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India at Glasgow CWG Temples of justice |
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The united colours of Hindutva
The airport insecurity check
Master Tara Singh & Punjab’s partition
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India at Glasgow CWG A glance at the medals table indicates that India’s performance at the XX Commonwealth Games in Glasgow has declined steeply after the high of Delhi 2010, when as hosts they won 101 medals, including 38 gold, 27 silver and 36 bronze. From Glasgow 2014, the numbers are 15 gold, 30 silver and 49. In Delhi, India finished second on the medals table behind Australia; in Glasgow, they ended up fifth, behind England, Australia, Canada and Scotland. Yet, this performance can’t be considered disheartening. It was clear from the outset that the high of Delhi 2010 – when India won over 100 CWG medals for the first time ever – was impossible to match in Glasgow. One reason for this is that many events in which India did very well in 2010 were either truncated (shooting, wrestling) or entirely dropped (tennis, archery, walking). In the case of shooting, the medal events came down from 44 to 19; India’s haul from shooting, thus, dropped from Delhi’s 30 to Glasgow’s 17. In wrestling, the number of medals won fell from 19 in 2010 to 13 this year. Another reason behind the fall in the numbers won is that as hosts, Indian athletes were competing in home conditions before massive audience support; also, the Indian government had used a lot of resources and money to train the athletes to ensure they did well at their home Games. There are some encouraging signs from the Glasgow Games for Indian sport: An Indian man (Vikas Gowda) won an athletics gold at the CWG for the first time in 56 years; an Indian man (Parupalli Kashyap) won the CWG badminton title for the first time in 32 years; Joshana Chinappa and Dipika Pallikal won India their first-ever squash gold at the CWG. India’s CWG show, though, highlighted a painful fact yet again – most Indian sportspersons come from economically deprived circumstances. The middle classes are supplying very few athletes to the nation’s talent pool, though they moan the most when India doesn’t do well in sport.
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Temples of justice Seventeen
years back, the Supreme Court of India equipped the women of this country with Vishakha guidelines, protecting their right to dignity at the workplace. But, the courts forgot to set their own house in order, thereby implying the judges and lawyers working in the temples of justice were all above board. In 2013, a blog post by a young law intern gave details of alleged sexual misconduct of a retired judge of the Supreme Court. The Chief Justice of India took suo motu cognizance of the woman’s post on the Web to set up an inquiry. The apex court abdicated responsibility and lost an opportunity to raise the bar for compliance with the Vishakha guidelines it had set for others when it concluded ‘no further action is required by the court’ as the intern was not on the rolls of the Supreme Court and the Judge had retired. The intern had claimed taking the bold step as a moral responsibility to prevent other interns from facing similar humiliation in future. The apparent helplessness on the part of the court has come to haunt the judiciary once again. A former Additional District and Sessions Judge in Gwalior has filed a sexual harassment complaint against a Madhya Pradesh High Court Judge. The judge, who also heads the Internal Complaints Committee
(ICC), has alleged that the high court judge being in charge of the administration was interfering in her day-to-day work with the help of three other judges because she had turned down his advances. As punishment, she alleged, she was transferred. The judges seem to have created a conundrum, they don’t seem to be subjected to the scrutiny of the
ICC, else why is it that the CJI is being treated as the single-point receiver of sexual harassment complaints against judges? The manner in which the judiciary deals with this issue will be keenly watched by women’s rights’ activists in particluar and by the public at large.
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Don’t worry about avoiding temptation... as you grow older, it will avoid you. — Winston Churchill
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Charitable dispensaries in the Punjab THE number of hospitals and dispensaries in the Punjab has increased from 464 in 1910 to 466 in 1913. But the latter figure excludes 15 hospitals in Delhi. The progress during the past three years is hardly satisfactory. But it is pointed out that certain local bodies are not yet fully alive to their responsibilities in the matter of providing medical aid. It is necessary that special endeavour should be made to reuse the local bodies and make them adopt both preventive and curative measures in respect of disease. The Punjab is apparently becoming more exposed than before to discuss of various kinds and the death rate is very high. Sanitation and medical aid are the two ways in which the people are to be helped. The daily average of impatients has risen from 2,471 in 1911 to 2,854 in 1918.
Prison reform THE question of prison reform has been engaging the attention of most civilised Governments, and it is generally recognised that mere imprisonment of criminals will not reform them. It is sometimes doubted whether the Borstal system of segregating adult juveniles and training them will cure them of criminal propensities inherited by parents. But environment more than heredity accounts for the faults and failings of ninety per cent of men and it is well that the criminals should be placed under less unwholesome environments. It is reported that lately about 20 convicts — all University men — in Boston whose crimes were due to either sudden outburst of passion or to fast life and extravagance expressed their desire to know whether their defects were due to heredity or to environment.
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The united colours of Hindutva
Amit
Shah is the new buzzword in the Sangh parivar jargon. It means loyalty. Shah is, without any doubt, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Man Friday. But what differentiates him from others is the blind faith he has in his master, Modi. Amit Shah was given the task of polarising the biggest state of Uttar Pradesh. He won the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) 71 Lok Sabha seats out of 80 in the recent elections. Modi has now put Shah at the head of the BJP to spread the same divisive ideas, Hindutva, all over the country. One thing is clear from his appointment: the resistance to extremists has worn out so much that even a fanatic Hindu like Shah can occupy the highest position in the Sangh parivar. He is openly trying to put RSS and Modi’s government on the same page. For example, Kaptan Singh Solanki, appointed as the governor of Haryana, is a hardcore RSS member. What it conveys is that the BJP is willing to be used as an instrument of the RSS. By stating that the Sangh would take part in politics, Mohan Bhagwat, the RSS chief, has only confirmed the perception that the parivar is dictated by RSS. This may be against the undertaking that RSS had given to the then Home Minister Sardar Patel that it would not participate in political activities. Then the Jan Sangh had to amend its constitution to re-enunciate that the organisation would remain “devoted purely to cultural work.” The appointment of Solanki also sends out the message that there is no difference between the BJP and the RSS, the liberals and the extremists. Both are two sides of the same coin. Modi may not have taken any step to accelerate the pace of Hindutva. Yet his prime ministership has emboldened the RSS elements. So much so that one BJP member called Sania Mirza, India’s pride in tennis, a Pakistani. It must be tough for Muslims who have to prove their loyalty to India all the time. Her husband is no doubt a Pakistani. She was naturally hurt at being questioned on her nationality. Hindutva of sorts was seen in Haryana where a separate Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) will control all the gurdwaras in the state and their offerings. It is a matter which should have been pondered over seriously to find a formula to allay the fears of Sikhs in Punjab and Haryana. RSS considers Sikhs a part of Hindu community. The Sikhs, on the other hand, are against the assumption. The violent reaction of Punjab Chief minister Parkash Singh Badal showed that the Punjab Sikhs, a majority in the community, will not tolerate any division in what he describes as panth, the Sikh order. Another unfortunate deduction is that the liberal elements in the BJP have dwindled in number. They find no option to the RSS leadership. Maybe, the distance between the BJP and RSS was never a reality. It was part of the RSS tactics to make a dent in the general perception that Indian society prefers the liberal BJP to the obdurate RSS. The perception about tolerance in the Hindu religion is largely true. Had this not been the case, the Constitution would not have said in the Preamble that India would be a secular republic. The proof is provided by the elections, in which 80 per cent of Hindus, who constitute an overwhelming majority, vote for a liberal India. Another indication is that even the liberal Muslim leaders don’t get elected even when their community constitutes 15 to 16 per cent of population in the country. The ominous side is that the bigoted are adopting a still harder line and getting acceptance. Otherwise, Shah’s elevation makes little sense. After the BJP victory at the Centre, he has been polarising society and ensuring that the party does not snap its ties with RSS or the extremist Shiv Sena in Maharashtra. The recent episode of force-feeding of a fasting Muslim by a Sena MP is in bad taste. What is more surprising is the explanation offered by the MP concerned and others. Several Sena members failed to condemn the MP and instead said it was done only to let the authorities know that the food supplied at Maharastra Sadan was awful. Though the Sena MP subsequently apologised, the party had no business to equate it with some Muslim men raping women during Ramzan. The Modi government has at last reacted with Home Minister Rajnath Singh regretting the incident and reiterating that the government was committed to safeguarding the religious freedom guaranteed by the Constitution. Despite this, Modi’s overall say in favour of Hindutva cannot be denied. He is associated with the anti-Muslim riots in Gujarat in 2002. He is also known for his strong anti-Pakistan and anti-Bangladesh views, the two Muslims republics in India’s neighbourhood. Amit Shah was part of Modi’s ministry at Ahmedabad at that time. Fortunately, Modi also realises that he should have good relations with both the nations. His invitation to the Prime Ministers of Pakistan, Bangladesh and the Maldives, to his oath-taking ceremony says so. For Modi to have good relations with India’s neighbours would strengthen the idea of pluralism, something that has helped the country to sustain a liberal atmosphere in the subcontinent. Both New Delhi and Dhaka are fighting against fundamentalism, represented by the Taliban. Islamabad is used to doing so because it uses them for fighting “a battle of independence” in Kashmir. There is also a strong influential lobby within Pakistan to support fundamentalism which is spreading in the entire Muslim world. I wish New Delhi could act against the Hindu Taliban which is emerging as a serious force. The liberal Muslims, whether living in Pakistan or Bangladesh, cannot afford to be complacent in their resolve to eliminate the Taliban, the fundamentalists. They want the Islam to abandon the efforts at reformation and go back to the type of Islam that was at the time of inception 1,400 years ago. They too realise that it is not possible to do that. But then their approach is based on the strategy in elections which seem to return a candidate who supports pluralism. Rulers of Pakistan and Bangladesh seem to be realistic enough not to do anything which would scare away the non-Muslim electorate.
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The airport insecurity check In the security check queue, while everyone else is coolly dumping laptops, cameras, purses, mobiles, combs, keys or lockets into the hand baggage trays with the nimbleness of assembly-line workers at Ford’s Model-T plant on bonus shift, I’m still fumbling with my personal belongings. “Don’t cross the line...wait for your turn!” growls a handlebar-moustached, gun-totting security person with the kindness of a star Sergeant at Abu Ghraib camp when I finally go for frisking . “Raise your arms, raise your arms!” says another one, while allowing his hands to grope all over my body. Squeamish to any body touch save by the fairer gender, I squirm. Sure enough, the metal detector turns into an alarming red beep! “Kya haye yeh?”!” scowls the ‘handlebar’. And before I blink, he shoves all his ten hands into every nook and cranny of my trousers, jacket, shirt, vest and deep down.. Ah! at last he has found the ‘hidden weapon’ ! A teeny-weeny, little key of a travel bag that went missing during our Goa holiday last decade, pops out. Let off with a warning, I scurry back to retrieve my cabin baggage. Plunging into the first laptop bag looking similar to mine, I whisk it away briskly—till a beefy Sardarji taps me on the shoulder, “Uncleji this bag is mine, how are you taking it, hain?” In the meantime, a compassionate lady security person watching my befuddled plight, helpfully points towards the tray with my stuff — kept aside as suspiciously unclaimed. Finally, I whistle through to the boarding lounge. Mr Cool is all set to fly. But why is the linen-suited smart young executive chatting up with the lovely young thing on the opposite seat donning a longish card in his lapel pocket instead of a silken pocket square, I wonder? As I put on my glasses for a closer scrutiny of the dapper style statement, I discover that it’s the boarding pass nonchalantly tucked in. But where is mine? It was all along in my right hand, where is it now? Have I dropped it at the security check counter? At last, I manage to arrive safely in New York without any further goof-ups. But as soon the stupor induced by all the free French wines tanked up on board begins to wear off, scary stories about the infamous strip search proceedings at Americans airports come in haunting. Now, which secret pocket of the handbag did I keep my passport in? Is the Modi-fied Indian Railways planning a Nizamuddin to New York Shatabadi? I’m on board.
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Master Tara Singh & Punjab’s partition
IN pre-Partition (1947) India, the Sikhs formed just about 1per cent of India’s population and around 12 per cent of the undivided Punjab. The Sikhs did not constitute a majority even in one of undivided Punjab’s 29 districts. This was probably because the dynamic and hard-working nature of a majority of the community placed them where ever attractive opportunity beckoned. Not surprisingly, the Sikhs enjoyed a level of national importance well beyond than was merited by their demographic strength. Princely states The Punjab at the time presented a unique picture. On one hand there were the vast majority of ordinary Punjabis who walked in tune with the country’s struggle for freedom. On the other hand the ruling princes of the Punjab states led by the ruling family of Patiala were held in high esteem by the British not only for the support they had given the British in suppressing the great anti- British uprising of 1857 but also for their unambiguous and continued loyalty. In the months leading to the exit of the British there are records that show the princely states of Punjab pleading with the British not to leave and continue ruling India. Master Tara Singh who by the 1930s was the key spokesman of the country, was a committed supporter of the Gandhian movements: “We cannot boycott the Indian National Congress permanently… I would not mind if you instead of standing with the Congress boycott it, stand in front of it in the fight for freedom, but if you boycott it and stand in the back lines it will be a matter of shame for our community…” As the idea that Punjab would have to be divided if the state of Pakistan was to take form began to gain momentum. Tara Singh was among the first to talk of Azad Punjab in the form of a representation to the Cripps Mission (1942). Observed carefully, Tara Singh while raising the issue appears almost apologetic. While addressing the All-India Sikh Youth Conference sometime later (1943) he said: “…Azad Punjab was a move to cripple the Pakistan scheme”. In August 1944 (Amritsar), Tara Singh was assigned the task of ensuring for the community a political location in which the Sikhs were in a position that was free of Muslim or Hindu domination (Mitra’s Indian Annual Register). Even though Viceroy Wavell did not think too highly of Tara Singh - Finding him: “…emotional and stupid”, a majority of British field officers in Punjab, including Governor Jenkins, thought otherwise and took Tara Singh and his close associate Giani Kartar Singh seriously. C.B. Birdwood writes: “… his (Tara Singh’s) complete freedom from all material attachments… secondly I have found in him a man of obstinate courage in propagating every interest of his community…. Has a twinkle in his eyes which persists even while he may be simultaneously engaged in fierce repartee… like Kartar Singh (he) is a man of drastically simple needs…” (Indian Freedom Struggle – Role of Muslims & Sikhs). Another British note advises younger officers “not to go by their (Tara Singh's and Kartar Singh's) un-kept and untidy looks” they are men with high and sharp intellect’.
Sikh leadership In the months leading to the actual announcement of the plan to Partition India (June 3, 1947) extensive efforts were made by the Muslim League to convince the Sikh leadership that they should seek their (Sikh) future not with India but with Pakistan. The Dawn, from which Jinnah often initiated his political discourse noted: “There is nothing but sadness in Muslim hearts… memories can be forgotten (March 1947 riots) and wounds healed, Muslims and Sikhs can together add to the glory of Pakistan. …” (June 7). Several Muslim League leaders made out a case of how the Sikhs could easily dominate trade and commerce in Pakistan but would be dominated by the Hindus if they chose their future with India. So keen were the League leaders for an understanding with the Sikhs that they involved one Major Short to mediate. When Short, requested Tara Singh to come to Lahore and meet the senior Muslim League leader Nawab Mamdot, Tara Singh refused. Mamdot then offered to meet Tara Singh at a place of his (Tara Singh’s) choosing. Master Tara Singh, not only refused to acknowledge the League’s overtures but went on to snub Jinnah: “…stop the hypocrisy of being a friend of the Sikhs…” (Keesings, Contemporary Archives, Vol. 6, P. A8634). As Viceroy Mountbatten was returning from London, carrying his Government’s approval for the Partition plan, Jawaharlal Nehru who was then in Mussoorie learnt that Tara Singh was unhappy with the emerging political scene and was likely to come out openly against the plan. Nehru rushed from Mussoorie to Amritsar (May 28, 1947) to go straight into a late-night meeting with Tara Singh (Civil & Military Gazette, May 31) Nothing is known of what transpired in this meeting, but the following morning Tara Singh and party appeared quite mellowed. It would not be unfair to assume that on the part of Nehru, promises were made and assurances given.
Feeling betrayed What is important in this context is that Tara Singh and his close associates were clear, having also repeatedly made it so, that for any scheme planning the division of Punjab to be acceptable to the Sikhs it must contain the provision for exchange of population and property. Once it became clear from the broad lines of the Partition plan as explained by the Viceroy in his historic press conference (June 3), that the organised exchanging of population was not a part of the scheme, Tara Singh, felt betrayed and cheated. The July 8 (1947) mass hartal by the Sikhs in the Punjab attracted worldwide attention for its peaceful nature of protest. Sikhs did not eat or cook food; fields were not irrigated; people slept on the ground. Ardaas was performed across the state. Not a single incidence of violence was reported on the day of the hartal. Several studies have charged Tara Singh for playing a frontal role in instigating violence, including the March (1947) speech in Lahore. But interestingly when the Punjab CID, reputed for its notoriety, wanted to arrest Tara Singh, Governor Jenkins and Governor-designate Chandu Lal Trivedi recorded a view that Tara Singh was, in fact, the surest bet for restoring normalcy in the Punjab (Transfer of Power, Vol. XII, p. 636) Prime Minister Nehru was in the Punjab on August 24. After addressing a public meeting and appealing for peace in pouring rain near the Adampur air strip, he met Tara Singh and Giani Kartar Singh in Amritsar the same evening. Two days later, eight senior Akali leaders appealed for peace. In fact, several appeals made by Tara Singh and Giani Kartar Singh, followed. As days passed, it was realised that the agricultural land being offered in the eastern Punjab in lieu of lands that were being vacated by the migrating peasantry in the western districts were not only inferior in quality but was falling short by over 2.5 million acres. Tara Singh took the lead in raising the issue. Rather than being addressed, the issue, got further complicated when on September 7, the third Emergency Committee Meeting (ECM), chaired by the Viceroy and attended by Nehru and Home Minister Patel, resolved on putting a restriction on the movement/resettlement of Sikhs beyond Delhi. In fact, a permit was required by Sikhs to move into UP. The rationale was that Sikhs had seen much violence in the Punjab and were likely to carry the strife into regions that were hitherto peaceful. The Mountbatten Papers contain a top-secret note, Sikh Problem Part II. Not surprisingly, it draws attention to the anger of the Sikhs and of how they were feeling let down by the new state and powers in Delhi: “…does the Union not owe us a place under the sun….” (File 140)
Perceived as communal Throughout September and October (1947), the Hindu Mahasabha had been demanding that the government and the Congress were duty-bound to carry Punjab’s Partition to its logical conclusion. This really meant forcing Muslims to vacate lands and properties in the eastern districts, particularly in and around Delhi. Much as we know has been made of Tara Singh’s supporting the demand. To be fair, for Tara Singh, the issue was essentially economic. However it was only natural and understandable that his stand should have been perceived as a “communal one”. As Nehru angrily put it: “..Muslims have not betrayed the country as a community… others too have acted treacherously…” (Statesman, October 4, 1947). The more Tara Singh pleaded in support of the Sikhs and Hindus in terms of being denied adequate compensation, the more he was targeted as being a threat to the country. It may come as a surprise because this fact has remained under cover, indeed oversighted, that till about late October (1947) by when the violence in Punjab had begun to burn itself out, the Congress, the Akalis and the RSS worked in the Punjab as one body and soul. They were indistinguishable. However, following Gandhiji’s assassination when for reasons that remain questionable to this day, the RSS was banned, not surprisingly Tara Singh was shocked to find that some Congress leaders wanted even the Akali Dal to be banned.
Being sidelined By the end of 1947, Tara Singh was clearly an undesirable element for the Congress, Nehru and even Mahatma Gandhi. Tara Singh was already the principal target of ridicule and dislike among the Muslim League and the West Punjab press. The irony is that only a few months earlier the Congress had depended so heavily on Tara Singh's support. In the years that followed, things in the Punjab took complex political turns. Tara Singh, was arrested for the first time in free India on February 19, 1949 when he was on his way to Delhi as head of a jatha to remind the Congress of promises it had made to the Sikhs, some of which went back to as early as 1929. Tara Singh’s arrest was not a routine matter as Home Minister Patel noted: “…did so with a heavy heart…” Tara Singh met Nehru several times in the following months and years, even heart to heart. The Punjabi Suba or a homeland for his people as he often said was conceded in his life time (1966). But as happens so often in the shady world of politics, by the time of his death the following year, he had been all but sidetracked. This was exceptional because, but for some of his immediate contemporaries virtually every leader of the community owed in some way his rise to the Master. And this was across political party lines. Almost 35 years after his death, political memory if not destiny took another turn. On August 2003, Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee dedicated a portrait of the Master installed in Parliament House.
The writer is Senior Professor of Modern History, Kurukshetra University,
Kurukshetra.
Down history lane
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