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Memories of its tragic past live on
in Punjab's present
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There are
ways in which Indian media will be bringing you a postcard from
the past. From its experience, the Sikh community is now well
aware of the subtle and nuanced ways in which the picture is
distorted and sterilized. The WSN editorial room will be keeping
an eye on such depictions and will bring to the readers the
curious cases of distortion. Of course we will also be looking
out for the dispassionate reportage. For the moment, we bring
you this piece from The Times of
India
published last week end, without comment. Readers are free to
judge. -- Editor |
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 NEW
DELHI/AMRITSAR/JALANDHAR: 1984. It was the year
India lost its
innocence. Army troops stormed a temple; regiments raised the banner
of revolt;
the Prime
Minister was shot dead by her bodyguards and hundreds of innocent
people were butchered in the national Capital. But memories of those
days are grainy today. In DD's archives, black and white footage
provides pictures of the chaos - blood on the
Golden Temple's
marble floor, tanks rolling into Amritsar's narrow lanes and lots of
dead people. Operation Blue Star - on June 3, 1984 - was a watershed
in the history of modern
India.
Fast forward and
even today, a burning train, a rowdy crowd and street violence in
Punjab
makes
India nervous. This week, Dalit Sikhs angry over a killing in
Austria, went on the rampage. The army was called out and
India
began wondering if Punjab was sliding into violence all over again.
Why does
Punjab
erupt every now and then? Last year, it was the Dera Sacha Sauda
crisis. This year, it's the Dera Sacha Khand. Is this
Punjab's way of
dealing with traumas not yet past? Has it forgiven and forgotten
Operation Blue Star?
"Punjabis have
moved on. But Operation Blue Star does exist in the collective
cultural memory of people. When they visit the
Golden Temple,
all the memories come back," says Rana Nayar, professor at Panjab
University, Chandigarh. Nayar, who belongs to Amritsar, was in the
city during the gun battles. He credits the "Punjabi spirit" for
overcoming the "trauma" of the army operation. "Our history is full
of such incidents. The people of
Punjab
have great resilience."
The state's
collective memory is one of violent attacks. Its folklore is a
bloody series of stories - on Diwali 1736, the Mughal Army attacked
the Golden Temple; on Baisakhi 1764, Ahmed Shah Abdali raided it;
Amritsar's Jalianwala Bagh massacre was also on Baisakhi. But 1984
was different. It was a battle between the Indian army and those who
challenged the idea of
India.
Many innocent people were caught in the crossfire.
Amritsar
resident Surinder Singh was praying at the
Temple
with his family that day. He lost his wife and son in the firing,
was arrested and sent to jail. "I was arrested on June 7. I never
saw my wife and son again," says Surinder, who now works as a
volunteer at the Takht Hazur Sahib.
Punjab has many
Surinders, still reeling from their personal loss. But analysts
insist Punjab has healed somewhat. Harinder Singh Khalsa was charge
d' affairs of the Indian mission in Norway in 1984 and resigned from
the IFS in protest against Operation Blue Star. He believes that a
huge change has taken place under the leadership of Sonia Gandhi and
Manmohan Singh. "Operation Blue Star is a part of the emotional
sensitivities and this wound can't be taken out of that, but as far
as alienation of the Sikhs from the country is concerned it has
definitely decreased," says the former diplomat.
Khalsa adds that
the "mistrust between Hindus and Sikhs was easily palpable at that
time but now people have moved ahead. But at the same time they have
not buried their past, both sides have learnt to live with it".
Those who
controversially supported Blue Star agree. Vinay Goel, a Jalandhar-based
lawyer, was a student in 1984 and organized a blood donation camp
for injured armymen. He believes "an element of fragility in peace
still remains." But he insists, "At the same time they have also
learnt to take care of one another's sentiments."
Goel is one of
many who discern a cautiousness in the way Punjabis deal with Blue
Star. "Even today, people don't talk about it freely and openly. No
one can joke about it," says a senior government official. "While it
shows that they have moved on, it also means they can't deal with
it."
Today,
Punjab
has new issues to deal with, not least the conflict between upper
caste Jats and lower caste Dalits. But these, says Rana, are "a
social problem". The politics of
Punjab's
bloody history may be another matter altogether.
(Courtesy TOI)
3
June 2009
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