It has been 10 days since the stormy petrel of Punjab’s religio-politics, Amritpal Singh, who held centre stage for eight months, was arrested and confined to Dibrugarh jail. Given the absence of public agitation and the fact that only 10 radicals including Amritpal have been booked under the National Security Act and 10-15 licensed firearms recovered, it is clear that he was a radical upstart without any mass support exploiting the fault lines of Punjab.
Yet, in this short span, Amritpal almost took Punjab to the brink. A large number of casualties due to a legitimate police action during the storming of Amritsar’s Ajnala police station on 23 February and possible damage to Guru Granth Sahib being carried by the agitating crowd, would have given him the same status that Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale got after the Baisakhi incident of 1978.
It is time for the Sikh community, political parties, and the state to introspect on how a radicalised charlatan seized the social, religious, and political space. Blaming an irresponsible media, right-wing narrative , or intelligence/political machinations is merely running away from the problem. The economic, social, and religious problems of Punjab are well-known, and it is time to take concrete steps to address them.
Open field for radicals
The absence of Sikh intelligentsia and non-politicised social/religious organisations, particularly from the rural areas, has left the field open for radicals and bigots. They exploit the populist and religious causes like drug abuse, conversions, and youth shedding symbols of Sikh identity.
There is a need to create apolitical social and religious organisations to take up these causes. These organisations must also create non-profit educational institutions and sports clubs. Sports, which kept Sikh youth engaged, have disappeared from educational institutions and villages. My village of merely 600 people had teams for all games apart from individual sports upto mid-1960s . Today, an empty stadium with overgrown grass is symbolic of the decline. Drug problem also must be addressed both by social and religious organisations. Rural community which manages village Gurdwaras must not allow their misuse by the radicals. Educated and trained preachers must be appointed who can double as social counsellors.
The Sikhs who constituted only 11 percent of pre-Independence Punjab’s population, perceived an existential threat from proselytising activities of Christian missionaries, Hindu reform movements like the Brahmo Samaj and Arya Samaj, and the Muslim Aligarh movement towards end of 19th century and early 20th century. In response, socio-religious organisations like the Singh Sabha Movement in 1873, its offshoot Chief Khalsa Diwan, Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) in 1920, and Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) in 1920 were formed. Over time, the SGPC became the de-facto authority on Sikh religious matters, akin to the Vatican in the Catholic Church.
SAD and SGPC were symbolic of the Miri-Piri (temporal-spiritual) concept of power in Sikhism, which is in conflict with the ethos of our constitutional democracy. Today, the SGPC is a politicised body functioning as the religious arm of the SAD. Rather than act as the Vatican of the Sikhs, it echoes the political views of the SAD and rides piggyback on radical organisations or individuals when they seize centre stage as in the case of Bhindranwale and Amritpal Singh.
There is an urgent need for a socio-religious mass movement to resurrect Sikhism and address other social problems. Either the Sikh society must endeavour to transform the SGPC or start a new movement. Under no circumstances must social and religious spaces be ceded to the radicals to become their sanctuaries.
Also read: Amritpal’s rise and fall expose a vulnerable Punjab. Minority bashing will boost radicalism
Old habits die hard
In a secular constitutional democracy, a clear separation between politics and religion is necessary. However, in Sikh society, the Miri-Piri concept intrinsically binds them. This led to turmoil in Punjab, culminating in violent socio-religious unrest from the late 1970s to mid-1990s. The Congress party, with its roots in the freedom struggle, did separate the two, but it too fell prey to the malice when it sponsored Bhindranwale.
The SAD-BJP coalition emerged from the dark days of militancy and successfully avoided communal politics, although voting continued along communal lines. However, this happy state ended when the BJP at the national level began promoting its own version of a mix of temporal and spiritual power and the SAD reverted to religious politics. This has led to the equation of Khalistan with Hindu Rashtra, and minority bashing in the heartland has resulted in the punchline—“next could be us”, in Punjab.
The political parties particularly in Punjab must rise above communal politics and avoid exploiting radicalism for electoral gain. But then old habits die hard. It is worth noting that the SAD is currently busy organising legal defence for Amritpal Singh and his associates and accusing the government of repression of Sikhs.
Political sponsorship and media
The trend of radicalism in Punjab indicates that apart from the omnipresent religious, social, and economic causes, it always begins with political sponsorship. Dithering by the Centre and the state to nip it in the bud either stems from political apprehensions or ulterior motives.
Failure of the central and state government agencies to act against Deep Sidhu after the Red Fort incident and Amritpal Singh before he “took off” leaves too many questions unanswered with respect to political machinations. This must not happen in future.
As far as the media is concerned, the less said about its irresponsible role in creating “Bhindranwale 2.0”—Amritpal Singh—the better. Investigative journalism was conspicuous by its absence. It should have been clear to even a rookie journalist that Amritpal had no mass support and was only a wannabe radical. Instead, he was made larger than life and the bogey of Khalistan was raised without any evidence. The media must do serious investigations about the problems of Punjab and force the central and state governments to find solutions.
Also read: Protests, lathicharge — why Punjab farmers are becoming increasingly disenchanted with AAP govt
State of economy, agriculture
Punjab is predominantly an agriculture-driven economy. Lack of industrialisation and small unremunerative land holdings have created large scale unemployment. Lack of quality education and skill training has also rendered rural youth unemployable. Notwithstanding the opposition to the Centre’s farm laws, the state needs agricultural reforms and rapid industrialisation. The farm laws, which faced massive protests, passed in 2020 through an ordinance were loaded in favour of the corporates. The ‘unconstitutional’ dispute resolution mechanism prevented the farmers from filing legal cases. It was perceived that without minimum support price and existing market infrastructure, sooner than later, the laws of economics would take over and farmers would be reduced to penury.
It is also beyond dispute that with land holdings reduced to 3-5 acres, agriculture is offering diminishing returns. In my village, farming is being done by only 25 per cent of land owners who take 20 acres or more on lease. What Punjab and other states need are farmer-friendly reforms based on cooperatives or partnerships with corporates that have a model dispute resolution mechanism. Crop diversification, horticulture, animal husbandry, and agro-industry can help revive the agricultural economy. Both the central and state governments must work together to bring about these reforms through consultation with the farmers.
Industrialisation of Punjab requires a national effort. The state is reeling under debt. Any government in power is barely able to administer the state after debt-servicing and has no money to assist industrialisation. Punjab requires an industrialisation package from the Centre with handsome incentives to attract corporate investment.
Political parties and civil society of Punjab, particularly the Sikh community, must attack social, religious and economic problems head-on. Let me also reiterate what I wrote in an earlier column—Punjab is a national security vulnerability, it requires the support of the nation to turn the situation around.
Lt Gen H S Panag PVSM, AVSM (R), served in the Indian Army for 40 years. He was GOC in C Northern Command and Central Command. Post-retirement, he was Member of Armed Forces Tribunal. He tweets @rwac48. Views are personal.
(Edited by Ratan Priya)