Skip to main content

Punjab repeats historical role by espousing the cause of Kashmir and Kashmiris


Jagtar Singh

Punjab is repeating history in the context of Kashmir after more than 300 years.
As the dominant political discourse in India’s political matrix has supported the revocation of Article 370 that provided special status to Jammu and Kashmir, Punjabis by and large have taken a position contrary to it.
The Narendra Modi government in fulfilment of its poll promise not only revoked Article 370 but administered yet another shock by reducing this only state dominant by Muslims to two union territories. Kashmir in particular has been shut since August 5 when the Kashmiris were interned and the action was touted as ‘for the welfare of Kashmiris who have been denied fruits of development’ as if the rest of India is far ahead of this state in the North sharing boundaries with Pakistan and China.
However, the struggling sections in Punjab have extended vocal support to the Kashmiris in distress. The valley has been under lock down ever since. Now it is more due to what has been described as ‘civil curfew’.
Punjab and Punjabis represent interesting paradox.
The leadership of the Akali Dal and Capt Amarinder Singh have taken a stand on this sensitive issue contrary to the sensibilities of the Punjabis. The Akali Dal contested the 1967 election on the issue of special status to Punjab as accorded to Jammu and Kashmir under Section 370 that no more exists. Akali Dal president Sukhbir Singh Badal disowned his own party’s history by supporting the bill in the Lok Sabha to abrogate this special status. Anandpur Sahib Resolution is just another version of special status on which the Akali Dal launched struggle in 1982 that ended in Operation Bluestar, the army attack on the Darbar Sahib (Golden Temple) complex in June 1984.
The Congress at the national level has opposed the revocation of Article 370. However, the state government headed by Congress Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh yesterday denied permission to a number of farmers, workers, student and human rights organisation to stage a march from Mohali to Chandigarh on September 15.
Bharti Kisan Union general secretary Sukhdev Singh KJokrikalan claimed these organisations staged protests wherever they were stopped by the police. It was to be a democratic protest for the rights of the Kashmiris.
It may be mentioned that these organisations have been staging demonstrations at the district headquarters ever since Kashmir was shut. Punjab perhaps is the only state where people at large have come out espousing the human rights of the Kashmiris.
It is not only the far Left stream that has been vocal on this issue.
Dal Khalsa, Akali Dal (Amritsar), United Akali Dal and some human rights organisations today announced the decision to take the issue to the streets. Akali Dal (Amritsar) chief Simranjit Singh Mann, United Akali Dal president Gurdip Dingh and Dal Khalsa leader Kanwarpal Singh today announced the decision  to stage demonstration in Delhi on September 26 against what they described as the attack on human rights of the Kashmiris.
They said the Punjabi Diaspora would join Kashmiris in the protest outside the office of the United Nations in New York on September 27 when prime Minister Narendra Modi is to address the General Assembly.
At one level, while the Kashmiris in their own state continue to be caged for more than a month, it is the Punjabis who have taken up their cause upto the global level.
One has to go back to history to understand this relationship of Punjab with Kashmir.
Guru Tegh Bahadur, the Ninth Sikh Master, sacrificed his life for the human rights of Kashmiris. The issue is not whether they were Pandits or  Muslims. The State behaves in the same manner. He offered himself to be martyred in Delhi. He was staying at Anandpur Sahib where he was approached by Kashmiris to protect their human rights.
Jammu and Kashmir later became part of the Sikh Empire till the state was sold to the Raja of Jammu  for Rs 75 lakh after the First Anglo-Sikh War that the Sikhs lost. Jammu and Kashmir was sold to pay for the war damages to the British. Punjab was annexed by the British in 1849 after the Second Anglo-Sikh War. The map that included what now is Pakistan and Bangladesh emerged on the globe for the first time after annexation of the Sikh Empire that extended to Khyber Pass.
Another commonality is that Punjab and Jammu and Kashmir till recent past were the only two states dominated by minorities. Now it is only Punjab that has this unique distinction. Punjabis have always been aggressive, both in Punjab and also abroad.
It is Punjabis who sided with the Kashmiris in protests in London earlier. Now Punjabis are protesting in Punjab and it is to be extended to Delhi.
The well-timed leak about deletion of the names of 312 Sikhs from the Diaspora from the so called Black List has failed to make any impact on this increasing bonding of Punjabis with Kashmiris.
Punjabis now are the new spokespersons of Kashmiris.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Sinister and deep design to divide Sikhs and Hindus in Canada needs to be exposed

  Sinister and deep design to divide Sikhs and Hindus in Canada needs to be exposed Ground Zero Jagtar Singh Chandigarh: Let us decode deeper design in what apparently seems to be deliberate distortion of facts in case of the so-called Sikh-Hindu clash in Canada to project it as confrontation between the two communities. The Indian media and the establishment gave it out as a communal conflict and attack on a Mandir, the Hindu place of worship. Let us first put the matter straight from the evidence available in the form of videos relating to every dimension of this narrative and the statements. It was neither a Sikh-Hindu clash nor an attack on the Hindu temple per se. It was a protest by the SFJ activists against the Indian consulate organizing a camp there. Such protests have been held against the consulate outside the gurdwaras too as per the record. The saner statement issued by the Hindu Federation of November 4 is very important in the interpretation of this narrative

History seems to be ominously repeating itself to drive Punjab into religio-political minefield again

  History ominously repeating itself to drive Punjab into religio-political minefield again Ground Zero Jagtar Singh This headline is not rooted in some sort of pessimism. The signals are loud and clear. The onus to counter such signals is on the Punjab government. History in Punjab seems to be repeating itself to push Punjab into yet another cycle of what can be termed as the avoidable toxic situation. That cycle has now impacted even geo-political relations of India with some countries, especially Canada where the Sikhs are settled in sizeable numbers. In the context of the Sikhs as a globalized people, it is pertinent to mention that even in United Kingdom House of Commons, the representation of the Sikhs is now in double digit after the recent elections. Punjab is still impacted by the tremors of religio-political   dynamics that got triggered in 1978 with the Sikh-Nirankari clash on the Baisakhi on April 13 at Amritsar, the religious capital of the Sikhs. The prese

Two binaries emerging in Punjab’s multi-polar polls where last 72 hours are always crucial

  Two binaries emerging in Punjab’s multi-polar polls where last 72 hours are always crucial   Ground Zero Jagtar Singh Chandigarh, May 28: The inter-play of socio-political forces in Punjab in the run up to the June 1 Lok Sabha elections is unprecedented. This is besides that established fact that the religio-political dynamics of this state has always been different from the rest of India, even when the boundaries of this country touched the Khyber Pass connecting with Afghanistan. It is for the first time that so many main political players are in the fray independently thereby making the contest multi-polar. Then there are two other eruptions in the electoral matrix making the multi-polar contest all the more interesting, and also important for future dynamics of not only Punjab but also India as the roots of this phenomena are not in too distant a past but in not so recent period of militancy. It is after decades that Punjab is going to the polls without any pre-po