Punjabi antenna
Migrant misery
Randeep Wadehra

Zee Punjabi’s Khabarsaar aired a debate on the issue of immigrants

Sports are deeply ingrained into the average Punjabi’s psyche. So, it is natural to assume that Punjab’s sporting institutions and infrastructure would be zealously guarded against any sort of wantonness. Well, going by what was done to Ludhiana’s Guru Nanak Stadium recently one is left wondering. The stadium boasts of imported tracks and other equipment worth crores. It takes money and effort to maintain the stadium grounds. All these were ruined when the stadium was converted into a venue for a musical nite. Open-air kitchens and barbecues were installed on the costly grass; the stage, the chairs and other fixtures and fittings ruined the stadium.

And what was the fee for holding the nite? A princely Rs 1 lakh. To escape adverse publicity, the media’s entry to the venue was banned, but Rajesh Inderpal of PTC News, along with his team, managed to record the vandalism. Punjab’s exchequer is not exactly overflowing with funds, and already its sports infrastructure urgently needs upgrades in order to regain its former status as numero uno sporting powerhouse. If the existing facilities continue to be misused, there is little hope for redemption. Let us hope that the authorities concerned will wake up to the perils of such callous acts.

But Ludhiana was in news not only for ruining its sports stadium. The small screen was cindered by burning vehicles and violence in the city. Official apathy was in full play. Immigrant labourers are regularly looted by some local gangsters and the police has done little to protect them. This time, when some labourers were robbed by a gang of motorcyclists, the police refused to register their complaint which lead to a violent reaction. Good to see the Punjab DGP admitting the police lapse on television and assuring corrective action.

Talking of the so-called outsiders’ rights, there was a full-fledged debate on Zee Punjabi’s Khabarsaar, moderated by SP Singh. The discussion had participants from three different politico-intellectual backgrounds, viz., president of the Dal Khalsa Harcharanjit Singh Dhami, Punjab chief of the All-India Youth Federation Kashmir Singh Godaiya, and Manjit Singh, Professor of Sociology, Panjab University. What stood out during the debate was Dhami’s unremitting intolerance for the immigrants. All the counter arguments by SP Singh and the other two panellists had no effect on the extremist worldview. Finally, SP Singh pointed out that what Dhami’s outfit practiced was contrary to the tenets of Sikhism because the 10 Gurus preached tolerance and love for humanity, protection of the underdog and catholicity in word and deed. Prof Manjit Singh suggested that if Sikhs feared becoming a minority in Punjab (an unlikely scenario), nothing prevented the Sikh clergy from taking the immigrants into the Sikh fold. Godaiya averred that, contrary to prevailing prejudices, the immigrants were, by and large, law-abiding people. Compared to the Punjabi youth, the immigrants were less prone to drug addiction and more hard-working. Moreover, they had proved to be vital contributors to the state’s prosperity right from the initial phases of the Green Revolution. Today, with prospects of agriculture’s corporatisation becoming bright, they were being victimised.

Unfortunately Ludhiana’s misery was compounded by a politico-religious fracas. The immigrants’ violent protests had hardly abated when anti-Ashutosh Maharaj protests by various militant Sikh outfits erupted. Apparently, a politician had invited the religious head to hold a samagam in Ludhiana. When politicians play with fire, it is the common man who gets scorched. Hasn’t Punjab suffered enough?