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Sectarian Challenge to Sikh unity: The Dalit
Question
Balraj Puri
At a time when the
WSN has repetedly drew the readers' attention towards increasing
secularisation of the Akali Dal and Chief Minister Parkash Singh
Badal's continuing strategy of ditching the panthic agenda, there is
no end to proponents of such skewed secularisation. One of these
proponents, Balraj Puri, has recently narrated his views in India's
well-known English daily, Deccan Herald. While the WSN has many
issues to join, we bring you this article to make our readers aware
of the subtle ways in which the establishment agenda works.
 Would Akali Dal and Akal Takht devote
their attention and accord equal status to the Dalits in society?
The crisis due to the acts of sacrilege by the head of Dera Sacha
Sauda and its violent confrontation with the Sikhs might have
subsided for the time being but underlying causes for the
confrontation have yet not been tackled.This is not the first time
that a Dera or a sect had clashed with the mainstream Sikh
population. The attack on Nirankaris in 1978 is widely believed to
be a forerunner of bloody 80’s in Punjab.
What aggravated the clash with the Dera was its open campaign for
the Congress in the last election to the state assembly which tilted
the scales against the Akalis in the Malwa region of Punjab. An
additional reason could be caste basis of the Dera which had by and
large Dalit support. The most notable feature of the message of the
Sikh gurus was directed against the religious and caste divide and
is as valid today as it was during their times. Would the Akali Dal
and the Akal Takht devote their attention to this basic tenets of
their faith and, in particular, accord equal status to the Dalits in
their society?
The separation of religion from politics, happened when the Akali
Dal opened its doors to non-Sikhs and put up Hindu candidates in the
last assembly elections. It was the main reason for its victory as
Hindu votes no longer remained the monopoly of the Congress. I had a
special reason to welcome the secularisation of Punjab. For I
belonged to the small minority of non-Sikhs who had supported the
cause of Punjabi language and Punjabi Suba and blamed the Hindu
leadership that opposed it for weakening Punjab’s cultural identity.
I was equally critical of the Sikh leaders who had campaigned for
the Punjabi language and the Punjabi Suba as a Sikh demand through a
Sikh party of Akali Dal. Thus they were guilty, according to me, of
breaking the political identity of Punjab.
I also got a positive response from Master Tara Singh and Sant Fateh
Singh through dignitaries like Jayparkash Narayan and Praja
Socialist Party leader Ashok Mehta who met them respectively in jail
and whom I had briefed. Both the Sikh leaders gave a categorical
assurance that the Akali Dal would be turned into a Punjabi Dal
after Punjabi Suba was formed.
This background was extremely helpful to me in my role as a
convernor of dialogue on Punjab, with the leaders of the two
communities after the Operation Blue Star. Perhaps I was the first
person from outside the state to visit Amritsar after the operation.
I was warned that it was the citadel of Khalistani militancy.
Anyhow, I took the risk and visited the university where the lecture
hall was packed. Outside I met some armed Sikh youngmen who
introduced themselves as followers of Sant Bhindranwala. They said
that the only thing they knew about me was that I was a friend of
Sikhs and they had been deputed to provide me security for my
meetings.
My speech and question and answer session lasted for about three and
a half hours. I asked about the possible character of Khalistan.
Would non-Sikhs be allowed to live there? What would their status
be? Would that be a democratic country with a free judiciary and
other democratic institutions? None was prepared for such questions.
I was told that it was a slogan that they raised in sheer
desperation. I further told them that if the demand for restoration
of all Punjabi speaking areas to Punjab and autonomy under the
Anandpur Resolution was conceded, it would become a Hindu majority
state who could rule the state without sharing power with the Sikhs;
and if Punjab was excluded from autonomous federal institutions like
the Supreme Court,the Sikhs would be the worst victims.
I analysed the Sikh problem essentially as deprivation from
political power. The Congress party returned to power with the bulk
of Hindu support alongwith the marginal support of sections of Sikhs
like Ramgariya and Mazahbi Sikhs, excluding the mainstream of Sikh
community. If the Akali Dal, turned into a Punjabi Dal, was able to
secure the same percentage of Hindu support, the Sikhs could rule
over the state for ever. I was asked if any Hindu would join the new
Punjabi Dal. I replied that many Hindus who genuinely believed in a
Punjabi identity would join it.
My success at Amritsar emboldened me to address similar meetings in
all the towns of Punjab. Later, on my request, Sarv Seva Sangh
agreed to send about 100 Gandhian workers from all over the country
who were briefed about the basic problem of Punjab at Ferozepur and
were asked to report back their reactions after a fortnight at
Amritsar where all their queries were answered. We met finally at
Pathankot and assessed the final outcome of their dialogue. In
between I was called by the leaders of the Panthic party which was
organising the militant movement in the state at their well
fortified underground cell. I was told that they were convinced that
I knew the Sikh mind and the problems of the community.
A combination of a Sikh party and a Hindu party does not make a
viable stable secular front. The Akali Dal for its long term
survival must transform itself into a genuinely secular regional
party with an adequate share for non Sikhs and Dalits in the highest
decision making forum.
20 June, 2007
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