08) HOW ABOUT A MEMORIAL FOR SECULARIST MARTYRS?
By Gurpreet Singh
Not only the political environment of Punjab has heated up since the ruling Akali Dal and Sikh hardliners started raising a demand for a monument in memory of those who died fighting against the Indian army during the controversial Operation Bluestar, it has also stirred a heated debate within the Indian Diaspora in Vancouver.
The army operation was launched in June 1984, to flush out religious militants who had fortified the Golden Temple Complex in Amritsar, the holiest shrine of the Sikhs. The operation left many dead and damaged the shrine, sparking angry protests across the world. The Indian Consulate office in Vancouver was vandalized. The assassination of Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi by her Sikh bodyguards was followed by anti-Sikh pogroms in different parts of India by goons belonging to Gandhi's Congress party. These ugly events culminated in the Air India bombings in 1985. The terrorist attack was blamed on the Canada-based Sikh separatists.
A campaign in support of the militants who died during Operation Bluestar is gaining momentum both in India and Vancouver. The issue is being hotly debated on Punjabi radio stations these days. Ironically, the Sikh-dominated Akali Dal, which governs Punjab in alliance with the Hindu nationalist Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) supports the idea, whereas the BJP is advocating for a monument in memory of the Indian soldiers who lost their lives fighting against the militants.
Obviously, this has sent conflicting signals to everyone. Although the two parties claim to represent "Hindu‑Sikh unity", practically speaking the Akali Dal‑BJP combine is trying to please both the Hindu and Sikh fundamentalists, who have been feeding on each other since early 1980s when the hostilities grew, with Sikh militants threatening the Hindu minority in Punjab and Hindu extremists targeting the Sikh minority in other provinces of India.
Both the foreign powers, including the Pakistani spy agency ISI, and the opportunist Indian leadership, tried to gain advantage of the situation by resorting to "divide and rule" politics. Not to be left behind, the so-called secularist Congress party tried to give legitimacy to the Sikh fundamentalists to weaken the Akali Dal, and at the same time tried to capitalize on anti-Sikh sentiments outside Punjab. The Hindus started migrating to other provinces, while Sikhs started migrating to Punjab. This suited the ISI, who want a theocratic Sikh state of Khalistan to be carved out of Punjab. Some believe a part of the ISI game plan is to create a buffer state between India and Pakistan for strategic reasons, to weaken India's position on Kashmir.
In the meantime, those representing civil society in Punjab came up with a much more progressive idea: to bring a dignified closure by building a monument in memory of all Punjabis killed during the bloody conflict for a theocratic Sikh homeland. But the mainstream media in Punjab and the Vancouver-based Punjabi radio stations largely ignored this idea. The debate mainly revolved around angry reactions from the Sikh and Hindu leaders. A polarization of Hindus and Sikhs has once again become visible.
Such a monument would be more acceptable to everyone if raised by the government of the day. Though this seems unrealistic with two theocratic parties in power, it can still be considered to ensure communal harmony and peace. There were many unsung humanists and secularist activists who opposed fundamentalists during the conflict. They tried to avert sectarian violence by offering protection to Hindus from the Sikh extremists, and to innocent Sikhs from the Hindu chauvinists outside Punjab.
Among them were nearly 300 communists killed by the Sikh separatists in Punjab. They included Darshan Singh Canadian, who spent ten years in Canada and then retuned to India to become a towering Communist leader. He was gunned down in 1986 by the pro- Khalistan extremists, who also assassinated Arjan Singh Mastana, whose sister lives in Greater Vancouver.
The communists not only tried to bring back the Hindus who had migrated to other provinces fearing terrorist violence, but also opposed Hindu and Sikh reactionaries alike. Deepak Dhawan, who had visited Hindu refugees outside Punjab to convince them to return, was mercilessly killed by the militants. Avtar Singh Chautala was even forced to raise slogans in support of Khalistan before he was murdered. He chose to die instead, raising revolutionary slogans before being shot.
It is pertinent to mention here that a Communist government in West Bengal state resolutely protected the Sikhs from the mobs. Some of their slogans were, Na Hindu Raaj, Na Khalistan, Jug Jug Jive Hindustan! ("Neither Hindu state nor Khalistan, long live united India"), Na Hindu Raaj, Na Khalistan, Raaj Karega Mazdoor Kisan! ("Neither Hindu state, nor Khalistan, only the working class shall rule") and Hindu Sikh Noon Larhan Nahin Dena, San Santali Banan Nahin Dena! ("We won't let Hindu Sikh fight to repeat 1947", when India was divided on religious lines, resulting in the creation of Muslim Pakistan.)
Paash, a prominent communist poet, was assassinated by the militants in 1988 for launching Anti 47 Front, through which he opposed all the reactionary forces.
If Punjab needs a memorial, it needs to be dedicated to these true defenders of secularism and people's unity, not the forces inimical to peace and harmony.
(The above article is from the August 1-31, 2012, issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $30/year, or $15 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $45 US per year; other overseas readers - $45 US or $50 CDN per year. Send to People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, BC, V5L 3J1.)