Perception of discrimination getting reinforced again in Sikh political domain

 

Perception of discrimination getting reinforced again in Sikh political domain

Ground Zero

Jagtar Singh

The peaceful massive Sikh mobilisation in Mohali today might not be unprecedented but more important dimension is the reinforcement of the sense of hurt and that of being discriminated against that it has signalled.

The call for this gathering was given by the non-Akali organisations spearheading the campaign for the release of the Sikh political prisoners who are in jail for about a quarter of a century for their actions pertaining to the period of militancy lasting more than a decade beginning 1980.

This is not the only demand. The issues taken up by these bodies concern both the government and the Shiromani Akali Dal dominated Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee.

An important dimension of the struggle is that these very people were among those sections who were part of the sustained farmers struggle at the Delhi borders that forced the Narendra Modi government to rescind the three controversial farm laws. They had gathered in 2015 in lakhs at Chabba village near Amritsar in on the issue of sacrilege of Guru Granth Sahib at Bargari and the related issues. They are campaigning for safer environment in Zira.

They  might have been the people who provided thrust to the Aam Aadmi Party before the February 2022 Assembly election.

They now represent the molten lava in Punjab’s underbelly.

The farm struggle was a victory but the issues relating to that struggle are still to be taken to the logical conclusion.

The people in Punjab feel they have been ditched by every political dispensation.

The issues on which this agitation has been going on should not have been there.

The logic is simple.

In case rapists and killers can be released after 12 years in Gujarat, why should the Sikh political prisoners rot in jail for about a quarter of a century?

The assassins of former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi were earlier released as the political parties in Tamil Nadu evolved consensus for the same.

In Punjab, even the Akali Dal government had opposed even the transfer of Devinder Pal Singh Bhullar from Tihar jail in Delhi to Amritsar jail. It is a different matter that the same government had to later plead his case.

One of the issues that is part of this struggle is justice for sacrilege of Guru Granth Sahib at Bargari in 2015 during the Akali Dal-BJP government. They recall the promise of AAP convener Arvind Kejriwal before February 2022 polls to take action within 24 hours. However, there has been no progress.

One of the accused in sacrilege cases is Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim convicted in rape and murder cases but enjoy the privilege  of repeated parole. Yet another case in which the name of his Dera had emerged is that of bomb blast at Maur in Bathinda district in 2017 that now seems to been consigned to the dustbin by the investigating agencies.

According to the BBC reporters covering the mobilisation, the procession taken out in Mohali was several kilometres long and included hundreds of tractors, cars and buses. People from all age groups were part of the procession.

The template of year long farmers camps at the gates of Delhi has been replicated by the protesters at one of the entry points of Chandigarh from Mohali at the YPS School crossing.  Even a library has been set up.

The issue is the latent anger that continues to erupt from time to time.

And this anger is not targeted at just the government but also the Shiromani Akali Dal.

The grievances should not be allowed to get accumulated.

It may be mentioned here that after having been completely marginalised, the Akali Dal too had taken up the issue of release of the Sikh political prisoners.

The Dal Khalsa and associates had yesterday taken out a march in Amritsar focusing on the political issue of plebiscite for the Sikhs under UN supervision. Dal Khalsa leader Kanwarpal Singh articulated the sentiment saying, “The global reality of our time is that most of the armed conflicts in India are between groups representing ethnic and religious minorities and the state. Most of these conflicts involved both collective struggle for liberation and against violation of human rights”.

History is repeating itself in Punjab as the sense of alienation is again deepening in a section in the Sikh religio-political matrix.