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Modi government treads the risky path of Khalistan to confront farmers struggle for survival


 

Modi government treads the risky path of Khalistan to confront farmers struggle for survival

Jagtar Singh

Ground Zero

 

Desperate to counter the farmers struggle that triggered in Punjab but has now acquired pan India dimension, the BJP government at the centre has brought out the risky weapon of Khalistan to counter it. Raking up this issue amounts to playing with fire.

The Kisan Tractor Parade on the Republic Day on January 26 on outer ring road of Delhi would demonstrate the all-India character of this historic agitation that is now under global watch. This massive show of unity in diversity must be assessed in the backdrop of the consistent divisive agenda unleashed in the country by the Sangh Parivar of which the ruling BJP is the political wing and is aggressively implementing it. The government seems to have opted for a divisive tool to confront  a secular mass struggle.

Ironically, the Khalistan narrative had earlier been recalled in the country with the ban on US based Sikhs for Justice that has little support in India. Punjab Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh too has been taking notice of this organisation. The Khalistan struggle had phased out in India in mid-nineties as the normal political narrative staged a comeback in Punjab. The demand has now acquired democratic dimension and even then, only a miniscule section has been vocal about it.

An important dimension of the Khalistan narrative in one form or the other is that the idea has been there since the Sikh Empire was annexed by the British. However, it was during the post-Operation Bluestar period that this demand was formally raised by the radical organisations on April 29, 1986.

The Modi government has now taken the risk of by raking up the Khalistan narrative  and dragging it into the domain of the farmers struggle that is purely on the issues related to the three contentious farm laws that have provoked strong reaction beginning with Punjab and later Haryana, the two states that are going to be the most impacted.

The peasantry in Punjab is mainly the Sikhs and this exactly is the problem of the government at the centre.

The Modi government has now brought in the National Investigative Agency that has summoned several Sikh activists who are active in the farm struggle. They include Baldev Singh Sirsa who is a member of the team of the farmers negotiating with the government. Two transporters  from Ludhiana who have been providing subsidised transport to farmers to visit Delhi have also received notices. It is the timing of the notices that is important.

In case the strategy of the government is to divide the farmers struggle by raising the spectre of Khalistan, then is going to prove to be counter-productive. The design has already been exposed with farmers unions from across the country that are party of the steering committee categorically criticising this move to pressurise the activists.

However, the use of this tool has wider ramifications. The Modi government has pushed the Khalistan narrative to the centre stage again. The Khalistan narrative had receded to the background over the years in Punjab. Of course, the Khalistanis have been active abroad in several countries but the main issue is that of support in Punjab. The issue now stands revived with this ill-timed action of the NIA.

The Modi government perhaps misread this struggle as it was seen to be a Sikh struggle and not  just farmers struggle.

The people in the government must read the history of freedom struggle but the problem with the BJP is that its ancestors were not part of that struggle. Not only that. Hindutva author V D Savarkar had written apology letters to the British colonial masters from the notorious Cellular Jail in Andaman. The participation of the Sikhs has always been predominant in every struggle.

There is nothing unusual that the Sikhs of Punjab are again leading a struggle that is national in content and character. This struggle is now against the exploitative model that India has been pursuing  and the Modi government is going out of the way to implement it to hand over the farm sector to the corporate patrons.

The tool adopted by the Modi government to crush it has dangerous dimensions.

This tool amounts to playing with fire.

 

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