New Delhi: Decked up with white roses, chairs and tables draped in white, the memorial of former Punjab DGP KPS Gill at the India International Centre drew friends, colleagues, top IAS officers and family. Touted as Punjab’s ‘saviour’, the event offered a sharp insight into the celebrated but controversial police officer’s career and imagined what he would think of the current politics of the state, which is now increasingly frayed.
Organised by the Institute of Conflict Management, four speakers gave their tribute to Gill in long, impassionate speeches. They spoke of Punjab’s past and the present in the same breath, and discussed the social and political fabric of the state on Gill’s 90th birth anniversary.
“Even as troubles begin again in Punjab. There’s a tendency to say we’re back in the 80s and 90s. We have forgotten, and younger people perhaps do not even know the scale of what we’ve achieved there. In remembering what he did, some of the speakers will remind us of the sheer magnitude of what Punjab suffered and the sheer magnitude of what KPS Gill and Punjab police achieved,” said Ajay Sahni.
The speakers, in their extempore addresses, leaned on Gill’s strategies and wisdom. They brainstormed ways to get Punjab out of a bind—a law and order situation that is often reminiscent of the state’s past struggles with militancy and extremism.
Ajai Sahni, the founding member and executive director of the Institute of Conflict Management kickstarted the event with a tribute to Gill. “The man who saved Punjab, as well as the unity and integrity of the entire country,” he said, “a general like KPS Gill is born once in centuries. Throughout the insurgency in Punjab. he led from the front.”
Also paying homage to former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who died earlier last week, Sahni remembered what Singh had said about Gill: “KPS Gill was the bravest man I knew. He restored Sikh Pride.”
The speakers for the occasion included Vohra, former Punjab DGP Suresh Arora, Professor Emeritus at Centre for Policy Research Bharat Karnad, and Shekhar Gupta, founder and editor-in-chief of ThePrint. SS Virk, former DGP of Punjab and Maharashtra and Pramod Kumar, chairperson of the Institute of Development & communication, Chandigarh couldn’t make it to the event due to health issues.
Virk, who was also at the helm of managing Punjab’s law and order along with Gill at the height of the insurgency, sent a note commemorating his colleague.
“Traveling extensively, and meeting the police and paramilitary teams on duty, Gill infused a new spirit, through which Punjab police not only recovered but also launched strong offensives (against the militancy). His strategies succeeded because he believed in them and led the force from the front,” Virk’s note said. “The present scenario (in Punjab) is of indecision and ineffectiveness. I have no doubt that Mr Gill’s police strategies are more relevant today than ever before, i’d like to join all of you to pay tribute to Sardar KPS Gill, the super cop.”
Parallels from the past
The first person to speak at the event was Vohra, former governor of Jammu and Kashmir, who also led the bureaucracy of Punjab during its most tenuous years. He recreated the bloodthirst that had filled Punjabi society in those years, and freely criticised the government of the day for failing to take hold of the situation.
“The instability in Punjab was caused due to soft governance. It was inadequate and ineffective. In 1978, on Baisakhi, the clash between Damdami Taksal and Nirankaris was the beginning of our problems. Government of the day didn’t take effective steps to nip it in the bud and it caused more problems, leading to terrorism getting a firm foothold in Punjab,” Vohra said.
He added that the roots of governance and administration have not only been weakened “but cut”. “We still don’t have a policy in Punjab.”
Making the comparison between centre-state relations during Operation Blue Star and now, Vohra expressed concern over the apparent inaction in the state.
“The Centre-state relations during Blue Star and thereabouts and today are not clear. We are dealing with a border state where problems are endemic, agriculture is the only way to earn, water level is going down, people are dying of fertilizer cancers, and problems are of very large scale. Who will take control?” he said.
Vohra remembered Gill for being a cop who led from the ground. He recalled how Punjab cadre officers would refuse to take charge of border districts, and the police were completely de-spirited. It was Vohra who ensured the appointment of SS Virk from Maharashtra and KPS Gill, who was then in Jammu, to Punjab. Vohra spoke of the parallels that are drawn between today and the militancy days. “KPS’ three tenures in Punjab… call it good, call it bad. There was no alternative. He was the man on the ground, on the spot and he shielded us.”
Shekhar Gupta offered insight into today’s Punjab politics and imagined what Gill would think if he were alive today: “Mr Gill will see a lot that is broken. He will see broken politics, he will see a return of religiosity. He will see a complete loss of credibility. By the state government, by the state civil services, by the clergy, by sikh politicians and a complete breakdown of trust among the Sikh population of Punjab and the centre,” Gupta said.
Gupta tracked Gill’s career right from when he was the Inspector General of Assam to his last interview.
He touched upon the re-birth of a sense of alienation in Punjab, now more widespread than it was 40 years ago. Gupta also spoke of the falling economic prowess of Punjab on the India map, a state which has gone from being the highest per capita GDP in 2000 to being the 13th state now. He mentioned outward migration of Punjab’s low-skilled youth, who are generating remittances. However, Gupta argued that Gill’s methods could not be repeated today. Other social issues ailing the Punjab society that Gupta talked about were conversions, Christian activism, as well as a return to religiosity within Sikh society.
“Methods that were used in the past cannot be used anymore, because there are no leaders there, local politics is broken,” he said.
Gupta added that the Shiromani Akali Dal party is ‘dead in the waters’.
“Biggest error under the watch of this government, this alliance shouldn’t have been allowed to break. The idea that now the BJP will go into Punjab, and Hindus will vote for them and enough Sikhs will vote for them… it is not an idea people in Punjab are happy about. It is a very dangerous game. You cannot put it out of sight out of mind,” Gupta said.
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A frayed legacy
KPS Gill, the man who led Punjab out of the insurgency, doesn’t have an indelible legacy. Under his watch, Amnesty International had alleged cases of forced disappearances, and killing and torture of hundreds of young Sikh men. Gill was also convicted in a sexual harassment case.
His colleagues commented on his style and offered defence.
Karnad recalled a meeting with Gill, and spoke about the exploitation of the Jatt-Sikh psyche launched by the DGP to counter terrorism in Punjab.
Under the thrall of Sikh militant Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale and others, Karnad said, many militants had misbehaved with a section of Punjabi society, which had then harboured an ill-will against them.
“The very people the militants had mistreated, whose people had died, and these are the people he (Gill) approached, and he told them look… I will give you the license to hunt down the people who mistreated your women, and looted your property. This was the core of what I imagined, became the core of the Punjab police commando he raised… and it succeeded very well,” Karnad said.
Karnad went on to add that Gill’s greatest disappointment was the ingratitude of the government toward the cadre that he had raised.
“He was most disappointed by the treatment that people he had appointed to the Punjab police cadre got, the Indian state turned against them, they were targeted. Some of them committed suicide. ”
Suresh Arora, who worked in various districts as Superintendent of Police under Gill’s leadership, also expressed exasperation at the inquiries done against the police.
“Since 1994 till now, is there any allegation of any kind against Punjab Police? It is the same force, same people, same law. We helped in restoring the functioning of democratic institutions, but once restored those very institutions came after us,” Arora noted.
Towards the end, snacks and drinks were served as top IAS officers of the old era mingled with each other and remembered the Sardaar.
(Edited by Ratan Priya)
KPS Gill will be turning in his grave.
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