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Beant
statue in Jalandhar raises questions,
'Ajit' pays tribute to him
WSN Network
 JALANDHAR:
In a rather peculiar development, a statue of Beant Singh, the chief
minister of Punjab who was assassinated in 1995 and whose role in
curbing militancy has been fairly controversial, has been put up at
the BMC chowk in Jalandhar.
The
round about is in the heart of the city and is likely to be named
after the former Chief Minister who is routinely projected by the
Congress as the man "responsible for delivering Punjab from
terrorism" even though he is known more for giving a free hand to
men like the police officer KPS Gill to indiscriminately kill Sikh
youth with any sympathy towards the loosely-defined Sikh cause.
If
an Akali Dal government comes to power, it will be interesting to
see who inaugurates the statue and who takes credit for it. Also,
the question still hangs in the air whether the Akali Dal will allow
the statue to be put up. So far, the Sikh radical organizations have
not taken note of the fact and the statue remains shrouded in gunny
bags and controversy.
Jalandhar has been a centre of much of the anti-Punjabi and
anti-Punjab propaganda by an increasingly communal vernacular media.
In fact, Lala Jagat Narain of the Punjab Kesri group was killed
during the years of violence in Punjab, and later his son Ramesh
Chander met with the same fate. The group, along with the rest of
the Mahasha press, was largely responsible for the anti-Punjabi
campaign in late 50's and during the '60s and later gave a bad name
to the Sikh political aspirations. The poisoned quill is often held
responsible for the way the things turned in Punjab in the '80s and
'90s.
Very interestingly, the mass circulation Punjabi language Ajit
newspaper, which has for years portrayed itself as a panthic
newspaper and as a voice of Punjab, Punjabi and Punjabiyat, carried
a despatch on February 19, 2007, on the occasion of birth
anniversary of late Beant Singh. The despatch, credited to 'Ajit
Bureau' (indicating that it has editorial sanction from the powers
that be within the newspaper), paints Beant Singh in highly glowing
terms, hails his "fight against terrorism", calls his death "a great
sacrifice", credits him with bringing peace to Punjab and concludes
by saying:
"Such a black sun (sic) rose on August 31, 1995 in the history of
Punjab which snatched away from us the true son of Punjabi Ma
(mother) and sacha supoot (true son) of Punjab".
It
is to be seen what posture the Akali Dals of various hues strike on
the matter, but given the current level of politics, few are
expected to take note of such developments, a sign of confused and
dumbed down politics currently prevalent in Punjab where Badal wants
to build railway over bridges as his first priority and Amarinder
Singh celebrates Sikh centenaries.
21 February 2007
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