Daljit Ami
The best way to freeze a pain is to
manifest the wound through a tilted lens. When organizations seek to find
reasons for their own existence by tilting the pains, chances of addressing the
wound diminish. Every time the pain goes past limits, there is a fear that of
it being appropriated. When the pain rides the horse of devotion, the devotion
itself tends to wear the garb of egotism. This phenomenon is true for fundamental
issues as well as for the redresses or denials of larger wounds. If the wounds
are definitive then the attempt is to find ways of stroking them, inflicting
newer wounds upon them, to be further enhance the victimization. This pattern
of the politics of martyrdom can be seen in suicide attackers, among the
nationalists, and in the ones who call for support because the ‘religion is in
danger’ or ‘national integrity and unity’ need protection. The import of these
speeches and uniforms is to orient the lay believers that the entire variety of
the world lies sandwiched between the two extremes of sacrifice and victimhood.
What do the recent incidents, marking the
anniversary of June 1984, in the Golden Temple and Jammu show us? If the
Shiromani Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee (SGPC) and security forces were suspicious,
then what does their preparation show us? If no organisation is willing to take
the responsibility for these incidents, then what right does anyone have to
turn the incidents in Jammu into one with tenors of martyrdom? How does Avtar
Singh Makkar, President SGPC, conclude that the incidents are ‘hurting the Sikh
sentiments’ and warn that ‘the situation may slip out
of control if the guilty cops were not arrested’. On the one hand no one wants to associate
with such activities but everyone is ready to jump in if there is any violence.
Does violence facilitate their politics or make the victim important for
politicians?
The essential question is: should we remember 1984
only as a year that wounded the Sikh psyche or should we grind it by the Sikh
Ardas which calls for the blessings of knowledge, wisdom and belief for it
people? Should we not enquire into the politics and economics of 1984 and reflect
upon how those are being played out these days? Can we ask the Jathedar who
included the reference of Indira Gandhi’s aggressors in the Ardas, the names contemporary
aggressors? Do we consider the cherry picking historians who subscribe to
either the government or the religious community as final? The list of these
questions can go on ...It is difficult to assess the incidents in Amritsar and Jammu and the statements made in them without taking into account the ceremonies abroad. This time the organizations learnt from last year and remained within barricades placed by security agencies, and task force of SGPC in the Golden Temple complex. In different corners of the holy premises, in front of small, almost hidden cameras, leaders made grandiose arguments in front of followers who they had brought for the function. These very arguments spread all over the world and became points of discussions and debates in Gurdwaras abroad. We must understand the relationship between these statements and the collections abroad in the name of the religious faith. Can we consider these arguments to be an annual drill of performance audit by non-governmental organizations? After all, these NGOs get their fund flow by showing their report cards. This argument can be applied to security agencies and task force too. If nothing happens this time, where would our stance on suspicions and worries stand the next year?
What is the importance of putting up
and tearing down Bhindranwale’s (a Brar) poster on the 31st anniversary of the
Blue Star Operation? Why did not the response to this poster not be the poster
of General Vaidya instead of another Brar, General Kuldeep Singh? The profits
from sales of Bhindrawale’s posters and stickers go to Chinese entrepreneurs
but how was Vaidya chosen? Is K S Brar being discriminated against in this era
of Modi-wadi politics? It is clear that a game is afoot to exploit the sentiment of the times on specific occassions. The point can also be raised that how are questions on these wounds of 1984, associated with history and the region, are limited to only these instances. Why does the government not address these issues in the other days of the year? How do the outfits who make their statements on small cameras address these questions on the other days of the year? Is the politics of 31 years now reduced to these anniversaries and the imprisoned Sikhs? Isn’t the history before 1984 important? Why are the facts that led to the Operation not taken into account?
The Sikh outfits abroad, to mark the
anniversary of the 1984 holocaust, ask for a separate nation for the Sikhs.
Sikhs for Justice is running a campaign that by 2020 there should be a referendum among Sikhs for
a separate nation. Posters on this have been put up in many Gurdwaras in North
America, Europe and Australia. On these posters words like ‘genocide’ are used
quite liberally. Leaving aside the politics and economics of such ventures, we
need to ask some other questions. Is the whole of 1984 a year of genocide? How
will these organizations respond to the question of killings before Operation
Blue Star?Why isn’t the violence against Nirankaris also called a genocide? Does someone become a Nirankari or a supporter of the 1978 episode by merely asking this question? There may not be an end to the question of violence by any side during the Partition but ethically the questions do not stop. How will we understand the Ardas done at holy places after abductions of Muslim women?
What is the relationship between the cutting into pieces of Gehel Singh Chajalvaadi, burning it in the Darbar Sahib langar hall, and the Ardas that takes place in the very same place? How will we respond to Comrade Chajalwadi’s compaign for peace and human brotherhood during troubled times? After Operation Blue Star, the Sarbat Khalsa of January 1986 is considered to be the community’s decision. In those difficult times the decisions taken at the holy place are lauded while everyone gathered there knew that Sant Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale had died in the Operation Blue Star. Yet, the lie spoken there was ratified by the assumed community voice. Who will now be held responsible for the lie? Can that lie and other resolutions be separated?
How can one avoid introspection
and inter-community issues while calling for a referendum? If the region’s name
were not Hindustan but Pakistan or Khalistan or any other place, then what kind
of a society be visualized through these memorial functions? What rules shall determine
the relationship the martyrs of that land and the real citizens? What will
define the relationship among citizenry and what will be the virtues to make
one an honourable global citizen? Do the ones calling for a referendum have an
image of a Sikh as a global citizen? Can Punjab become an ideal place with
their nostalgia driven charities?
This diaspora community often reminds
us of the legacy of the Ghadar Party and establishes itself as the inheritor of
the mantle. The questions of empire were different in the time of the Ghadar
agitation. In those days people from
every colonized nation fought the empire to free themselves. The Ghadar Party
aimed for people to become free global citizens. Ghadar Party was part of a
larger global trend among expatriates from colonized countries. They were
fueled by indignation and aspirations to create just society. As a result,
they aimed to overthrow their empire and supported others nations wars of independence.
After a century the shape of the
empire has changed. These days, people from the developing nations, by seeking
citizenship in those countries, have fulfilled the war ambitions of the empires.
Be it the Afghanistan war or the Iraq one, they are fought with the support of
the American-European Afghanis and American-European Iraqis. In the Sri Lankan
war the Tamils lost their touch with ground realities while riding on the
American dollars and European euros. One front against Tamils was opened through seizure
of bank accounts of Canadian NGOs supporting their war against Sri Lankan state.
The voice of the diaspora is important but it needs to be pointed out that this
no local struggle that can be won with diaspora’s charities. That money is good
enough to promote activities for the diaspora gallery.
The argument of the old empire was
driven by church promoted civilising campaigns and the ‘white man’s burden’ of the
Western races. The empire justified
their cruel wars by declaring them ways in which they sought to teach culture
to the non-Westeren races. Till date, the native populations of Canada and
Australia are singed by the propaganda done by Christian missionaries. Today
the people of the third world, settled in these countries, are carrying out the
same legacy. They declare themselves as the front runners of their issues. It
seems that their existence has come to depend on how they educate the third
world about their religion and sense of justice. That is why it is important
that every party in Punjab now considers if the diaspora is their asset or liability. The diasporic Sikhs have ignored the question
of the minorities in North America and Europe. The expatriate rationalist
society activists cannot connect with the rationalists and atheists of Africa.
They have not even tried to connect with the rationalists of North America or
Europe. The Punjabi communists could not advance beyond empathy with the Left
movements in Punjab. The politics of the Punjabis abroad is the cover dependent
on the idea of them being the fore-runners of the issue. They might have the
language of the Ghadar movement but without indignation and vision for future what
is the use? These observations and questions can be ignored like Punjab’s
wounds have been ignored. The anxious youth of Punjab can be led astray. One
need not take responsibility of one’s actions. If some young boys die they can
be declared martyrs. One could even trace the image of martyrs in these young
boys but history will not always be written through selective reverential memory
... a Bhai Kanhaiya could decide to honour the wineskin.
Translation by Amandeep Sandhu, currently a fellow
at Akademie Schloss Solitude.
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