|
A picture post card from Punjab
At a time when the world is grappling with
some of the most complex problems and aware humans in the developed
and developing world debating the larger issues of human rights
vis-à-vis the need for security and zero-tolerance implementation of
the law, we present to the readers of World Sikh News a quick
snap-shot of everyday life from Punjab. How far removed from the
concerns of the world can a place be is normally a good indicator of
how far it will go on the path of progress.
But Punjab is ridiculously far from any such desired objectives.
Let’s quickly sketch a picture postcard of your beloved Punjab. The
state has just won an award, if you believe the awards and the full
page advertisements fully paid by you, for being the top most state
in the country. We are the best in agriculture, best in
infrastructure, best in prosperity. So if you sometimes hear things
like farm crisis, or of city areas and villages going without
power, or of Lalru residents being brutally beaten up because they
happened to protest power outages lasting days, please do ignore it
as ramblings of a citizenry that does not matter. Not to the
award-winning politician in any case.
In a state widely known as the home of the Sikh community, the
ruling party takes credit for a record income from liquor vends.
People widely connected to the thriving liquor trade are also the
ones backing major politicians, and their participation through
their kin in gurdwara management bodies’ elections is no more a
secret in Punjab. The director general of the police admits as a
matter of fact that the police in the state registers false cases as
a routine under political pressure and frequently makes the life of
innocent civilians hell. That such admission some in writing, signed
and sealed, and fails to evoke mass out cryis a measure of things to
which apathy levels in Punjab have risen.
Reaction from the political class? Congress: Mum. Akali Dal (Badal):
One ghost-written press release. BJP: None of their business. Left:
Long has been irrelevant in Punjab politics.
The premier Sikh shrine management panel, the Shiromani Gurdawara
Prabandhak Committee (SGPC) secretary is sacked from his post for
undue political enthusiasm. He is immediately offered a similar post
by Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (DSGMC). On his part,
the sacked fellow has listed in fine detail alleged efforts by Akali
Dal president Prakash Singh Badal to usurp land worth crores. That
he chose to keep all this valuable information to himself throughout
and waited till his sack to share the facts with the people holds
meanings of its own which you can well understand.
Former MP Simranjit Singh Mann barges his way into a function where
Badal’s men tried to stop him unsuccessfully. Later, the SGPC
president honoured him with a siropa. The questions go abegging. Why
others not affiliated to Badal-led party, not invited? Why was there
an effort to stop him? Why did he insist on barging in? And why did
those who honoured Mann keep mum after Badal castigated them?
Clearly, instead of guru-ki-bani permeating the air, petty politics
was writ large over the function connected to Guru Granth Sahib.
Now, step back and look at this picture postcard carefully to see
how everyone is a winner. Punjab is a winner (See the
advertisements). Amarinder Singh is a winner (You didn’t see his
beaming face next to President Kalam’s?). Badal is a winner (The
DGP’s letter has proved that things were better in his regime, so as
corollary the self-indicting letter also proves things will be
better in the next regime if Badal heads it). SGPC is a winner (They
did sack an irritant who was working against the panth). The DSGMC
is a winner (After all, they have helped a wronged person in true
spirit of religion). Mann is a winner (Brave man braved the task
force hooligans to reach his Guru). Now spot the loser. For a clue,
try a mirror.
6 September 2006
|
Read Also
