resentment Against Centre Jeffrey touches on th e sensed injustice in Punjab and m entions t hat for politicians Punjab sends on ly 13 members to Parliament, while Uttar Pradesh sends 85 . So party majorities cannot b e based on Punjab's ·strength, a p la in fact which controls the distribution of natio na l resources. In 'centra l planning too Punjab gets the thin' edge of the wedge, being a border state, and in both cases the Government, which, as the author points out earlier, js playing . an increasingly active part in people's lives; one of the components of modernisation , becomes the focus of resentment. Jeffrey touches on ot h er im portant fa ctors - the legacy of Ranjit Singh's Si kh kingdom, and the glo.-ies of th e past, the trauma of Pal'tition in which Sikhs were esse ntially the greatest sufferers, the importance of river water etc .. In his profile of the S!khs, Jeffrey stresses the tradition of sacrifice, th e organisation of th e misls, the mobility derived from military service which cont ributed immensely to the exposure of the community to new ideas fmm foreign experiences all of which influence con temporary developmen·ts. Tracing the growth of th e Akali "Oal and SGPC he comments on the relative lack of political foresight and sophistication of the Sikh leadership before Partition and after, and highlights the tradition, particularly true of the

In the author's view the revolution in £ommunications has made the most important impact on developm~nts . in~ India. His contention "·i s that today more Indians ate exposed to more ideas than ever before, through travel, through media, through mutual exchange of ideas . . This has produced a great ferment. He cites many relevant illustrations the November 1984 killings when TV and radio repeatedly identified Sikhs as Mrs Gandhi's killers and TV showed her body lying in state day after day; the December 1984 elections with Congress (I) exploiting to the full, posters of a bleeding Mrs Gandhi - the author has used this on his cover - along with cassettes of her speeches; the Bhindranwale cult was spread through cassette tapes while the vast mad network in the state facilitated not only Bhindranwale's travelling cum preaching, but later allowed terrorists to use motorcycles and jeeps for rapid assaults and get-aways: - - He explains the change in the . nature of violence which ha s always been characteristic of Punjab, (because he says he sees it as essentially still a peasant society) through the technical innovations in weap:ons and communications. In the past, killings were personal. the man who killed his personal enemy recognised the value of life, and often risked his own. People's movements . were limited areawise, weapons were simpler, identification easier. To-day's indiscriminate killings occur because "Expanded communications networks now bombard Pun- · jabis with information that enables them to treat other people as abstractions" and "mass hatl'ed" has replaced p ersonal enmities. The outline of 1947 to 1977 politics lays emphasis on the .delib·e rate denigration of the Punjabi language, .on the struggle between Sikh leaders, how the rise of Jat influence under Sant Fateh Singh changed the character of the Akali Dal. Congress party machinations to split the Aka lis, culminating in the 1977 elections. The coverage of these years is perforce, relatively perfunctory, inevitable in such a study and many Punjabi watchers may disagree with the author's interpretation of events.

Factional Politics His account of the factional nature of Punjab politics makes absorbing reading, particularly when he traces Bhindranwafe's rise and the SGPC elections. He sees a parallel between Bhindranwale and N.T.H. , both in their separate ways, invoking the glories of the past. Equally Continued on page 15, co/3

20 April \:' 4 May 1987

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Forum Gazette

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Minority Rights Civil Liberties Equality for Women Democratic Values Environmental Protection

Hypocracy Unlimited Let us put an " nd to this hvpocracy and s top talking about assuaging Sikh feelings. about the" h ea ling touch." These have become cliches, d eva lu ed, ))ow calcu lated to provoke Sikh ange r, rather than instill confidence. The ruling p arty's noisy int erruptions in the Rajya Sabha to Akali M. P. General J.S. Aurora's reference to the Misl'a Commission report and th e Congressmen w h o m even Justi ce Misra. fe lt com pe lle d to imlict for the ir rule in the i\:ove mber 1~184 carnage, b e tra vs th e real s(~ntinwnts of th e c() untr~! s ruling part y. Inst ea d ot th e fu 'lI disc u ss ion iJn th e H(~po rt which all thos(~ int eres t( ~ d in seeing justice don e, irres peCtive of party or community, had hoped for and expected in this Parliame ntary session, eve n comme nt on, and quot a tions from th e Report itse lf were objected to. One of th e Nov(~ mhp.r 1 ~184 widows re'm<;lrk nd aft e l' th e Repol't was re leas(~ d " E\'I~ n ifon p. p (!rso n is Jlll nished Olll ' h ea rt s \vould he more at peace. " If tlw go\'(~rnment is seriolls, is sincere, ahout applying balm to Sikh wounds. all it ha s to do is to bring th e guilty to hook, to perform its simple duty under law. But the govel'nment is not serious, not sincere and it appears that Congressmen are beyond th e law, even when murder is involved. The Prime Minister was prese nt in the Upper House during Genel'a) Aurora's speech . He sat in silence whil~ his fellow party members created an uproar, his silence a tacit approval. The excuse for not having a full discussion on the Misra report during this Parliament session appears to be that " more important matters" -President-Prime Minister controverse\', Fairfax, Bofors - took up Parliament's lime. But is th e re anything"more import3lnt in.'he larger perspective than justice for an estranged, alienated part ot the population? Parliament sessions have been prolonged for much less. Whv not for this discussion') Anotheropen wound for' the Sikhs is the continued detention of the Jodhpur prioners.'Before Baisakhi. April 14, there was much talk of their release as a gesture to th e Sikh comMiunity of the Centre's bonafides. The d e tenus "'(.jll complete three long years of imprisonment nex t month. Even though the government has admitted that many of them are co mpletely innocent. pilgrims tl'apped in the Golden Temple complex by the army operations. But Baisakhf has come and gone. The d e te nus are s till in jail. Screening of -innocents continues, ' we are told, hence the delay. But the truth is that the detenus, innocent or othenvis~have become a convenient human bargaining fa ctor in a " pa'tkage aeaL" which the Centre knows well the Barnala government, handica ppe d by its total loss of credibility in Punjab, cannot accept. The fate of these men and women, the impact of their continued incarceration on the Sikh community, are irrelevant. Sceptics - they make up th e vast 1l1a jority of pe rsons - had predcted all a long that nothing would happe n befOf'e th e Haryana e lections. And nothing has. Now th e important qu es tion is : \-vill anything happen after the Harya na poll on June 17? We doubt it. The detenus are in for a long innings. The Sikh wounds will continue to fester. Unless by some miracle - and in this country of godmen and godwomen, miracles cannot be ruled out - New, Delhi gets itself a Punjab policv aiIned a t solution of th e Punjab prdblem. Pres"ently such a policy do es not exist. Instead there has been, for the past six years at least, an ad hoc strategy di ctated purely by Congress (II electoral considerations and drawn up by mep who have no understanding of the factors which have created the crisis. In this srratet,'Y Haryana's poll is the decisive factor to-day. Tomorrow it will be something else. Meanwhile the Punjab crisis is fast b ecoming chronic. The tl'Ouble with chronic crisis, as with chronic illness, is thai evervone, in man\' cases the patient included, tends to tak e the condition for granted. Boredom sets ir~ . So.metim es the primal')' cause is forgolte~. All sense of urgency is lost. Everyone learns to live with the crisis, or illness. So we have a situation today where politicians of all parties, the Akalis included, are no longer concerned with resolving the crisis on a prlOl'i ty basis. They are only concel'l1ed with the ir own interests and sutviva I. So Punjab's Finance Ministel: c reats an impos'sible situation for his government by asking for the d e parture (jr. the D,G. of Police, who according tomany reports has achieved a degree of success in combatting terrorism to the satisfaction of the people of the state. The Centre, which is suppol,ting thp...D. G. , does' not counsel him to avoid giving press inte rvi ews in which-' he makes highly controversial statements s uc h as the n eed for a poli ce official in his position to be given the powers of an army commander. The Centre continues to treat Punjab's Chief Minister like a vassal. telling him what he should and should not do. No other Chief Minister, even ofCongress( IJ ruled states, IS given his "Of'ders", headlined in the media, in such a manner. And MI'. Bal'l1ala accepts the situation, with only a mild protest now and again, such as attending the meet of Opposition Chief Ministel'S, and is reported as "commuting" between Delhi and Chandigarh in order to survive. His opponents in the other AkCfIi faction continue to play their political games, at times supporting the extremist youth groups, at other times remaining silent. And Professor Darshan S1ngh Ragi blows hot and cold about the terrorists and others, speakingthe lanugtiage of reason' to individuals who are still hoping to find . the road to peace with honour in Punjab, and speaking tbe language of extremism while addressing people's conclaves, supposedly meant only for religious preaching. untroubled by J)is ambiguity. '11' the drift is not to e nd in disaster, and the chronic illness in the final solution, people's pressure must be mobilized to force 'a n end to these political games and demand that public interest be made the priority. The tragedy of the much vaunted Indian democracy is that such people's pressures I'e main dormant. Delhi Sikhs, with the support of all those men , women and children who seek justice, could give the lead by organising a massive protest march against the Misra Commission Report through the capital concluding ih a pul~lic meetingto demand justice, not forthe \'ictimsofNovember 1984 alone, but for victim's of injustice anywhere and everywhere in the country.

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20 April- 4 May 1987

Religion Politics & the Indian Ethos By Balraj Pu.i Despite ih stout d e fian ce of Ihe hllk ,/T;lIlama of th e Akal Takht. II)(~ ,\kali Dal ILl. has refuse d to folio'.\-' tbe ca ll of th e. Prinw Ministel' and national parties to separate religion from politics. Inst e ad il has d(! c id! ~ d to launch a pure lv religious campaign of amril pra c har among the Sikh . lIlass(~ s . Yet it is also supposed 10 le ad Ihe current campaign of sec ulal' forces against communalism in Punjali. ThtH'(! shouhl be nothing surprising about th(~ Akali stand. The Akali Da l was after all bol'll ,.a nd has grovvn in gurudwaras. Far from c riticising th e I'eIigion-base d Akali move menl , the national leaders had th e n hail.ed it as a vanguard of the fl'eedom move m en t.. In a similal' way, another stalwal't of the frendom movement. Sheikh Abdulla Ii, fou ght his decisive battles againsi th e Mlislim League and its slogan of Pakistan fl'Om th e mosqu es and shrines of Kashmir. (\gain , tlw e ntil'e · tribe of l/Iem le d by Mau lan a Azad use d th eological ilrgum e nts in support of its concept of a co mposite nationalism V\'hereas leaders lik e Sir S~{ e d Ahmad Khan, Dr Mohammad Iqbal a nd M.A. Jinnah argue d th e case for a separate Muslim id e ntity on the basis of secular d e mands . like an adequate s hare ill job's and political powe rfor Muslims. Above all it was Gandhi who not only made th e most potent mixtul'e of I'eligion and politics but also said that those who demanded their separa ti on did not know what religion was. Indeed, before starting a discussion on the relationship between religion and politics, it must first of all be clarified what . religion is . . As a set of ideas and values it has a role as . a source of inspiration for many of its followers . It is neither possible nor justified to deprive theI11 of this source. Moreover, religious theories and dogmas, however deficient they may be in rational content, are not known to · have caused any contlict between religious communities in India. The contlict is more due ' to communal than religious causes. Heligion , however, is not m ere ly a matt e i' of e thical values and spiritual beitel's. Those who insist that religion shou ld be a matter betw~en a man and his maker betray an inadequat e understanding of the I'Ol e of religion. For, most re ligions also have a social . philosophy and provide a basis 1'01' identitv formation. Everv religion is ;1 social communi";. Even tho~e \I\;ho do not shal:e its ideological beliefs 01' ' are agnostic, 1'01'111 a part of th e community by virtue of tneir family and social ties. Most communities te nd to acquir() socio-politi ca l aspirations. Various' forces of illodernisatioll have the effect of sharpening tl wir urge foj' iden-

titv. Development. mobility, m edia expansion, politic isation and adult franchis e further encoUl'age a sense of selt~ awareness among .th e p e ople, As class, political and ideological identities have not grown fast e nough , re ligiolls identities have stepped in to fill the vacuum .

ca l identity of a community wou ld not only be a negation of the entire history of religious ' COmmUl1ltles in . India but would . also retard its gl'Owth, To seek unity of;,p community on the .basis of cQ,qlplete politica l agl'eement would. imply a 19S5 of political fre e do·m · fOl' its individual 111embers. Such ' unity can be maintained only Common Franchise by regimenta tior' and arousing As the; franchise of gur- ' , the passions of th e community to a hysterical pitch vvhich candwaras and legislatures is the not be in its inte rest. same and as th e former have T he hllkamnama of the Akal greater m~bilisationaJ capacity than political institutions, an Takht has b ee n critiCised for its inevitable overlapping ' of attempt to subordinate politics to re li gion . But it can be view~d religion and politics has taken 1'l'Om another iingle as an place in the case of th e Sikhs, UncleI' th ese cil'l;umstances, attempt to ac hieve panthic no seculal; system ca n be built . unit~~ on the basis of political unit\', In this sense it amounts in India by dismissing altoto th e subordination of religion gether the reality of communal identities and their claims to to politic!!. It is not ' m e r~ly a eco nomic and political in- qu es tion of whether l'eligio·ll. or politics should domiliate over fluence and powe r. th e other but more importantly The rea l qu estion, is whal is whether unity of a religious the legitimate field fOl' th ese ide ntities and the degree of commullitv ciln be maintaine d their autonom\'. For an answer hy a co mmon political party. Ihe western e .xpe ri e nce may The ve ry fact t!1at th e hukamnot be e ntire ly I'e leva nt. FOI~ .nama does not apply to th(~ Sikh m e mbe rs of. say, th e Conunlike India. most. th e western gress pal'ty, Janata party, Comcountries are inhabited bv a munist party and othei's, single re li gious communit\'. implies admission of its limitaMoreover, Christian political tion . It is clearly not possible to parties e xist in Illany of them bring all th e m e mbers of the eve n nov" and almos-! all of community on a single political the m have a history of dominaplatform . Further, the fact that tion of th e church over th e a' large num.ber of Sikh, within State. and outside · Punjab, have not India's o\-\' n past experience responded to th e call of Prof. is perhaps more I;e levant .and Darshan Singh Ragi to join the he lpful. For unlik e th e West, united Akali Dal and to bov.co·tt India does not ha\'e a historv of th e ruling Akali Dal leaders, a theocratic state . As far as Hinindicates that th e h Ilk am na ma dus are concerned, th ere is no has not achieved the desired treatise of politics that is regarobjective of Panthic unit\'. ded by them as an infallible If all politica l pal'ties were to scripture, In fact th e tradition be organise d exclusively on a of raja and rishi repre sents a religious basis and all Vbters clear distinction between a followed their respective spiritual and a temporal I'Ol e, religious parties, the system of though both share an equal election would become redun. status. In the case of 800 ' yeal's oJ dant and the political balance Muslim. rule in India, there was . would be frozen in proportion always a clear supremacy of to the respective numerical strength of variolls parties. This th e secular authority. The king lead to exclusive and not the ulema was 'vl/ould domination by a permanent supreme. _majority over ' permanent minLesso'n of Sikh orities alld to total exclusion of the latter from political power. . History Thus a complete merger of Sikh history has almost a instiiutionalised religion and sirililar lesson. The fact that institutionalised politics into it spiritual and ·temporal affairs mOJ1olithic forum wOllldcreate were conceptualised in Sikh as anamololls a situation as .tradition by two terms of peeri their complete se paration. In and mceri. symbolised by two pl;actice, memhers of every swords and .the two separate community need to seek forums of Harminder Sahib and association with members of Akal Tak ht. c learly implied a other communities to pl'Omote duality. The tVI/O concepts were th e il' class, professional and closely related but were cultural interests th l'Ough separate. After the g uru s, the organbations of peasants, leadership and institutions of w.orkers, occupational groups, spil'itual and temporal act ietc. So far no religious leader vi ties became more dishas objected to the autonomy linctively autonomous. The of these institutions from Akal Takht at no stage assumed , religion. \;\I hy should not th e a political role nor any Sikh same apply to politics also in ruler a religious rol e. ·The tw o the interest of intellectual roles were neither completelv freedom of th e members of th e separated 1101' com pt!l(!!P 1\' cllml11unit ~ and , as pointed out merged . ahove, of its own unity'! These Any ' attempt 10 projm:t a areas of activity canno t he put monolithic ndigilllls and politi- Continued on page 10, col 5


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Discrimination against Sikhs in U.P. unjabi farmers have tra n sformed the dangero u s and swa mpy jong les of th e Terai into th e second granary of India and Punjabi bus iness m e n ha ve built up th e ir s u ccessful commercial e nt erpr ises th e l'e after mig r a ting fl'om Pakistan, throu g h shee r h ard work and initia lly minimal re tUl' n s. T h e il' s uccess ca ug ht th e evil eye of Congress politicians who found here an o ppo rtunity to go in fo r rabble rousing against th e Punjabis. 'Rep rese nt a ti o ns to th e Ce ntre \",'ere m e t with empty assurances but no m eas ures were taken. Discrimination bv th e UP governme.nt aga in s t th e Sikh s' of th e Tend da tes back to th e ea rly J ~J70s, Freq u en t c irc ul a l's we re se nt .ou t by th e s ta te (- ' gove mm en t to th e loca l ad" - minis tration .to discollf'age Sikh settl ers, Now, takin g full advanta g(~ of the prese nt s itua tion in Punjab, th e UP governme nt has aga in issu ed instructions to th e loca l administrat ion which are discriminatory against Sikhs, m a king it ope n to the c h a rge o f abetting and e nco ura g ing d estabili sa tion of th e Sikh co mmunitv. Bageshwar Sa hib Gurud\\' ara was d e m o li s h e d a nd looted an d a statu e of Mrs Indira Ga ndhi \vas reported to ha ve been in s ta ll ed on th e spo t wh e re Guru Nana k had sat in Sa madhi Im editation). T his statue h as now been removed .. But compensa ti o n for th e damage is s aid to be denied by th e UP c hi ef minist er, on th e '~ round that th e re is now no " Sikh p o pula ti(,Jn th ere, At Gurudwara Na nak Malia , . police is ' post e d outside th e gurlldwanl, but they move a ro und frequently \,v ithin th e g urud wa ra pre mises by cour-. tesy of th e loca l g urudw a ra managing committee, which w as impose d on the Sikhs after o usting th e pro- Akali m a n agin g committee heade d by S Harind el' Singh, Sikhs are not allowed to stay in gllrudwaras, To Sikhs, lhe gUI'udwara is like a home and th ey ha ve eve ry right to s tay th e re, Denial of th e Ijght' to stay in gllrud wa ra s is direc t interfe l'e nce in the religious affairs of th e Sikhs, Sikh houses are be ing co nstantly searched und e r Lh e excuse that te rroris ts are be in g sheltered, - Sikh passe n ge rs are s ingl ed out from buses a nd th e ir luggage ransacked, Body searches are carri e d out oli Sikh ""omen by male poli ce, adding to their hu niliation , In th e matt er of jobs there is total discrimination against ~ikhs by th e UP govef'f1m e nt. T h e s am e is tru e in th e mailer of granting a rm s lice nces. Very rare ly is a li ce n ce' given to a Sikh , while li ce nces are g iven to others quit e free ly, Compensation for d es troye d propert~ ' . is not be ing . given. \\'h eJ'(~ it is be in g offered , it is so dispropc)I'ti o nat e ,to tlw actual loss that th e pe opit! af'f~ n ~ fllsin g to acce pt till! clai_ln Hald\\'ani aloIW,. 200 shops ,'

P

;t....

The following note on the situation of ~ikhs in UP Terai was distributed to all MPs from Punjab by Inderjit Singh Jaijee, MLA 'Punj:lb Assembly. We reprodtIce it here and ","ould welcome any further detailed information on the subject. h~JlIses a nd abo ut 50 tru cks a nd , cars were destroyed a nd ransacke d und e r tIH-~- ve ry nose of th e ad minis tra ti o n in Novembe r 1984.

Non-Action by State Governments Und e l' th e Rajiv-Longowal acco l'Cl. · th e Aka li Dal had agme d to limit e nqui ries into th e comm un a l ca l'llage Lo Bokaro, Kan pur a nd De lhi. T hi s \\' as a li agree ment be tween th e Akali Dal and th e Ce ntre. T his did not. ho weve r, absolve s ta te govern m e nts from making their own inquiri es a nd ta kin g ac ti o n aga in s t th e m isc rea nts , aga in s t politi c ians who aided and a betted th e m ·and against e rr in g officers a t places like De hradu'n , Hald\\'ani. e tc. Sh o p s and houses were burnt ,md loo ted be fOl'e th e eyes of th e SDO, Ha ldwani IBhatnagar). Suc h officers ha ve mere ly bee n tralls fe rre d , but no ac ti o n h as bee n ta ke n against th em. In th e p as t. Co ng ress e lection cam paign s in Te l'a i w e re \'irtuall v finan ced by th e Sikh s. T his was a SOl' t of prot ec ti o n money g ive n to the r ulin g pa rty T h e Hald vvan i s hopkeepf!rs, apart fro m g ivi ng m o ney for the Co ngr ess e lec ti o n fund , were fish in th e Co ngress III pond . This did no t s a ve th e m from th e Co ngress III anti-Sikh ve nd e tta after Mrs Ga ndhi 's assassination . Rece ntl v a DIG o f th e l iP police came' out w ith s tatisti cs about th e I'ecove rv o f arms .from Sikhs in th e Te rai and a bput the un earthing o l: o ll e g un factory produ ci ng 12 bore p is tols, Wh~/ did h e not m ention compara tive figures of w e apo ns reco ve re d from distri c ts like Morena , Mora dabad , Jhansi. Meerut and KanpUl,'? Hard Iy a da y passes w h e n g un fa c to ri es of th e ty p e d escribe d by th e DIG a re no t dis cove re d in th ese dis tri c ts.

Inderjit Singh Jaijee's Advice Addressing meetings o f res-

ponsible Sikh. c iti ze n;" in 1:"erai'J /",Ir inderj i t Sin g h Jaijee ad-

BAJRANG BALI He is a s turdy Hindu Sa tn am i Jat from Ha ryana. Ilis real na m e is Chaudhri Bajrang Si ng h . Besides being an M.A LL.B. , h e has innumel'able acade mi c distin c ti ons includin g two go ld m edals. He is prac tising advocate of th e Sup re m e Court. It is because of th e exe mplary co urage h t! s howed in fa c ing ra mpagin g mobs thirsting for hum an blood that I prefer to think of him as Bajrang Bali. th e warrior monk ey of . th e' Ramayana. In th e flood of h a te and w ickedn ess that eng ul fed Delhi following Mrs Gand hi's ll1urde'r, Ba jrang s tood out aSA beaco n o f lig ht s h ow in g pe opie th e way Gandhi had s h ow n in ri o t-Lol'll Indi a. H e a nd h is fa mil y 1I1f'ew in a ll th e ir I'eso urce s to fee d , c lo th e, a nel ho use Sikh famili es w hi c h had bee n uprooted fl'om th e ir hom es. He go t th e m jobs and acco mmod a ti o n : h e arra nged re mar ria ges of w id ows. He was a mon gs t th e · h a ndful w h o ig nored th rea ts to his .. life and \'o lunt eered to g ive evide nce be fore th e Misl' a Co mm iss ion against kn ow n kill ers and police officers w h o collud ed with th e m , T h e police ha ve no love 1'01' him , Two a ttempt s ~' ere mad e to kiII him. He rema in ed und a unt e d . A gra tefu l COI11munitv honou re d him as bes t as it co uid wi th siropas (robes of ho n o ur); on the las t Rep ubli c Day th e P.unjab Govern m e nt co n, fe n'e d o n him th e hi gh es t Stat e

awal'd w ith a don a tion of Rs 5 vise d th e m to sort ou t th e ir lakh s- all of which he put in eco nom ic a nd political prot rus t for I'efugees, bl e ms th e m se lves. In th e matT h e kind of assista'n ce he rente r of religion, h e sa ici , Sikhs a ll d e r e d to beleagu e r e d Sikhs, he is over th e' world are one. , now e xte ndin g to Hindu refugee "Vhil e a lal'ge majol' ity of th e fami li es w h o have fl e'd from th e 20 lakh Tel'a i Sikh s favo ur th e Punjab. Anyo n e with any conAka li DaI IBI, h e advis ed th e UP scie nce wo uld ha ve thought that Sikh s to d e ve lop loca l politi ca l a m a n like him would be roo ts liy jo ining secular pal,ti es accla im e d a th e Mahatma relike .I ana ta, Lu k Dal and CPM, in ca m a te d. Not so in th e India of which are sy mp a th e ti c towards 1987. He is ill jail. He h as been tOf'th e Sikh pro bl em, He ' a lso Lured, He is brought to co urt in advised th e m to Jorge close r handcuffs. He is s uffering from links ~\' ith other minoriL v co mth roa t a ilm e nt s u s p ected to be munities, sche dul e d castes and cancerous. T h e doc tor of th e AIlschedul e d tl'ibes ,,,id throu gh India In s tilut e of Medical Scienth e ir o\'\'n p e rsona l cond u c t ces h as reco mme nde d that h e be demonstrat e that th ey are flown to Am erica for surgery. m e mb e l's o f a ca s te less re ligAm erican s u rgeo n s h ave agreed iou s bod y, wh ic h ha s, at h ea rt to opera te o n hIm if h e co m es on th e we lfa re of a ll mankind. tim e . He has not ";Iske d th e He ' sugges te d th e id ea of Govel~nment or anyonp e lse for dual political part y memfinancial assis tan ce but his bers hip - o n e for Punjab and application for release offol'eign one i'o r th e a d opt(~d s ta te. exc h ange remains unanswered. Acco rdin g to him , this has Does thi s make sense to yo u? iJecome necessan ' as th e Co nKHUSHWANT SINGH gress has c ummunalise d the politi cal env ironm e nt. He al so s ugges te d th a L Si khs se t u p lega l cell s to he lp ot he r Sikhs in In a displ ay of co mmuna l har- K irpa n em bl e m struck to 'th e di s ll'ess. llIony rare th ese d ays, a Hindu , a chass is. This Muslim partne r He also calle d o n Sikhs to -diversify asset s and dive rt ·Mu s lim an d Sikh pool e d th e ir fin a lly too k th e ve hicle to hi s resources to bu~' a three-wJl ee ler mosque, had th e Imam Sahib bu sin ess - farm surpluses to tax i. They agre e d to d ecorat e it 'read th e Fa lih a over it a nd th e , Punjab and to non- Co ngI'esslD non-Hindi states, Those living with symbols of the ir res p ecti ve h o ly num eral 786 painte d on the faiihs - two of eac h . Firs t, th e mirror. Ca n anyone guess what in communally disturbe d Hindu took it to th e temple to be was th e second Muslim ritual loca liti es, should move over to bl eesed by a p ri es \. T h e n he h ad , perform ed on the three-wheeth e safety of sllch localities "Om " a nd "J ai ,'>Jata Di " painte d ler? Only when it came bac k it ~¥.here Sikhs have a sizeable popula tion and take protec- o n it s front. Nex t came th e Sal'- was making a lot more noise darji. He too k th e three-w h eeler th an it did before it was taken for tion throug h numbers ill the absence of s u c h protection by to a g Uf'dwara , m ade it bow th e ope ration, be for e th e Gra nth Sa hib IMaltha the state law and order enforcT ik aa n al , had a "E k Onk a r " pain(Contributed by Harjeet KaurI' ing mac hinery, te d in front a nd a KhandaNew Delhi) Mr .laij ee re minde d th e UP gove mm e nt of it s olJli~ation ' to ca nt .manner. The wealth a nd Kashmiri, which have a tak e actioll aga in s t th ose ge n era ted by th e m h as gOI1f: negligilJle represe ntation in the news papers which are sprea d- into ci rcu lat io n in UP it self to s ta~e, . Very few schools are I ing anti-S ikh fee lings, He a lso th e adva nceme nt an d better- e n co urage d to opt for Punjabi. point ed o ut to th e UP govel'll- m e nt of th e ir adopted s't a te. He has asked the Congress(l) In th e m a ll e I' of lang u age l ea d er~hip to cast aside narrow m e nt that th e Si,khs have d eve lo pe d th e eco nomy of th e. policy, h e not ed that while e lectora l considerations and in Te rai and th e SLate a nd unlike Punja bis a re clearly th e third the national interest become o th er com muniti es h ave not larges t li ng u a l gro up in th e more tol era nt of other faiths tra ll sfe rre d th e ir eamin gs to stil te, th e Punjabi la n g uage h as and ling ual groups and other th e ir pare nt state in any sig nifi- been . bracke ted with Te lug u party governments, •

EWSHOUND WAAT\'t451He MAIN 1HPfAT 10 L-AW ANJ> o.RD';RiJIHJ)A lUf. TtRffORI5T?

Communal Hannony

By·Rap

MURDA

H~

POLJCEMA

20 April - 4 May 1987

9


_A_M __a_tt_e_r_O~f_p_e_o~p_le__________________~~________________________________

K.R. Gouri .misses

again By Mukundan C Menon

rivandrum : The veteran Marxist leader of Kerala, Mrs K R Gouri (67), has once again missed the chief ministership. . The decision of CPM's . Kerala State Committee, taken on March 26 after consultation with its Politburo, in favour of E K Nayanar for the post, once again surprised many. During the hectic poll campaign, the news that Gouri would become the chief minister was spread by CPI(M)-led Left Democratic Front (LDF) Which could comer the votes of the lower caste Eazhava community, to which Gouri belongs. Because of the same reason, the Eazhavas political outfit, the Socialist Republic Party (SRP) belonging to the Congress-l led UDF, failed to win a single seat. . Gouri's chief ministership in the event of the LDF victory was so certain that the popular Malayalam daily Mathrubhumi displayed a three-column picture on its front page on March 25 along with the details of the popular mandate achieved by LDF. The picture, showing the Marxist leader walking to the Secretariat, was 路 captioned "Marxist leader K R Gouri onto the chief minister's chair within the Secretariat". On the same day, the other popular daily, Malayala Manorama, also predicted in its front page that K R Gouri would become the chief minister. It also said that although Nayanar was re-elected to the Assembly, l:te was unlikely to head the LDF cabinet.

the case in 1967 when Gouri became the food and revenue minister in the first LDF ministry, headed by Namboodiripad. . While the recent victory was Gouri's seventh term in the Assembly, Nayanar was elected only for the fourth term.

T

Nayanar's Rebel Document One of the main reasons for

Forward caste communists There is yet another interesting factor A Majority of the rankand-file of undivided communist party and, later, both of CPI and CPl(M) belonged to the backthis strong opinion being spread ward caste Eazhavas. yet, all the against Nayanar was his being hitherto communist chief minisondee of the nine sign~tories, ters of Kerala - EMS Namboodialong with the now discredited ripad, C Achutha Menon, P K Communist Marxist Party (CMP) Vasudevan Nair and E K Nayanar leader M V Raghavan, to put - belonged to the forward forward the rebel document in castes. Therefore, the less expethe CPI(M) state party confer- rienced E K Nayanar's chief minence at Eranakulam in 1985, istership over the much expearguing for alliance with Muslim- rienced Gouri in 1980 did create League and Kerala Congress to some minor ripples and internal defeat the Congress-I led UDF. debates in CPI(Ml. Although the compulsions of While Nayanar later shifted his position to narrowly escape CPl(M) to qhoose Nayanar again from party punishment, Ragha- for the post are yet to be spelt van consistently persued his out, it is believed that his perrebel document, and broke away sonal and political qualities to form his own political outfit weighed against Gouri. The CMP in July last year, which major consideration was said to faced total rejection from the be the wider acceptance of Nayanar by the other LDF electorates in the recent polls. Even earlier, there were mur- partners. His experience in murs when Nayanar was chosen heading the 1980-81 LDF with troublesome to head the 1980 LDF Cabinet in Cabinet, which K R Gouri was agriculture partners like the Congress-S minister. This was because, headed by A K Antony and the when Gouri was the revenue Kerala Congress (Mani Group), minister in the ' first-ever com- favoured him 路 again this time, munist ministry headed by EMS since the CPl(M) leadership Namboodiripad in 1957, Nayanar wanted to see that the present was only a journalist in the par- cabinet would at all cost comty's Malayalam daily. So also was plete its five-year term. Thus, E K

Nayanar became the third communist leader of Kerala to become the chief minibier for a second term - the other two being Namboodiripad and AchuthaMenon.

for Gouri "Sal).adu" and for Thomas "Rose House". Being adjacent blHlglows, they kept a wicket-gate between the two, converted one of them as their living quarters and the other as I\alathilparambilRaman Gouri residential offices of the ministehad a chequered history with rial couple. Gouri and Thomas again many ups and downs. Born pn became occupants of 'Sanadu' the soil of hectic agrarian struggles of Alleppey district, Gouri's and 'Rose House" in 1967 as minfather, kalathilparambll Raman, isters but this time they were was a poor peasant tilling the ' members of two separate parlalld of the local Hindu temple ties. The communist party had devaswam. Yet he struggled split three years earlier, and hard to educate' Gouri, least while Gouri had joined CPl(M), knowing that she would one day her husband stayed with the implement the stringent land- CPl. Thus, although they were reform bill as revenue minister once again occupants of in 1957 to liberate the millions of "Sanadu" and "Rose House", the was closed peasantry from the YOke of feu- Wicket-gate permanently. dalism in Kerala. From 1969,'when the CPl with The Gourl Thomas Marriage Congress support pulled down Gouri graduated in law and the CPM-Ied LDF government, I married T V Thomas, one of the till the death of Thomas in 1977, foremost CPl leaders of Kerala. the frozen and cold relationship 'Both being leading activists of between the two communist the undivided communist party, parties also affected the Gouritheir comradeship led to Thomas couple. When Thomas was on his death bed, the CPI matrimony. Committee formally While practising in Shertalai State informed the CPI(M) State leadcourts in 1952, Gouri was first elected to the then Travancore- ership about Thomas' last desire to meet Gouri. CPl(M) allowed Cochiri Assembly. She has since been continuously elected her for a fifteen-minute meeting except in the 1977 polls when with her husband, but only in she tasted her first defeat at the the presence of .a comrade hands of a CPl candidate with deputed by the party. Had Gouri been selected for Congress-l backing. the chief ministership by' the It was in the first uRdivided CPI(M) State Committee, she communist lcabinet headed by would have created history as Namboodiripad in 1957 that the first famale chief minister of Gouri became revenue minister south India. (NEWSCRIPT) and Thomas the industrial minister. Both of them then had separate ministerial bunglows -

~========~------------------~----------------------~-----t,.~)

Sport

Indian Hockey: Moving Backwards By Gurbax Singh

two years. But where does Indian hockey go from here?

I remember the national hockey championships held nearly ten years back in 1978 at Madurai. The tournament was thoroughly mismanaged and the living and playing conditions were deplorable. Indian hockey has been dlrough man}' ups and downs since then, but the recently concluded national hockey championships at Pune took the game to the lowest depths. A tournament in which nearly 30 teams participated was rounded off in eight days ! The fall-out of the tournament which passed off as the national meet was that the Indian Hockey Federation secretary, K L PassL submitted his resignation which the IHJ" president, M A M Ramaswamy promptly tore up, and thal the Maharashtra Hockey Association has been debarred from holding any tournament for

10

20 April - 4 May 1987

I remember the na tional hockey championships held nearly ten years back in 1978 at Madurai. The tournament was thoroughly mismanaged and the living and playing conditions were deplorable. Indian hockey has been through many ups and downs since then, but the recently concluded national hockey championships at Pune took the game to the lowest depths. A tournament in which nearly 30 teams participated wa.s rounded off in eight days! The fall-out of the .tournament which passed . off as the national meet was that the Indian Hockey Federation secretary K L Passi, submitted his resignation which the IHF president M.A.M. Ramaswamy promptly tore up, and that the Maharashtra Hockey Association has been ' debarred from holding any tournament for two years. But where does Indian Hockey go from here? The recently conducted Pune Nationa ls were deplorable in 'every aspect. Lack 路of funds caml0t be an excuse for the w ay the Nationals were conducted because the ITC had contributed Rs 2. 5 la khs to the tournament. The teams were mostly put up in army barracks

without even fa ns, and w er:e asked to playas much as fou r matches in three days after travelling from extreme corners of the country. Most astonishing, now, is that when no recognised form of hodtey anywhere in the world is played on natural surfaces, we have our Nationals played on surfaces worse than grass. The failure to mould our players on astro turf and polygrass is the main reason ~for our failure at the international level.

Start From Grassroots Now the hockey planners are involved in talking of tactics to be adopted at the inteI'national level. I feel, it is a typical case of putting the cart befOl:e the horse. Why don't we sit togethe r and plan out things re-orga nise hockey from the grass root level and have better fields and living 'conditions. Tactics should come only after we have the basic amenities. What is the point in making our boys slog in gravel fields and then expect them to take on European teams ? Everything abol,lt our hockey now is lopsided. The ne xt major national meet is the Junior National

from where a junior team to play in the Australasia meet to be held in Delhi will be selected. The Junior Nationals, if I remember right, is scheduled to be held once again on natural grass - in Bhopal. I strongly fe el that event if it is delayed by a month it should be held on .astra turf. Three teams from the Delhi tournament w ill qua lify for the Junior World Cup and if we manage to qualify, it will go a long way in forming a strong second stI'ing tea路m. But nobody seems to be thinking along these lines. The government's attitude to the game is .also not encouraging. MoSt of the time Mr Passi, who is the Indian representative to the FIH, is not able to attend crucial meetings because he is not cleared in time by the government. Our public relations e xercises at the international level have also plummeted. The result is that the former world champions have no say in crucial matters like choosing of ve nues or change ot rules. Passi's trip to Kuala Lum-' pur to attend a FIH meeting has till now not been cleared. Even if it is cleared at the eleventh hour, as is usually the practice, it does not he lp much. Everything it seems is rotten in the state of Indian hockey.

(Gurbux Singh was the joint captain of the Indian hock ey team to the Tokyo Olympics and along with the late Prithipal Singh, formed the famed deep defence of Indian hockey for long. He was also member of the national selection committee and is actively involved in hockey as coach, referee and administrator.).

Religion, Politics and The Indian Ethos Continued from page 8, co/5 into wateI'-tight compartments. Nor can they be merged into a single monolithic entity without emasculating them. Instead of posing the question in, either/ or terms; a more fruitful line of approach would be to debate the appropriate nature of the relationship between religion and politics in an institutional and . ideological sense and to define the spheres of the ir autonomy. In undertaking ...thiS task, India's own historil!1I experience and current realities should be ignored.


:The

_T_h_iS~r_o_rt~.n_~~h_t_S'_S_to_ry__________________~~~~~__~______~, ----------------------I ~,

SINDBAD THE SAILOR.COM·ES TO INDIA

(PART - I)

By Mujtaba Hussain entlemen, I am Sindbad, Sindbad the sailor, who travelled little but wrote many travelogues. Actually many of these travelogues had . been written without undertaking any journey whatsoever. But as luck would have it my travel books became so popular that my publishers brought out dozens of editions to meet an ever . increasing demand for them. But the beauty of it was that every new edition was brought out in such a surreptitious manner that I was the only one not to know about it. So when I received another request to write another travelogue for them I was not at all surprised. Their only inter, est was to get hold of the manuscript as earl:y as possible so that they could bring out its golden jubilee edition and load their wives with all the golden jewellery in the world while I remained poor and uncared for. So, I told my publishers that the possibility of undertaking such a venture was remote. To. begin with, I had become so old and feeble that seeing me holding my walking stick it was difficult to tell whether it was the s.tick which was supporting me, or if it was the other wav round. The second thing that I told them was that I had lost the knack of travelling without a ticket; and to travel with a proper ticket would not only hurt my self respect but also \- nit my reputation as a· self\ tufficient Fakeer. So, what I .' suggested to them was to allow me to use myoid technique and write yet another travelogue without doing the travelling. But this time they argued that I had already written enough imaginery travel books, so, it was high time that I produced a travelogue by experiencing a real journey.' . Having committed myself to do as my publishers wished, I started thinking about the possibility of going to an interesting country. I was still raking my brain when report after report of communal riots in India started pouring in. It was stated that communal riots in India had become the order of the day. The seeds of such riots, it was reported, were sown every year, and every year crop after crop of human heads was harvested. Having read such fantastic descriptions about the Indian riots I developed an overpowering desire to see them for myself and give my sinful eyes the satisfaction and the intoxicating joy' of enjoying a rare spectacle. Ultimately, when I shared my desire with some of my unemployed friends, one of them suggested lhat if my sale aim was just to see the riots, I should go to America where racial riots were u.ncommonly common. Another · one inte,,,ened and

G

C

said, "But if you want to see told me it was easy to reach a hundred percent pure and Inma safe · and sound, but unadulterated riot" then you almost impossible to come must go to India. The riots back intact. Consequently, I there are so pure . that you kept my entire luggage in a state of reamness so that 'I won't find a trace of humanity in them. The finesse with could just pick it up and which the heads of human dash out of Inma on receiving beings are chopped off, and the first danger signal. Once in Inma I found that I the knives thrust- into their bodies, defies description." I was unable to make any permanent arraflgement for my was also ' told by a friend that rioting was a kind of support board and lodging. But as I in India and has been there came to know later it was since ancient times. He went quite a normal thing in that so far as to say that anyone country. Most of the Inmans who hasn't seen the Indian had no permanent roof over their heads ' and no steady riots has lived his life in vain. Another friend came forward source for earning their daily with the opinion thai though bread. In fact, most of them the Taj MahaL Ajanta and used the whole country as a Ellorawere certainly wOlth temporary abode - a Serai, seeing, India's communal riots · and in the end they went were unique and were not to straight for their heavenly abodes without . clearing their be missed on any account. debts and rent arrears. So, I That settled the r'natter, and too selected a spacious and a I started borrowing the things necessary for the journey. Hav- lively place under a railway ing done so I set out for my bridge and began to live there. trip to India. Facing . a ·I shared . this . place with four hundred hazards of overland local wanderers who ' went out journey and escaping the · begging ' during the day ' and watchful eyes of the ticket when they came 'back in the inspectors I reached India safe evening, they spent their ' time relating the interesting things and sound. But the moment i they had observed during the reached there a strong anxiety day. gripped my heart. Friends had

..... ...

.'..,

.•...

In Inma a wandering men- also get some food to eat. BUl dicant, like the ones I have they refysed my offer and told mentioned, is called a Dervish. me thai being a foreigner I was their honoured guest. It hardly took me any time to become a part of this group Inmans were known for their of Dervishes, · and I got mixed hospitality and indulged in . it up with them as sugar mixes so much that they had with milk. We were so much become notorious all ov~r the alike that it was mfficult to world_ They never allow~d a mstinguish one from the guest to beg for his . food. other. But as sorm as these Instead they went. out themDervishes came to know that I selves and begged for him. was a foreign traveller, and Frankly speaking I felt .that that my name was Sindbad being hospitable in such a the Sailor, they gave loud guf- manner was easy as it cost the host absolutely nothing. I faws and said, "Every traveller was told that doing things in who steps on this land thinks that he is Sindbad. You this way was prevalent in happen to be the eighth one. Inma from top to bottom. I But you don 't have to worry! was also told that whenever Just stay here for ' some time the people of Inma asked for and we are sure you will assistance from their govern~ ment, the latter met their come to your senses." Anyway being incognito suited me fine. demands by securing aid from I had no desire to remove foreign countries. One thing their misconception as I cancelled out the other, and wanted to protect the huge all the business transactions of amount of money hidden the Indians were settled in under the rags I was wearing. this manner. Anyway, I spent a long and happy time in the Soon these Dervishes started treating me as one of them. I company of these Dervishes. too came forward to show my During this time I had a solidarity with them by offer- chance to gain mastery and a ing to accompany them in .rare expertise in the use of their daily excursions. I s~ch rel&Xing and inspinng thought that it would give me things as hash, rr:.iJ'ijuaoa and an opportunity to relax and smack. All along I had deliberately . avoided telling these Dervishes the purpose of my visit to India. The reason wis that I soon "found out that ' Indians were great masters in the art of spenmng !ife without a purpose. They had no desire to search for a purpose in their own lives and they rarely tried to know what . purpose others were living for. One fine day, thinking the time oppartune, I opened my heart before the Dervishes. "Brothers," I said, "I want to tell you that I came all the way to your country to see with my own eyes . the faqtastic riots of your fantastic country. So, I request you to do something so that I can fulfil my wish." The very mention of riots agitated the Dervishes. One of them .was so upset that he said, "Listen Sindbad, you seem to be an agent of .some foreign power. I am afraid I have begun to doubt your intentions. I warn you not to mention this word in aLII' presence. Perhaps you don't know that it is because of these very riots that we have become Dervishes, and .are now spending the remaining part of our lives under this railway bridge. Before we came here we too were Hindus and Muslims like the others. By chance we happened to be neighbours and when rioting began, it is with our own hands that we set fire to each other's houses and attacked each other with sticks. It was only when we . had lost everything the members of our families our wealth and property - that we realised that we had remained neither Hindus nor Muslims. We were reduced to '

.. '

Continued on page 13 col 4 '

20 April- 4 May 1987

11


:the

_H_e_r_it_a~g_e_&__H_is_t_o~ry~________________~~~________________________________

TEGH BAHADUR· •• THE "NINTH GURU egh Bahadur, the youngest son of the sixth Guru, Guru Har Gobind, . was born on April 1, 1621. According to tradition he was named "Tegh" because his father foresaw that he would be powerful eriough to endure the "tegh", sword. As a young man Tegh Bahadur had been so withdrawn into himself and a life of contemplation that Guru Har Gobind did not namehimas his successor. However when the young eighth Guru, Guru Hat Krishen; the grand-nephew of Tegh Bahadur; was dying in Delhi, stricken with small pox, he indicated to the people around him that the next guru was .to be an older "lan living in the village of Bakala. :'Baba Bakala" were alleged to be hiS words. Kushwant Singh writes in his History of the Sikhs : "Tegh Bahadur was a man of retiring habits who did not wish to fight for his rights. But his very reluctance to press for recognition turned the Sikh masses in his favour" . Tegh Bahadur's love of meditation is expressed in his own words: "0 brother, nothing in this world can be thine forever; Therefore think of Him alone and live alooffrom the sorrows of life. Plunge "thyself again and again in this thought, And see what little the ~rld ·contains that can promise augh~ , The illussion of magic colours, bewitches you again without purpose, Therefore turn within and see the Truth within ihyself" Having "be e n calle d by the community, the 40 years old Tegh Ba hadur left Baka la for Amritsar. But when Guru Ha r Go bind had shifted his seat to Kiratpur, most of his disciples had followed him and the temple at Amritsar had fallen into the hands of the " masands. They refused Tegh Bahadur entry and shut the doors of " the Harimandir against him. So from Amritsar the Guru went to Kiratpur. But when he left the Harimandir for the village of Wadala where he stayed in the simple home of a devout disciple, the people of Amritsar hearing what had happened, came to meet him and, it is said, the women of the c~ty took the lead "and accompanied him, singing all the way.

him back to Punjab. It was not considered advisable for the mother and child to take the long journey with him so they stayed at Patna ·whe.·e the young Gobind passed the first seven yearS" of his Ii.e.

T

The Founding of "Anandpur He founded the town of Anandpur, when his envious cousins and nephews troubled him so much in Kiratpur that he was forced to retire"into the wilderness. He bought a hillock near the village of Makhowal, five miles north of Kiratpur, and built a village for himself. Here he hoped to find peace and solitude, and he named it "Anandpur" , the haven of bliss. But even there his quarrelsome kinsmliln would not leave him in peace and he decided to leave Punjab un"til the atmos phere changed.

12

20April-4 May1987

Aurangzeb and Punjab

.~ ~t t

With his wife and mother he started on his extensive travels eastwards, a kind of missionary tour spreading the message of Sikhism. He visited Kurukshetra, Agra, Prayag, Varanasi and Gaya. 'Khushwant Singh says: "Wherever he went, the Sikhs acclaimed him as their guru. When he arrived in the vicinity of Delhi, Ram Rai, (the ' elder son of the seventh guru, Guru Har Rai)' who was still in attendance at the Mughal court.· had him arrested as an ' imposter and disturber of the peace. After investigation the charge was dropped and the Guru allowed to proceed on his way." (Khushwant Singh explains earlier that when Guru Har Rai sent Ram Rai to Empp-mr Aurangzeb's court to· represent him, Aurangzeb decided to keep Ram Rai in Delhi believing that with the Guru's future successor in his power, he would be able to decide the future of the Sikh community. When Ram Rai'/! "sycophancy" at the Mughal court turned his father against him, ' the latter announced the succession would pass to his younger son, Hari Kfishen.)

The Guru's Political Mediation TElgh Bahadur finally reached Patna in Bihar. By then his wife was in an advanced state of pregnancy and could npt travel further, so the Guru left her with his mother in Patna and continued his journey eastwards to Dacca and Kam-' rup. Wherever he went, he resurrected the memory of Guru Nanak who had been "there before him, and given his message to the peQple. From Patna, Raja Ram Singh accol'J1panied the Guru whose blessings and spiritual support he sought for an expedition to Bengal on which he had been sent by Aurangzeb. When Tegh Bahadur reached the "banks of the Brahma-

In Punjab the Guru found that Emoperor Aurangzeb had started his policy of religious persecution. In his History of Aurangzeb, Sir IN Sarkar quotes Kharif Khan: "Aurangzeb ordered the temples and the Sikhs to be destroyed and the Guru's agents (masands), for collecting the tithes and presents of the faithful, to be expelled from the ' cities. " To quote Khushwant Singh: "There were stories of the demolition of temples and forcible conve rsions; taxes had been reimposed on Hindus visiting their places of pilgrimage. Tegh Bahadur's rivals had discreetly disappeared from the scene. It was left to him to instil confidence among his own people and the Hindus, who had now begun to look to the Sikhs to protect them from the tyranny of officials" Tne Guru ultimately sent his fa mily to Ana ndpur. But he h imself did not stay the re long. He tra velle d exte ns ively a round Punjab exhorting pe ople to take a firm stand in the face of the p e rsecution. Whereve r he went large crowds flo cke d to him.

Kazi's court. Khush~ant Singh writes: "Emperor Aurangzeb was not in Delhi at the time. But there is little doubt that the . policy of persecution of the non-Muslims had been renewed at his personal command, and the execution of Tegh Behadur, who was looked upon as the leader of the Hindu s, had his tacit approval. Two followers of Tegh Bahadur were also beheiided; the others haq escaped." .' Having refused conversion the Guru' s fate was sealed Sikh historians recorded that when the Guru refused all persuastion, the jailors turned to one of his followers, Bhai Mati 'Das, and offered him the choic~ between Islam and a horrible death by being sawn alive into " two like of log of wood. Bhai Mati Das refused to abjure his faith and died a martyr's death. The other disciple, M staunch in his faith as Mat... Das, was, boiled alive in a' cauidron of water, . before Tegh Bahadur's eyes. But the Guru could not be shaken and was sentenced to be publicly beheaded. Khushwant Singh gives the version of Ratan Singh Bhangu, who, in his Pracin Panch Prakas states that on the Guru's refusa l to accept Islam, the Chief Kazi asked him to save himself by some of the mirac ulous pow ers he was alleged to possess. The Guru wrote some thing on a piece of pape r and tied it with a string round his ne ck. This, he told the Kazi, would prevent the executer from c utting his head. When the Guru's head was severe d, the piece of pape r wa ~ I opened. It read "Sis Diya pa? , sirr na diya" - " I give my head . but n01 my secret" .

putra river, the Raja of Kamrup came to pay homage to him and on this occasion the Guru was able to bring. about a peaceful settlement between the Raja of Kamrup and R'aja Ram Singh, thus avoiding a battle between them. In memory of this event, and in sacred memory of the Guru's visit, a high mound was raised According to Sikh historians, at Dhubri by the .soldiers of Sher Afghan, the Subedar of both sides. The village and , Kashmir, had already convergurudwara of Dhubri have an ted more than half the people interesting legend. It is said under his governance to Islam that across the Brahmaputra and was continuing his conver.where the Guru stopped there sions. His main efforts came to lived a -'dhoban', possess ing be concentrated on the high magical powers. She would not caste Hindus, the Pandits of allow any man of god to stay To Anandpur and Kashmir. He offered them the anywhere near her home and choice between Islam . and Rakab Ganj when Guru Tegh Behadur death. They prayed for time to came, she threw the trunk of a Tegh Bahadur was executed think over his ultimatum and big peepul tree at him. But the in Chandni Chowk on Novemthey went' to Anandpur and peepal did the Guru no harm ber 11 , 1675. The court had told the Guru their terrible and began to grow there . . She ordered that the body should predicament. then threw an enormous rock, be quartered and exposed to Khushwant Singh,citing Macbut the Guru was not hurt, and public view and his followers auliffe,gives this version: " .. . a she gave up. -She crossed the were not allowed to take ifaway. delegation of Kashmiri Brahmriver to meet the man who was Gurudwara Sisganj stands on ins had approache d the Guru not affected by her magic and the place of execution. Sikh to help them out of their preexplained that she would tradition has it th~t on that day dicament. (They had 'been follow him but wanted her a great duststorm swept the ordered to accept conversion to name to be remembered. The city and the sky became blood Islam!. The Guru is alleged . to Guru agreed to her request by re d. Under cover of the storm have advised them" to tell the naming the place 'Dhubbri'. the daring Bhai Jaita, a devoted Mughal officials that if Tegh The tree and the rock can be disciple, picked up the Guru's Bahadur would accept converseen near the gurudwara, head, and escaped with it to sion they would follow suit. where, every " year, on the The Guru was consequently Anandpur, whe re it was cremaanniversary of the Guru's marted by Tegh Behadur's son, summoned to Delhi.... " tyrdom, thousands of people Gobind Rai. The extreme devogather from the whole eastern tion of the low caste BhaUaita Summons to Delhi so region to celebrate. touched Gobind Rai that he The emperor's emissaries flung his arms around Bhai The Guru visited Sikh cencame to Anandpur to summon Jaita's neck and blessed him tres in Sylhet. Chittagong and the Guru to Delhi. He did not Sondip. During this journey the and his community. go with them but promised to Raja of Assam invited the Guru The martyreg Tegh Bahafollow . He wanted to see some dur's body was removed" under to his state "and, according to of his diSCiples on the way to _ "cover of darkness oy another tradition, became his disciple. Delhi and he took his own time devout Sikh, Bhai Lakhi, whose While Tegh Bahitdur was in and his 9wn route. But the convoy of carts was moving out Dacca,news came of the birth Mughal officers declared him of Delhi Fort towards Chandni of his son, on December 26, missing and named him an Chowk after having unloaded 1666. Bllt he spent nearly three absconder and issued a war- supplies. While .the storm was years in Assam before returnrant for his arrest. ' At Agra, still raging, Bhai Lakhi lifted ing to Patna to be with his along with fi ve of his disciples, the body on to the carts and family. However, ' h e was unathe Gu ru gave 'himself up to the drove the 9arts sw iftly to his ble to spend much time with empe ror's m e n: the child, na m ed. Gobind Rai. hom e at Rakab Ganj . He From Agra he was taken to liremated the body imm'e diUrge nt m essages summoned Delhi a nd brought" before the Continued on page 14 col1


--------~~--~---A Faltering Second Front Continued from page 1, col2

This crusade has also begun to reveal its disastrous economic consequences. Thousands of small and marginal farmers, who used to supplement their meagre incomes by poultry farming, are now finding it extremely difficult to sell eggs and table birds in the nearby markets and they do not have the requisite resources to market their goods in far off metropolitan cities. They are being, therefore, con strained to make distress sales both to retrieve some of their capital and escape a shadowy assassin's builet

Anti-Tobacco Campaign For their campaign against the sale and consumption of tobacco, the Sikh fundamentalists do have scriptural sane tion. They also do enjoy' a great measure of support amongst the Sikh masses. But the use of force to stop the sale and consumption of tobacco cannot be justified by reference to basic Sikh tenets. A majority of Sikhs, especially, the enlightened section, therefore, favours that like the sale and consumption of beef, the sale and consumption of tobacco too should be done in private so as not to hurt the religious susceptibilities of the Sikhs.

Mai Bhago Regiment . On Baisakhi, which fell on April 14 this year, the Mai Bhago Regiment, the women's wing of the Sikh extremists, threatened "to open another front against the use of cosmetics, "bindi" and sarees from May 1. It was not, ,however, made clear whether the campaigners' directive was addressed to Sikh women only or to all Punjabi women. This move cannot but antagonise women, whether educated or not, as it did in neighbouring Pakis tan when general Zia tried to impose "austere Muslim dress" and "Purdah." Indidentally, this move is an extension of what the extremists during the lifetime of the militant Sant, Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale had been exhorting the Sikh youth and intellgentsia to do. During one of my sojourns in Amritsar du!'ing that period, Bhai Amrik Singh, who was the Sant's official spokesman, told me that recitation of "Bani" (Sikh scriptures) and wearing of "Bana" (the traditional Sikh attire) are a MUST for a devout Sikh. When I pointed out to him that the Sikh Gurus, especially from the fifth to the tenth, did not wear the traditional Punjabi dress of long "Kurta" and "Tehmad" but the dress made popular by the Mughal emperors, he murderously looked at me and said: "You intellectuals can find some historical justification for all your lapses from the Guru's Grace."

A 'Double Life' During my recent tou r of England, Canada and USA,

Sindbad the Sailor Continued from page 11 , col5

I was surprised to find a large man and woman's basic quest plain and simple human number of Sikh youth wearing to be archit ects of th eir own beings. There was nothing left "Bana" when off duty. But destiny has invariably m ade to hate between us. All that before going to work, they them tear to shreds the strait- divided us had been deswould change into western jacke t of religious or ideologi- troyed. Poverty brought us clothes. They could offer no cal fundamentalism. Th e end together and gave us a new convincing argument for lead- of the Presbyterian Cromwell's bond. Now we live under tlus ing a "double life", Their rule in England in the 17th cen- bridge as good neighbours sheepish reply was: "This is tury is a case in point. We have because the walls that divided necessary for the furtherance only recently witnessed the us are no more! We have of the 'cause' in a hostile socio- failure of the "Cultural Revolu- become good friends because political milieu". Some of them tion" in contemporary China. A the very notion of being rugh also referred to an incident in similar march towards com- or low, wruch made us hate Guru Gobind Singh's life when parative individual fr eedom, each other, has been dishe disguised himself as "Uch which ' started with de-Stalin- . carded. Sindbad, never talk of da Peer" to give a slip to his isation in the Sovie t Union in riots in our pJ;esence. We are Mughal pursuers and carry on the late sixties, has gathered so happy in our poverty. It has his struggle against the bigoted much momentum that its pre- enabled us to understand and sent rulel', Mikhail Gorbachev, know each other better. " and tyrannical Mughal rulers. I had hardly recovered from Some others said that has been forced to initiate what they- told me when the democratic reforms, though wherev'e r they "w ent wearing "Bana", hundreds of curious admittedly limited, in the coun- chief Dervish came forward and said sternly, "Sindbad, passersby accosted them and try' s political structure. staying with us no It is therefore, only a ques- your enquired about their dress. longer seems desirable. I fear time when Sikh funtion of That gave them an opportunity to enlighten them about the damentalism will boomerang. the time has come that we Sikh religion and their current Until then the country, especia- may be unable to control our"struggle against injustices lly Punjab, will have to pass selves and start a riot against being perpetuated against their through a traumatic experien· you . Now, your safety lies in leaving trus place forthwith co-religionists in India, es- ceo • and vacating this bridge pecially Punjab". They reimmediately. Otherwise, you mained unconvinced \'Yhen I Vlvan SUndaram's won't find anyone worse than bluntly told them that "you the. four of us." were. only making yourselves a "Joumey' Sensing a threat to my life I laughing stock Moreover, it is was so frightened that immewell to remember that ~lJriosity Continued from page 6, eol5 diately picked up my things does not take much time to the strong palette and fled. After covering a long violence, to wear out. Live in Rome as the of Fauvistic primary colours, distance on foot I happened Romans do is a hoary, sound with a repeated use of rich to reach a city wruch presadvice". blues and reds heightening the ented the veiy picture of desThe assertion that wearing ambience of fantasy to a near t:'Uction and devastation. Peoof "Bana" makes the Sikh funpsychedelic level. pIe there seemed terribly damentalists either better huIn fact, the influe nce of the frightened and depressed. At man beings or super humans is pop art of the 60 s on the artist last I got hold of a man and also specious. There are scores at a formati ve period when he asked rum, "How come your of reports fro"m Batala, Ludhwas at London's Slade School city has assumed such a iana and Jalandhar that these on a Commonwealth schola- pathetic look?" With difficulty "Banadhari" extremists have rship between 1966 and 1968, is the man replied, "A riot shook started extorting money from clearly evident in these works. trus city to its very foundaSikh industrialists on the plea The symbolic journeys draw tions only two days back." that they are "making sacrifices the viewer into theiT depths, Hearing rum mention a riot to ensure them complete proand the majority of the works I jumped for joy and appealed tection against their more has a certain haunting quality, to the man to take me immeadvanced and crafty Hindu but there is also a problematic diately to the 'riot'. Disclosing counterparts in the proposed repetitiveness in the collection, to him that I had travelled Khalistan". These extortions which both intrigues and dis- thousands of nliles just to see have, once again, aroused th e appoints: intrigues, in its subtle a riot, I requested him not to dormant hostility between Jat re-emphasis on unity, -a strand waste any more time and and non-Jat Sikhs for one simof oneness; disappoints, in its show me one. ple reason: while most of the fa i:I ure to explore form to The man gaped at me in 'extremists belong to the Jat further depths. It seems, wonder and said, "You are a caste, the latter are mostly rathe r, as if Sundaram has strange man! A . riot is not a Ramgarhias, Khatris and painstakingly created several thing that one goes to see. A . Aroras. minor variations on a single . not comes like wind and lofty theme or symbol; \hese " passes away like a tornad." Fundamentalists remain variations, in the mllure I asked rum, "When are you Div i sive Impact of charming fi ve-finger exe!'- likely to have another riot in In . sum, if in their. zeal to cises, rather than scathingly this city?" His reply was: "Well, for the impose their obscurantist ideas new creations. The works that cling most to time being the riot has on their co-religionists, the Sikh fundame 'ltalists are re-kindling the memory are those with ploughed this City like a field. hostility among educated Sikh intricate detailing, reminiscent For as long as trus city does wome n and the Sikh inte lli- of colonial engravings, which not flou rish again and those gentsia, by the ir ex tortions th ey recall the fine delicacy of pre- living in the city do no t are alienating the non-Jat vious works of genius like 'The regain their former prosperity, She!'-Gil Family' (1984) and there is absolutely no chance ~ ikhs. Instead of unitin g the Sikhs under "N ishan Sahib" 'Ten-foot Beam' 11985) --- as in of a fresh riot in this city . (th e Sikh bannerl they a re tend- the muted, classical dyptich, Consequently, if you are looking to divid e the Khalsa frat er- 'Colonial Landing: Where Rail- ing for a riot you should go nity w hich had come toge ther road Meets Sea' and the Whis- to a city w ruch is prosperous as never before, after their tlerian, erased work, 'De luge'. and pulsating with life. Right traumatic experience of Ope ra- A succession of smaller works now the riot has sqeezed out tion Blue St ar. Meanwhile, Pun- which have a distinctly Cubist life from trus city like YOll jab's economy, w hich has bee n quality, from 'Boat Journey of squeeze ' out juice from a in the doldrums for the last fi ve Mack the Knife' to 'Art Cargo lemon. Here the crop of years, is oe ing dumped into an Across Foaming Seas', seem human s heads had been harv.ested and those who speciaabyss and the Akali govern- derived in comparison. But there can be no doubting lised in the art of perpetrating ment s unenviable position is the quality of idealism in Vivan riots have also left and gone becoming pitiable. But all is not lost. Histo ry ' is Sundaram's works, and his to the cities which are still witness to severa l such tra n- articulation on a variety of sub- flourisrung." compelling and I was terribly disappointed. is sitory successes of the 'bigots in jects So, as advised I headed the past. But sooner or lateI'- thought-provoking: _

towards an'other city. But it seemed that luck was not in my favour. Wherever I went the riots eluded me. Everyday I read reports in the newspapers that there were riots in such and such a city; so many houses were set· on fire; so many people lost their lives. But sadly by the time I managed to reach an affected city, I came to know that the destruction unleashed by the riots had already . come to an end and the damaging disservice done by the so-called peace committees had begun. I kept asking every person I met the possible location of the next riot, but it was all in vain. The time came when I began to lose all hope. In this mood of despair I felt terribly homesick, and was almost on the verge of leaving for good when I had a chance encounter with a man who was known to be a leader, and outwardly seemed to be greatly respected. When I introduced myself to him he led me to believe that he was overjoyed to meet me. But r came to know later that it was his habit to say this to everyone he met, and this formed a part of rus political strategy to win over people. I also came to know that the favourite pastime of this leader was to collect Ius henchmen around rum every morning and hear them shoult 'long live' along with rus name. His afternoons were spen t in enjoying the flattery lavished on rum by some of Ius touts, and he passed his nights doing all those th!ngs for wruch the night is meant for. When he found out tha t I· was Sindbad the Sailor he straightaway went to hi s secretary's room and collected all the information he could on me. He then came back and started praising the traveIogues that l~ had written . When I asked him which one he had liked the best, he' 'again dashed back to rus secretary and came back saying "My secretary does not' remember which of your traveIogues I liked the best. But r have now ordered. rum to go through your works once again,. to choose the one that. L liked and inform you ·at the latest by trus evening." The more I talked with this leader the more I realised that my conversation with rum was not only interesting, but also full of surprises. During one of these conversations I disclosed to him that the very purpose of my coming to India had been defeated. To give vent to my fru stration I gave him a piece of my nlind saying, "Why don 't you people stage your w orld-famous riots according to a set time schedule, so that a foreign visitor can reach the spot in time and enjoy ' the spectacle with; out any hastles!" I told him my sorry story. and said, "Having failed to acrueve what I came for, I am now leaving your country carrying with me the heavy burden of my unfulfilled desire." i

I

20 April - 4 May 1987

13


F"&rum ________________________Gazet~,-----------------------,The Press Falls in Line ,

Rap and.the last fortnight •

Continued from page 2, col4

extent, in Punjab they are regarded as necessary, perhaps not even as evil - except when Rebeiro himself is forced to admit that the secruity forces did go too far. Rebeiro himself has admitted, that too on lV, that "half-a-dozen" innocents may have been killed by security forces on suspicion alone, but for our press, anyone voicing such a statement would be branded as 'pro-extremist'.

who have been waiting for a trial for over two years now, is considered outrageous. But then neither is it considered worthwhile to cover the activities of those Sikhs who are fighting terrorists in Punjab, through cultural activities.

By

NEWSHOUND

..'<OUR C\<DWD5 CoNSIST OF PLAINCL.Oru~SM~

LlNDERSTAI'U> IT-I G~T

t.ARG~CRO~S BUT f~ VD~S!

N~V~R \}OT~!

Reference to Press Council

Fortun a te ly, p e ople a re less inlo lemnt a nd vio le nt th a n ' o ur ne wspape rs give the m c re dit for, Re ta liatio n ' d oesn' t com e so This bias operates right na tura lly to th e m . Even in De lh i, across all reporting on Sikhs it is because th e BJP and s uch and Punjab. Gen Vaidya's mur- organi sa tion s find ready fodd e r der made headlines for days; in th e Hindu m igra nts from Punthe resultant murder of one jab that ba ndhs are s uccessful Sikh and attacks on 13 others a nd reta lia tion thl:e ate n ed. After warranted no mention: viol- the rece nt 'moc k hijack' of an IA ence against Sikhs is apparen- pla ne , for wh ic h Sikh names tly regarded as an inevitable we re u sed by th e a utho rities to fallout. Newspapers who, when the 8pate of bank robberies was id e ntify the 'hijacke r s', e ditorials. taking place in Maharashtra an grily as ke d, w h a t if the re ha d and Gujarat, six months back, bee n re ta liatio n aga inst the revelled in describing the rob- Sikhs') Nobod y th o ught it shockbers as "clean shaven, fair and ing th a t ·the Cent re could h ave Hindi speaking", didn't have dare d to use Sikh n am es fo r the the grace to put the news of h ijackers, the re by officially their arrest on the front page bra ndi ng on e co mmunity exclufor they turned out to be Hinsively. Le t's n o t forge t tha t in the dus, nat Sikhs. The Sikhs are all p ast. hij acke rs have managed to the time called upon to prove ge t Congress (I ) ti cke ts . What their bonafides . I The Centre's deliberate a bout the ,bomb blasts in Ta mil delay in implementing the Pun- Nadu, w hich ha d become so jab Accord is explained as ro utine a.. month or two back? "political comptdsions", not the Would th e Centre h ave· d a re d to deliberate keeping alive of brand Ta milia n s as responsible communal tensions. If there is for a ll su ch incid e nts? anything the Centre is berated Th e on e ray of h op e is tha t a for, it's for being too "soft" . few read e r s h ave starte d ta king Going into ' the origin of the p arti cularly offe n s ive a rt icles to Punjab problem, and Indira Gandhi's and Zail Singh's role the Press Counc il, a nd that in it, is considered irrelevant · w ithin newspa p e r establishtoday; demanding the release, me nts, opposition is be ing or at least the transfer to Pun- voiced aga inst the e ditors' comjab, of the Jodhpur detenus munal sta nd . •

Biased Reporting On Sikhs

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Guru Tegh Bahadur Continued from Page 12, col. 5 ately by placing it in his house and setting fire to the house and all his belongings, to' give the impression that the fire was an accident. Gurudwara Rakab Gan j was built on the site. On his father's martyrdom Guru Gobind wrote in the ijicira Natak "To protect their right to wear their casle marks and

He suffered martyrdom for the sake of his faith, He lost his head but revealed not his secret. He disdainec!. to perform miracles or juggler's tricks For such fill men of God with shame. He burst' the bonds of mortal clay And went to the abode of God No one hath ever performed an act as noble as his. sacred threads, Did he, in the dark age, per- . Tegh Bahadur passed, the world with sorrow stricken. form the supreme sacrifice. To help the saintly he. went A wail of horror rent the earth, to the utmost limit. He ga ve his head but never A victor's welcome given by the hosts of heaven . • cried in pain.

Announcement The Ekta Trust has decided to terminate the services of the managing editor and editor of the Forum Gazette with effect from the issue dated May 5,1987. A new team will be taking over the editorial and business operations of t,h e paper. . . - Managmg Edl tor

Please note that all enquiries concerning the Forum Gazette should, now be addressed to: The Editor, The Forum Gazette, 2/ 26 Sarvapriya Vihar, New Delhi-110017 _ Phone: 660738. "

14

20 April

~ 4 May 1987

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:The

__------------------------Gfa~~------------------------Punjab and U. P. Citizens Continued from page 3. col S

them . Because whatever antiterrorist laws,and measures are experimented with in Punjab, are later implemented in other Indian states, " said Mr Rajaram the General Secretary of Indian People's Front which is fast growing into the largest massbased organisation in Bihar.

Hostility To Local Sikhs In spite of the growing support for a political dialogue with the extremists to solve the Punjab problem, the distrust against the local Sikh population continues unabate(l both in U.P. and Bihar. In Bihar the word "Sikh" includes everybody coming from Punjab, irrespective of religion. This distrust is very obvious in the various forms of taunts h~rled at Punjabis, and is more hurtful than physical attacks. Referring to this a Patna businessman. Mr Joginder Singh. told the Gazette: "Though there is no danger to life, it hurts our selfrespect and disturbs our mental state. The local population does not differentiate between Sikhs and other Punjabis.. this was evident from the burning of Punjab Electricals, as an aftermath to the bus [Muktsar] killings. No one was bothered that this shop belonged to a Hindu from Punjab." Such attitudes among the local population undoubtedly are causing a sense of uneasiness which has led to the exodus of almost 50 per cent of Sikh business units from Patna and Muzzafarpur. Even at Chhapra where about thirty shops were burned during the November 1984 events, the prime accused, Udit Raj, a Yadav gangster, parades freely as a Congress(1) leader. He is emboldened by the. fact that during these events the district administration bluntly announced that it was only concerned with saving . lives, and had no resources with which to protect properity.

SRILANKA Continued from page 16 colS

Eelam, which was raised by the TIJLF to win the 1977 elections in the Tamil areas, lead to an intesifying of Sinhala chauvinism. This culminated", n widespread violence during JulyAugust, 1983, which was described later even by the Sri Lankan President as "genocide". The proximate cause for the islandwide pogrom, in which elements of the Sri Lankan security forces joined Sinhalese hoodlums, was the death of 13 soldiers in an explosion of a bomb planted by Tamil extremists. The attacks seemed, however, too well organised to be spontaneous and resulted in more than 1000 deaths, rapes, arson, the the destruction of Tamil businesses and properties worth several billions of rupees. Large numbers of Tamils fled abroad, of which India has so far received 125,000. Soon after-

Sikh

Community's Attitudes

However. the leaders of the Sikh community here remain unconcerne d about such matters, at least thi~ is what an average Sikh in Bihar feels, and quite naturally he has resentment against the Barnala government, which he feeis has done nothing for him, and is somewhat sympathetic to the extremists. . In contrast to this silent resentment in the Bihar Sikhs, the Sikhs in Uttar Pradesh are not only very vocal, but are ready "here to stay, here to fighL " This is in spite of the migration of a few ' families in early 1985. While Bihar Singh Sabha leaders avoided discussion about the November 1984 ' happenings, Dr Gurmeet Singh, President of the u.P. Sikh Pratinidhi Board, was extremely critical of the fact that not a single person guilty of violence in November 1984 had been punished in U.P. He called the Mishra Report "only an eyewash". Blaming the national media for not projecting the correct image of the Sikhs, he commended the Janata Party chief, Chandrashekhar, for his correct and bold stand on Punjab. But he added: "Why is Barhala not saying that the Longowal Accord is dead, and only doing what pleases the central government. "? Mr Bhag Singh, President of the Lakhimpurkhari Guru Singh Sabha, summed up the reasons behind the Sikh resentment " against the Barnala government when he said: "The atmosphere in Punjab makes a .difference to us here. Although the Sikhs have made such a significant contribution to the agricultural develop'ment of this district. they now have to face a climate of distrust. Even the Punjab government does not put its weight in "favour of a political solution. which alone would normalise the situation for us." Mr Bhag Singh and his son were kept under MISA after the November anti-Sikh violence .• wards the Sri Lanka Parliament passed the Sixth Amendment to its constitution, which required all M.P.s to abjure separatism. The 16 remaining T.U.L.F. Members of Parliament refused to do so, and instead resigned their seats. They had campaigned against extending the tenn of Parliament the previous year. Later most of them fled to India. From the early 1970s young Tamils had been organising themselves into armed groups, the most powerful of which was the Marxist oriented "Liberation Tigers of Tainil Eelam" (L.T.,T.EJ These grew rapidly after 1977. The moderate Tamil leadership lost its authority and is now greatly discredited, for many Tamils in the North and East now support the idea of an independent Tamil state won in an armed struggle. Until July 1983 most seemed to want to remain part of a United Sri

Lanka.•

An Australian's India Continued from page 7, col 5

interesting are his references to the alleged Sikh separatism and the Congress (I) links with the call for a separate Sikh state and with Bhindranwale. He points out that while in 1978 Akali leaders, reviving the Anandpur Sahib Resolution, went out of their way to "dispel fears and misconceptions about their connection with separatist elements". the only talk of a separate Sikh state came from an unknown organisation called the Khalsa Mukti Fauj, whose members attacked the AkaliJanata ca-alition and praised Nehru and Mrs Gandhi. In August 1978 a "Dal ' Khalsa" . was formed, pledged to achieve an independant Sikh state, and Jeffrey mentions that . the first meeting was "widely belie ved to have been financed by Zail Singh and Congress (I)". He also points out that in the SGPC elections dissidents against the Akali Dal ' included Jagjit Singh Chauhan, New Delhi Jathedar Santokh Singh, a staunch Mrs Gandhi supporter, and Nihang Baba Santa Singh, used by the Congress government after Operation Blue Star. For Jeffrey, the foreign hand obssessively talked about in India is the presence of the Western media, which he sees as adding a new dimension to internal politics. Apart from foreign media building up a phenomenon like Bhindranwale, he describes how international media events like ASIAD and NAM. influenced important polit;cal decisions in

Punjab. His "account of the tion can only deepen the proseries of aborted talks between "blems created by modernisathe Akalis and Mrs Gandhi and tion in a multi-'ethnic, multiher men, is highly critical of lingual, multi-regional state like the latter. as is his interpreta- India. But it is his thesis · that tion of Mrs Gandhi's deliberate while even parties demandinl! projection of anti-Congress secession change their stance regional forces, including the whpn in power, the "option of Akali Dal, as "anti-national." secession" will probably come up from time to time. Akali Weakness Ultimately Jeffrey turns to But he does not spare the the brighter side of the collivacillations and weakness of sion between moderni~ation the Akali Dal vis-a-vis the "gun- and traditional cultures. This is men". The development lead- . the springing up of activist ing up to Operation Blue Star organisations at grassroots make interesting reading. as level all over the country,- comdoes the account of how the . mitted to what he calls Punjab police were demoral- "humanitarian change". Chipko ised and politicised. Necessari- and the KSSP - Kerala Sastra ly, .. because of the rapidly Sahithya Parishad, a people's changing situation, there is a science movement, are two short section only on "Who are examples. "The hope of the the Extremists?". Jeffrey opines poor" according to him "lies in that non-Jat Sikhs have taken to their own burgeoning political terrorism as a "way of making awareness, product of the modup for their loss of influence in ernising fennent that penetthe Akali Dal" but he fails to rates even the remotest comers support this with .any solid of India". evidence. Nor is his comThe postscript bringing the parison of Sikh extremists with book up to date to November the Janatha Vlmukti Perumana' 1985 concludes with the hope (JVP) , who were important in that the insensitivity and short the 1971 revolt in Sri Lanka, term politics which preadequately followed up. cipitated the Punjab crisis will Jeffrey .describes the mani- not be repeated and that the balance between regional aspfestations of centralisation irations and national integrity the needs of any ruling party, the use of President's Rule (bet- will be preserved. A sensitive book, worth readween 1950 and Nehru's death in 1964, President's Rule was ing for its provocative intel'imposed six times, while bet- pretations. its refreshing views, w een 1966 and 1984 the num- of immense relevance when be r of times was 50), and the the battle of states' rights, . for new states. is fiercely engaged, declining role of chief ministers. His ' argument is that and the Punjab imbroglio is; sadly. far from solution.• attempts at greater centralisa-

Book Review: Adh-Chandanl Raa' By Gurdyal Singh Cha mbal. Bunde lkhand. parts of Rajastha n - these are only some of the areas of o ur co untry whi ch have becom e not~riou s for family fe ud s a nd ve ngeful killings. The l'e is some thing in the soil of these region s, it is said. tha t niakes it impossible for p eople to forget the w l'O ngs don e to the m and th ey are willing to give up all if only they can get even with the 'ene m y'. This m ay only be a convenie nt way of expressing the various socia-e conomic and cultural factors tha t have been be hind the e no rmous violence in these part ~. More recently, in the context of the trouble d times in Punjab, the question of the p sychology of Punjabi, spe cia lly Sikh, youth has bee n ' raise d from time to time. In this Sa hitya Akade mi award w inning nove l, the famou s Punj a bi writer, Gurdyal Sing h, prese nt s a very a uthe ntic portraya l of this psychology - through the life of a Sikh peasant yo uth Modak. How various circ um stpnces and characters of his village . interact in the making of this psychology is also shown in a rem a rka bly perceptive way. Full of earthy humour in some parts and deeply touching at other times, this nove l grips the attention of the reader right till the end.

Punjabi classic, but there are other m e rits of the book. so m e of which mav be misse d unless the reader ;eads it cal'efully and thoroughly. For instance, in the beginning of the book. whe n Modak returns to his village from jais, the way in which he tries to carve out a new life also reveals the various changes which have occured in the landscape of many Punjab villages. Changes caused by factors such as landconsolidation. deforestaion etc. Again as Modak tries .. to set himself up as a small fanner. the difficulties he faces reflect the general disadvantages that small farmers face vis-a-vis the big farmers in Punjab specially

in the changing economic and technological conditions of farming. Factors like the COl'ruption of officials keep recul'ring in the book from time to time. All this makes this book something more than an intensely human document. This is certainly the most outstanding quality of the book but in addition this slim novel also tells the cIJreful reader a lot about the social, economic and cultural life in Punjab. Bharat Dogra

Rajkamal Paperbac~ 142 Pages Price Rs 10/-

Changes in The Forum Gazette Since the new team hellded by Dr. Amrik Singh. responsible for editing and Business operation of The Forum Gazette is taking over after this issue, the present team Baljit Malik, Harji Malik and Jatinder Kaur Lall thank all their readers for valuable support during the last year. Following the changes in the Gazette management. Khushwant Singh. Jaya Jaitly and Madhu Kishwar have resigned from the panel of consulting editors.

All these are w e ll known fact s about this ce le brated

20 April- 4 May 1987

15


:The

_Sp~o_tl_i~g_h_t_________________________ ~~~__________________R_._N._4_57_6_3_/8_6_;~_S_E_)_15_/8_6

The Origins of Sri Lanka's Ethnic Strife -. By Karan Sawhny

Sri Lanka's developments make front page news but the origins of the SinhalaTam!! conflict tend to be forgotten in the rapidly changing situation. In the first of two articles Karan Sawhny traces the growing alienation of the Tamils.

the drawing in of the 'Plantation Tamils' into the conflict and the rise of the milItants. In our next issue the concluding article describes the negotiations between ·the Jayewardene governme!'.t and the Tamils.

CO,."NTIIATIOI<. OF I>OPVL.ATlON

ost historians are ~d even today exports of tea from that the first Sinhala these plantations bring the ismigration to Sri Lanka land half its foreign earnings. When Sri Lanka became an took place some 2500 years ago and that perhaps within another independent dominion in 1948, 100 years !lie first Tamils also the country's new Citizenship started aniving. These migra- Act made these "Tamils of tions, as also Tamil invasions recent Indian origin" stateless. from South India, continued This legislation was passed wi~h­ in six months of independence. until 1200 AD. In the third Century B.C. mis- At one stroke the new political sionaries sent by the Indian masters of Ceylon spilt the . Emperor Ashoka converted the Tamils and disenfranchised 1/3 Sinhalese to Buddhism. Today rd of them. After prolonged the countIY. is acknowledged as negotiations India and Sri Lanka Lenghier discussion on these reached an agreement, in Octoof Buddhism (followed also in ber 1964 to deal with the result· Burma and Thailand). This is ing problems. The Stateless were more austere than the Maha- then estimated at 975,000. India yana School (followed in the agreed to confer citizenship of north Asian countries). 525,000 and Sri Lanka on 300,000, The Tamils who migrated to in the ratio of 7:4. The fate of Sri Lanka were Hindus, which the remaining 150,000 was to be most of them remained. Several decided later with the apporkingdoms flourished on the is- tioning taking care also of the land during the next 2000 years. natural iRcrease. This process These included Tamil dynasties was to be completed over 15 such as the Cholas who ruled years. also in South India. But the In January 1974 an agreement Tamils remained concentrated was reached apportioning the in the north .and east of the remaining 150,000 . equally betisland. Nevertheless, as might be ween the two countries and expected, 2500 years of living subsequently the 15 years validtogether on the same island did ity of the 1964 agreements was result in some intenningling, so extended by another 2 years. that Sinhalas have some Tamil But due to a delay in Sri Lanka blood and most "indigenous" adopting an Implementation Act Tamils some Sinhala blood. along with more people seeking Buddhism continued to flour- Sri Lankan Citizenship than the ish and is acknowledge today as country's quota of 375,000 and their religion by the majority of .others reasons, 94,000 persons the Sinhalese, who make up 74 remained stateless. per cent of the population. This The leader of the plantation is partly because a deliberate Tamils, S. Thondaman, who is policy was followed from the also leader of the largest trade mid 1950's to promote Bud- union (the Ceylon Workers Condhism and give it the status of gress) and a Cabinet Minister in the State Religion. . the Government since 1978, was Consequently, the . Buddhist 'able to get the Sri Lankan clergy and Sinhalese national Cabinet to agree to the granting feeling are strongly interlinked. of citizenship to the remaining This . linkage has developed 94,000 on the 15th January this chauvinistic aspects, and since year. He had broken with the 60 million Tamils live across the main Tamil Party in 1978 mainly Palk Straits in India, something to protect the interests of the of a minority complex. The plantation Tamils. The problem President of Sri Lanka, describ- of the Stateless Tamils could be ing the priests said "they learn said to be solved. However a only Sinhalese. To them the his- great inany of them became. tory books always speak of a drawn into the conflict between war between the Sinhalese and the "indigenous" Tamils and 'Demaeas' (Tamils) for 2,500 the Sinhala majority. years". Tamil Apprehensions In British Times The Plantation TamllsIn the early 1920's the British Innocent Victim colonial rulers. began transferThe British ruled the island ring some political power to the for nearly 200 years (the Portu- native inhabitants of Ceylon (the gese and Dutch were there ear- name by which the island was lier). In the 19th Century they known until 1972). Tamil leaders imported into Sri Lanka inden-. at that time began to fear that tured labour to work in new they would have a subordinate plantations set up by them in position in the island's politics the Central highlands of the because of their numerical infe- . island. Most of these persons riority. Some of their leaders were Tamils, from what was therefore advocated a federal then called the Madras Presid- constitution for Ceylon, or one ency. They were vital to the in which there would be balgrowth of production and ex- anced representation for the. port from the plantations and minority.

M

16

20 April - 4 May 1987

TAMILS IN SRI LANKA ~ D~'t.

T~I~c;,

ro 00;.

ll~nw (ro", " I"oit T""'~'

When they granted independence to Ceylon, the British left behind a Constitution with two safeguards for the Tamils. These were a clause preventing Parliament from passing laws bestowing a benefit~r imposing a disability on .any community without doing so on other ' communities and a system of demarcation of electorates based on population and area which would give weightage to minorities. These safeguards were annulled in the 1972 and 1978 constitutions. UNP and SLFP Compete . for Sinhalese Vote Bank Tensions began to grow when the two competing Sinhal parties the United National Party (which represented land-oweners and a westernised elite) and the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) campaigiled for the votes in the 1956 elections. The leader of the SLFP Solomon Bandaranaike won the election by raising the slogan that "Sinhalas and Buddhism were in danger". This made more credible the socialist rhetroic of his party to Sinhalese peasants and urban workers who had missed out on the fruits of the limi~ed development ' of the colonial period. After winning the election the SLFP restricted the entry of Tamils into jobs, into universities and into the professions so that the Sinhalese could get a "just" place in their own country. Sinhala was made lite sole official language. The old Eqglish speaking elite ·(based on diverse ethnic groups) was destroyed. Between 1956 and 1970 the percentage of Tamils in the Central seIVices fell from 30 to 5. In 1956, 1958 and 1961 pogroms against the Tamils in Colombo and other places were organised in which many persons were killed, women raped and property destroyed.

Dlscrlmlnltlon IIIInst Tlmlt. The Si~ese deeply reSented the more educated Tamils from the island's North who had risen in the British period (they learnt Elij(tish, got on with the rulers and converted to Christianity, which they had to in order to progress, for they lived on less fertile land). In 1972 Ceylon became the Republic of Sri Lanka and the SLFP Government under Mrs. Bandaranaike (widow of S.w.R.D. Bandaranaike who had been assassinated by a Buddhist priest in a still unexplained murder), introduced differential conditions for university entrance so as to allow young Sinhalese to gain admission at the expense of Tamil children with better grades. At this point the Tamils began their own numbers game and demanded regional autonomy in the north and east so as to ensure fur themselves education and jobs. The SLFP Government responded by settling Sinhalese peasants . in the eastern province to alter its ethnic balance. Thirty five years ago the Tamils constitued 70 per cent of the population in the East, today they are about 35 per cent and the rest are Sinhalese and Muslims. Muslims speak Tamil, and are mainly of Tamil ethnic origin but prefer to be called Moors. (There are also 40,000 "Burghers" in Sri-Lanka- partly desended from early Dutc~and Portugese settlers.) , In 1977 the authori,tarian Mrs. Bandaranaike who had ruled with , emergency powers was defeated by the United Nation Party U.N.P. won 142 seats out of 168 with 50.6 per cent of the vote. Mrs. Bandaranaike's SLFP won 8 seats with 30 per cent of the vote. She herself was , ex-' pelled in 1980' from Parliament and deprived of civic rights for seven years, for "abuses of power" during her 1970-77 ad-

ministration. The Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF) which was associated with the UNP won . 18 seats and it seemed possible that. it would reach agreement with the UNP to solve "the Tamil pr:oblem". The TULF had fought 'the election on the basis of a -demand for Eelam (Homeland). UNP rejects TULF demand for EELAM The UNP, however, instead embarked on major constitutional changes, abandoning the westminister style Parliamentary democracy in. 1979, for a Gaullist Presidency, and installed its leader J.R. Jayewardene as its first executive President. There was meanwhile another pogrom in August 1977 aimed at the defenceless plantation workers. About 200,000 Tamils" of recent Indian origin" sought safety by migrating to the North and East. The TULF leadership stated that the riots were organised "to punish the Tamils for demanding Eelam." . Mr. Jayewardene rejected the TULF demand for Eelam. Much of the. next three years were spent by him in consolidating his position and that of the U.N.P. He sought and won reelection as President in October 1982 with 53 per cent of the valid votes cast. T!rls was followed by a referendum (held under an emergency) to extend . the life of the 1977 Paliament 1989 (3 million plus voted yes, 2.5 million said no). Meanwhile, in 1981, yet . another pogrom took place in the plantation areas. Separatist sentiments among young Tamils became stronger and were increasingly expressed in violence. Tamil militancy .had been growing since January 1974 when nine Tamils were killed during a charge by police on a large crowd . in Jaffna, . during the . fourth international Tamil conference. This militancy was not assuaged by the moves Mr. Jayewardene's Govemment made, while amending the ' constitution in 1978, to make Tamil a national ~e and to abolish the di!iCriininatory system of university admissions devised by Mrs. Bandaranaike in 1972. seven years after it was given the status of the language of administration and litigation, Tamil is still not being used because of "the paucity of Tamil typewriters". And the university admissions system was yet again modified to the benefit of Sinhalese children. In the area of employment absolutely no progress was made so that in the 1st 7 years no Tamils were selected for the higher Civil service. And since 1981 (the date of the last census) a further 90,000 Sinhalese have been settled in the Eastern province so that its ethnic balance continues to be . altered. Tamil Militancy provokes Sinhalese Chauvinism Meanwhile Tamil militancy and especially the demand for . Continued on page 15 , col1

.printed and published by A.S. Narang for the Ekta Trust. 2126 Sarvapriya Vihar. New Delhi ~ 100007 and Printed at Paredise Printers, Naraina Industrial Area. New Deihl


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