The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

Monday, July 31, 2000,
Chandigarh, India

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CM ‘surrendered’ on US Nagar
From Our Correspondent

AMRITSAR, July 30 — The Akali Dal (Amritsar) president, Mr Simranjit Singh Mann, has said the Punjab Chief Minister and Shiromani Akali Dal president, Mr Parkash Singh Badal, has surrendered to the ruling BJP on the issue of inclusion of Udham Singh Nagar with the new hill state of Uttaranchal by ignoring the interests of the Sikhs in that area.

Talking to mediapersons here today, he added that the last-minute visit of the three-member committee headed by the Union Defence Minister, Mr George Fernandes, would have no impact on the decision of the central government to merge the area with the new hill state. This committee could not do anything as the Bill was already slated for discussion in Parliament on Tuesday, he added.

He alleged that both the BJP and the Opposition Congress in Parliament were united in favouring the merger of Udham Singh Nagar with the proposed Uttaranchal state as the Congress had already issued a whip to its MPs not to discuss this matter.

“There is already panic among Punjabi settlers in Udham Singh Nagar who are big landholders. It is dangerous for Sikhs who have big land holdings,”

Mr Mann said his party was planning to take to the court the alleged destruction, in a planned way, of Sikh heritage, particularly the historical places connected with Sikh Gurus. He held the former SGPC president, Mr Gurcharan Singh Tohra, and the present chief, Bibi Jagir Kaur, responsible for this destruction as the SGPC never asserted its authority and allowed the kar seva sants free hand. As a result of this many Sikh shrines and gurdwaras had lost Gurus’ symbols in the reconstruction of such places.

Mr Mann was referring to the demolition of the age-old structure of the “baradari” in the Golden Temple complex near Baba Atal during ‘kar seva’ by Baba Jagtar Singh.

The party had already formed a three-member committee to probe into the demolition of the “baradari” and Gurdwara Dukhniwaran in Patiala. The final decision on moving court would be taken after getting a report of this committee, he added.

Mr Mann alleged the demolition of mosques, churches and gurdwaras in the country was part of the BJP conspiracy to destroy the heritage of the minorities. “While mosques and churches were being demolished directly the Sikh historical places were being destroyed through some sections of the Sikhs”, he added.

Mr Mann complained the government made no efforts to complete the beautification of the Golden Temple plan, better known as “galiara scheme”, which had been lingering for several years now.

“I am happy over the beautification of Vaishno Devi temple but when this shrine could be beautified with government funds why not the Golden Temple”, he asked.

Referring to the Private Members Bill in Parliament last week to “nationalise the river waters”, Mr Mann said the Punjab case on river waters would have gone unheard if he had not opposed this Bill as both the Shiromani Akali Dal MPs were not present, in fact they had failed to attend the monsoon session so far.

He said he opposed this Bill as legally it was untenable as river waters were governed by internationally riparian laws and only those states had the right to waters through which the rivers passed.

He said the BJP government had drifted from its policy of decentralisation and had acted to nationalise the river waters, introduced a new TADA Bill, introduced a federal law enforcement agency and the Election Commission wanted the Governors to conduct elections in the states. “These are all ways of making the Centre very powerful”, he remarked.

He asked Mr Badal to bring forward the Anandpur Sahib resolution for autonomy to the state in the Punjab Vidhan Sabha. He said Mr Ram Jethmalani was asked to quit from the Union Cabinet because he opposed the new TADA law and this was not liked by the Union Home Minister, Mr Lal Krishan Advani.

“The new proposed law is meant to crush the minorities”, he pointed out.

He expressed doubts about the success of the proposed talks with Kashmiri militant organisations with the Centre as such organisations had been demanding complete independence for Kashmir whereas the Centre was not even ready to give pre-1953 status to the valley. “In fact both the BJP government and the Hurriyat leaders are under pressure from the US administration for bringing about some solution”. he added.

Udham Singh Nagar issue
UP minister lets cat out of bag
From Gobind Thukral
Tribune News Service

PANTNAGAR, July 30 — When newsmen confronted the Union Defence Minister, Mr George Fernandes, on the fate of Udham Singh Nagar at Pantnagar airport, his answer was that he was happy to meet a cross-section of the people and did not agree that the committee to determine the mood of the people was paying a visit when the Bill was already in Parliament. And the committee would meet and decide what it had to say. Standing close by, the Punjab Chief Minister, Mr Parkash Singh Badal, the leader who fought to have the committee constituted and forced it to pay at least one visit, just wondered what the Defence Minister would finally recommend.

But minutes later, the UP BJP president and Irrigation Minister, Mr Om Parkash Singh, let the cat out of the bag. "What is the status of this committee? It has been constituted neither by Parliament nor by the government. It is an informal committee to find out what the people of this district wish. It need not make even a written recommendation", the minister, who was representing his Chief Minister on the committee, said. Throughout the sittings, he sat glum-faced or like a man who knew these were only attempts at face-saving. And, he added with a degree of confidence, "people would not like to waste more time. They are eager to have this hill state of Uttaranchal created fast. Already too much time has been wasted."

To the demand that has repeatedly come up during the daylong meetings of delegations and in the speeches of almost anyone in this oasis of prosperity that more areas from the adjoining six districts of UP should be included to offset the hill peoples’ domination, his answer was that that would delay the matter. He also questioned the right of Parliament to pass any such legislation without consulting the state assembly and the people of these districts. A clear sign of the changing times. The year 2000 is not 1960.

Clearly, the state BJP’s agenda is to create the hill state fast with Udham Singh Nagar and capture it during the elections. The BJP, the ruling party in UP, at present in a hopeless position — and its track record is even worse than that of the Congress now — wishes to clutch at all available straws. This is a major stumbling block which Mr Badal faces. His only hope is that Mr Fernandes, that garrulous Socialist leader, is able to find a way out. People that day provided an answer to the troubling question. Ultimately, it would require intervention by the Prime Minister. Mr Badal has much to worry as his political stakes are high. The issue strikes on emotional chord in Punjab. His rivals, Mr Gurcharan Singh Tohra, and the former Union Minister, Mr Balwant Singh Ramoowalia, are laughing up their sleeves. Mr Badal’s rivals see in it a long stick to beat him with. CPM stalwart Harkishen Singh Surjeet with the help of the Samajwadi leader, Mr Mulayam Singh Yadav, was the first leader to raise the issue and give it a deep political colour. The CPM is against the creation of small, economically unviable states that could only feed fissiparous tendencies.

Udham Singh Nagar has a chequered history. It was created only a few years ago by the then UP Chief Minister, Ms Mayawati, that volatile BSP leader. She named it after that legendary patriot from Punjab. While her eyes were set on the prosperous farmers who had toiled hard to make the land cultivable and the equally rich agro-based industrialists, the BJP wanted to gift it to the proposed hill state where people depend upon salaries and the pensions they get. It is a "money-order" area. Hills and temples all right, but then poverty haunts and kills. Disease and sickness claim hundreds of lives and women folk gather wood to run their kitchens. Without close-by prosperous areas, it would almost be a surrogate state, begging from the Centre. Hardwar district is already out. Economic viability demands the inclusion of some rich areas in the proposed state. So why not add the entire Terai region that used to be one district way back in 1890. That means all the foothills.

Also, it would balance the demographic pattern, the hill people equally placed with those from the foothills. "We shall not have Uttaranchal without Udham Singh Nagar. People here have ill-founded fears that they will lose land and their prosperity. We live in peace", said Mr K.C. Singh Baba, the wrestler-like gutsy Congress MLA from Kanshipur. Interestingly, he is only Congress MLA from the hills of Kumaon and Garhwal and a stout supporter of the merger. Of course, as he said, he could relent on having more areas, but at no cost Uttaranchal without Udham Singh Nagar. This district has been milked well by all political parties, and that includes the Akalis. The presence of several thousand protesters on the plush lawns of Pantnagar Agriculture University was clear evidence of that. Happily, there was no communal divide as such, since fear is there that could happen after the creation of the hill state.

At the centre is the issue of land. It is true that Punjabi settlers have done real risky hard work to make it produce wheat, rice and sugarcane, but it is also equally true that land belonging to tribesmen, the Tharus and Baksas, and the Scheduled Castes, too, had been usurped by hook or by crook. Some 20,000 acres are under dispute in various courts. Ms Mayawati had threatened to take all this land and give to the tribesmen and the Scheduled Castes. What haunts the farmers is this and the fact that a poor cousin alongside the wall would be too nagging. Hill people have also their eyes set on this land. "The land size will be reduced and we will suffer another Partition", is the common refrain among those who came here after losing their land in Pakistan. There is a degree of truth despite the assurances. It would be difficult to retain what they have. It would be strictly 12.5 acres.

The issue would be the local people and the outsiders. We still see that issue in close-by Himachal Pradesh, the old hill areas and the merged areas from Punjab often at loggerheads. Sixty lakh hill people against 15 lakh others would be a good political crop for the politician to reap an electoral harvest. This should disturb Mr Fernandes, too. And people, cutting across party lines, offered a way. Have all the old Terai areas and create a viable state.