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BJP lets down farmers Global embarrassment |
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Indira Gandhi remembered
Waiting for the flight
Reliving the memories of
1984
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BJP lets down farmers THE meagre increase of Rs 50 in the minimum support price of wheat announced by the Modi government is bound to upset farmers in all wheat-growing states. It has been a difficult year for farmers with a deficient monsoon raising their production cost and reducing their income. Punjabi farmers in particular had to spend more on diesel to pump out groundwater to save the paddy crop. Although diesel prices have come down, the decline happened in the post-harvest period and did not benefit farmers. Instead, state governments, including the ones in Punjab and Himachal Pradesh, have hiked the taxes on oil. Power tariff has also been on the rise. Given the rate of inflation and the rise in input costs, farmers actually lose out on the traditional crops they grow. Though the BJP is known for nurturing its vote bank in traders and urban India, it tried to woo farmers too during the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. Its manifesto - like that of Aam Aadmi Party - promised a 50 per cent profit on the MSP (minimum support price). This was not a casual election promise but based on the recommendation of an experts' committee headed by Dr M.S. Swaminathan. For the first time there was a hope among farmers that the rise of Narendra Modi would lift their fortunes too. However, the BJP has proved no different from the Congress. It too has taken farmers for a ride to gain power. Every time the UPA announced a small hike in the wheat or paddy MSP, Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal used to be the first one to criticise it. His silence this time was loud and clear. It was now Capt Amarinder Singh's turn to play the role of a critic, forgetting that his party was equally indifferent to the plight of farmers. It is time politicians stopped treating farmers as a vote bank and did something concrete to make agriculture a viable occupation. The road map for recovery has been outlined by Dr Swaminathan. It is time to act now.
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Global embarrassment Once again the country has fared badly in removing gender-based disparities, ranking 114 out of 142 countries in the World Economic Forum's 2014 gender gap index. The country scores below average on parameters like economic participation, educational attainment and health and survival. The report reinforces what is common knowledge; till society gets rid of its obsolete, irrational and obdurate gender bias, cosmetic changes by policy drafters will not bring about real change. The persistent poor sex ratio, a high maternal mortality rate and the report of the National Sample Survey on Employment and Unemployment- 2011-12 that confirmed the trend of declining number of females in the labour force, should have rung alarm bells in the corridors of planners. Now that India's political map has been painted afresh, one hopes, the dark spot of gender disparity would not be overlooked. A clear message for the new government is contained in this very report; in the political empowerment sub-index, Indian women ranked an impressive 15. Not only does India feature its best in the last 50 years in the female Head of State indicator, but also gives evidence to suggest that women in local government roles make decisions with better outcomes for communities than men do when charged with budget decisions. They also make more competent representatives than men, obtaining more resources for their constituencies despite having significantly lower education and relevant labour market experience. This puts us in a rather peculiar position. Women find themselves at top positions but fail to make it to the ranks. It clearly suggests women from privileged backgrounds get spring boards, but the ones tied to patriarchal shackles can't find a footing. It is these women who need support -- from the right to give birth to a female child to ensuring proper healthcare and education for her. Governments have to intervene in such matters when society shows reluctance to shed its biases. They can do so by ensuring a better representation to women in local governance to send a strong message.
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Thought for the Day
He is richest who is content with the least, for content is the wealth of nature. —
Socrates
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School of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene GO-AHEAD: Bombay will shortly have its school of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene. At a meeting of the leading medical men of Bombay, both official and non-official, held under the presidency of the Governor on 13th August, the desirability of such an institution was unanimously recognised. There was, however, some difference as to its exact scope, Major Liston, Director of the Bombay Bacteriological Laboratory, advocating as an important feature of the scheme the association of the proposed school with that Laboratory. After most careful consideration of the views urged by the speakers on that occasion, the Government of Bombay have now issued a press note announcing the conclusions at which they have arrived. They consider that at the very root of the present problem is the broad question of principle whether, in the teaching which is to be imparted at the proposed School of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, the research worker or the clinician should have the preponderating part. Municipal reading rooms ONE of the many beneficent forms which the activities of the city fathers of Lahore have taken of late years is the starting of free reading rooms. The Dyal Singh Reading Room and Library was then, as it still is, the principal institution of the kind in the city, although there were others of a different type maintained by the Indian Association, the Arya Samajes and the Kali Bari. The Municipal Committee rendered a public service by establishing a reading room at the water-works reservoir and at the Lohari and Delhi gates and in Mozang. The constant attendance at the several reading rooms in an index of their growing popularity.
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Indira Gandhi remembered WHAT was I doing in the morning of 31st October 1984? I was getting ready to leave for Bharatpur to do some politicking. The RAX telephone rang. It was H.Y. Sharada Prasad, “Natwar, this is the worst day of our lives. PM has been shot. Come over to No 1 Akbar Road, as soon as you can.” Peter Ustinov’s camera men had recorded the sound of the shots. It took Sharda and me a long time to persuade Ustinov not to use that portion of the film. He eventually agreed. I met him in 1997 at a seminar in Valencia, Spain, I reminded him our conversation on 31.10.1984. “I remember it well. I never used the ‘shots’ recording.” She was 19 days short of her 67th birthday on that fateful and searing day. Even after three decades her fame and name, her achievements, her qualities as a leader have not been forgotten. For me, it is not easy to sum up her life objectively. My affection and respect for her have not diminished. In more ways than one she enriched, uplifted my life. She broadened the contours of my vision. To some readers this may sound as crass sentimentalism and melodramatic. I worked in her secretariat for five years, 1966-71, meeting her every other day, sometimes three times a day. Jawaharlal Nehru never faced the challenges she did. Nehru’s leadership was never questioned for 15 years. In the last two years of his life he encountered serious dissatisfaction in the Congress party. Indira Gandhi's road to power between 1966 and 1969 was strewn with boulders. The syndicate was breathing down her neck. Several were patronising and treated her as the daughter of Nehru and not as the Prime Minister. Krishna Menon referred to her as “that chit of a girl”. Ram Manohar Lohia was vicious. In Parliament she was nervy, tense and diffident. She was not comfortable in the Cabinet or in meetings with her elderly colleagues — Kamraj, Nijilingappa, Morarji Desai, S.K Patil, Swaran Singh, Y.B Chavan and Jagjivan Ram. They too felt uneasy with a woman Prime Minister. They did not take her seriously. Later they would. Gradually her diffidence and shyness began to erode. By 1970 she had come to grips with her job and responsibilities. The jeering stopped. The cheering began. She had a flair for foreign affairs. Her international image grew by the week. At the UN she was heard with respect. At NAM and Commonwealth summits, she often stole the show. In 1983 she was the chairperson of the NAM and Commonwealth summits, both held in New Delhi. She strengthened the Non-Aligned Movement — “the greatest peace movement in the world”, she called it. At the Commonwealth Summit she produced awe in Margaret Thatcher. I one day asked her what she thought of the Iron lady. Her response: “What Iron lady. I saw a nervous woman sitting at the edge of the sofa.” She wrote an article in the October 1972 issue of “Foreign Affairs” magazine. She wrote, “India’s foreign policy is a projection of the values which we have cherished through centuries as well as our present concerns. We are not tied to the traditional concepts of a foreign policy, designed to safeguard overseas possessions, investments, the carving out spheres of influence and the creation of cordons sanitaires. We are not interested in exporting ideologies.” Her finest hour came in 1971. She created a new nation — Bangladesh. She isolated Nixon and Kissinger, won over the Western media and liberal members of the US Congress. Teddy Kennedy was one of them. We now come to the other side of the Indira Gandhi coin. The Emergency was a blunder, Operation Bluestar an unmitigated disaster. In the words of P.N. Dhar, her Principal Secretary for half a decade, “the Emergency changed the basic relationship between the citizen and the state and indeed threatened to change the character of the Indian State.” During the Emergency I was the Deputy High Commissioner in London. There it was impossible to 'sell' the Emergency. I wrote to the PM, “I know what to say to our critics but do not know what to say to our friends”. Untypically she did not respond. Professionally it was the duty of High Commissioner B.K. Nehru and myself to defend the Emergency. We suppressed our conscience. Operation Bluestar was grievously handled. Everything that could go wrong did go wrong. I know that Indira Gandhi’s instructions were disregarded by those who in Amritsar were in charge of the operation. The Golden Temple complex could have been cordoned, electric and water supply could have been switched off. Instead tanks entered the complex. The rest is too well known. It cost Indira Gandhi her life. The Sikh community both in India and abroad was not only outraged, it was deeply hurt, deeply offended. If one were to take an overall view of Indira Gandhi's life and labours, she would still rank very high in the Prime Ministerial pecking order. Even today her admirers outnumber her detractors. I remain an admirer.
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Waiting for the flight I am 80 for no loss and still on the wicket. Eighty is a respectable score. I have no ambition to make a century. My only wish is that I may walk up to the cremation ground on my own feet but I know that it is only wishful thinking. A will is generally kept confidential by the testator but I have no hesitation in making it public. I have kept it in an envelope with the following words written on it in bold letters: “To be opened immediately after….” at a convenient place accessible to all members of the family. I have a hot line with God. I have entered in to an unwritten agreement with Him. I have given an undertaking that I will surrender and report to Him the moment I receive His summons. I will neither apply for anticipatory bail nor go underground. In return, I have got an assurance that He will send a Pushpak Viman to fetch me. I have told Him that I will not come by Garib Rath. I have made this will without any inducement or pressure, being in a healthy state of mind and body. I have desired that no one should try to make any addition to it or alteration or to interpret it differently in letter or spirit. I have said that my body be consigned to the flames after death with plenty of ghee and “samagree”. My mortal remains be immersed in the Yamuna, which is just a few kilometres away from my place and if there is not enough water in the river then these might be consigned to any perennial canal. No need to go to Haridwar or Allahabad. On the third day a “havan” be performed and everybody should resume his routine. No "rona dhona, no shok sabha". I have extended the scope of my will to the obituary message to be given to the Press. I have expressed my desire that nobody need come from outside for condolence and anybody who had any regard for me may pray for peace of the departed soul wherever he or she is. Saints and seers have suggested innumerable ways to attain salvation. I think contentment is the essence of happiness. Contentment is the elixir of life. I have had a full and contented life. I have performed all my worldly duties to my entire satisfaction. Nothing more remains to be done. I am sitting in the VIP lounge of Pushpak Airlines with the boarding pass in my front pocket. Every time I enquire about the status of the flight, I am told that it is indefinitely delayed. I have got to stay put and order for another cup of coffee. After all, my will is subservient to His will!
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Reliving the memories of 1984
LET me begin my story from my diary of 1984, to be precise that of March 24. On that day I escorted my teacher Dr Ganda Singh to the Rashtrapati Bhawan where he was to be conferred the Padma Bhushan by Giani Zail Singh, the then President of India. In the glittering ceremony, I noticed Mrs Indira Gandhi, the Prime Minister, Members of her Cabinet and other dignitaries and distinguished citizens who were to be honoured for their contribution in different fields. After the ceremony when we were going out for tea, Dr Ganda Singh, who had some eye problem, banged into the glass door of the Ashoka Hall and his Padma medal and spectacles fell on the floor. Rajiv Gandhi, who was walking beside him, quickly picked up the two items and passed them on to him and gently escorted him till the tea was over. Prominent Sikhs Later that evening, the Guru Nanak Foundation had arranged a reception for Dr Ganda Singh. It was attended by almost all prominent Sikhs in the national capital with the late Khushwant Singh as the main speaker. While writing my diary for that day, I felt proud that the Sikh community, which constituted less than 2 per cent of the Indian population, has done so well in independent India. Some of the prominent names that came to my mind were those of Baldev Singh, the first Defence Minister of independent India, Surjit Singh Majithia, Deputy Defence Minister of India, Swaran Singh as the Minister for Defence and later External Affairs, Hukam Singh and Gurdial Singh Dhillon as Speakers of the Lok Sabha, Buta Singh, Minister for Parliamentary Affairs, Sport, Works and Housing, Dr Manmohan Singh as Governor of the Reserve Bank of India, Arjan Singh and Dilbagh Singh as Chiefs of the Indian Air Force and many Sikhs in other important positions. In spite of talk of grievances, some real and some imaginary, Sikhs were doing well in all walks of life, be it business, sports or services. Little could I imagine that this best period in the history of the Sikh community would turn out to be the worst because of Army action in the Golden Temple, killing of Prime Minister of India, Indira Gandhi by two of her Sikh bodyguards and countrywide anti-Sikh riots that followed. On that fateful day, I happened to be in Chandigarh for an official meeting where we got to know that Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was dead though a formal announcement was made late that evening. While I managed to reach my home in Hauz Khas late that evening, what came as the first shock was to see the Green Park gurdwara set on fire. My family heaved a sigh of relief when I knocked at the door. In that group of 40 houses, I was the only turbaned Sikh. My immediate neighbours, all Hindus, were more worried about my safety than me. On the top floor, a young boy had stocked soda water bottles and stones to keep the mob away in case of any attack. Another neighbour who carried his service revolver offered to stay with our family the whole night to ensure that we were duly protected. Alarming situation On November 1, when violence spread throughout the city as a result of organised gangs taking over command of the anti-Sikh pogrom, the situation became rather alarming. I was advised by my teacher Prof Bipan Chandra to move to his home in the JNU campus. I was told that the mob was checking all vehicles at the IIT crossing, looking out for Sikhs and it was advisable for me to hide myself in a blanket and lie down in the leg space in the Ambassador car, with my wife and daughters occupying the backseat. My wife was advised to camouflage her identity by changing her dress. It was for the first time that I found my distinct identity, of which I always felt proud, had become my liability in spite of my opposing militant activity in Punjab and fighting the ideology of hate throughout my teaching career. My daughters who faced this trauma for the first time could not understand as to what was happening in a secular country. My younger daughter asked as to who had killed the Indian Prime Minister. Before I could answer, Bipan Chandra replied, “Ideology of hate”. She was too young to understand that it was this ideology which had led to the division of India and, later, the killing of Mahatma Gandhi who was opposed to any division on communal lines. That night I missed my sleep and kept on thinking how political parties use the ideology of hate for electoral gains. What disturbed me the most was the fact that Sikhs outside Punjab, who for their own reasons did not support the militant movement in Punjab, had become victims of mob violence for no fault of theirs. Communal politics In spite of my best efforts, I could not reconcile to the overnight change of the Sikh image from trusted lieutenants of the Indian State to a potential threat to its unity. I regretfully recalled how Punjab politics was communalised for electoral gains, with disastrous consequences for the Sikh community and the Indian State. The next day we heard about the violence spreading to different parts of Delhi and other parts of the country and the police and state machinery mutely watching this carnage. Later in the evening, Gopi Arora, a senior civil servant, asked Bipan for his advice as to how to check the growing violence. Bipan's answer was simple, “You control the media. Let the TV and radio keep on announcing rioters being killed by the police.” But HKL Bhagat, who was the Minister for Information and Broadcasting, had other plans up his sleeve. On the contrary, he wanted to use the media to create a mass hysteria against the Sikhs, with an eye on the forthcoming Parliamentary elections. The Mishra Commission noticed that when Mrs Gandhi's dead body was lying in state in Teen Murti, a group of people walking passed the body raised slogans, “Khoon ka Badla Khoon,” which was duly covered by the country's only television channel, Doordarshan, and repeated 18 times for obvious reasons. Attacks and pelting stones on the cars in the entourage of the President of India, who rushed to the AIIMS, soon after his return from Yemen, and other incidents of October 31, 1984, are mentioned by the Nanavati Commission as “first signs of public resentment resulting in an angry outburst in Delhi,” but what happened for three consecutive days and nights between November 1 and November 3, in the national capital in the presence of heads of many countries who had joined in the national mourning, could not have happened without a free hand given to the organised gangs consisting of party workers and criminal elements from different political outfits. Gangsters armed with weapons of destruction like pistols, petroleum and other inflammable materials surrounding hapless Sikhs inside their localities and houses points toward an organised pogrom. According to the Mishra Commission, “If troops had been called on the morning of November 1, 1984 and Army columns had been moving in the streets properly, lives of at least 2,000 people could have been saved.” According to Nanavati Commission's report, “There is enough material on record to show that at many places police had taken away their (Sikhs) arms and other articles with which they could have defended themselves against the attacks by the mobs.” According to the Nanavati Commission, at some places mobs indulging in violence were allowed to use DTC buses or other vehicles belonging to the State Transport Corporation. The modus operandi of the attackers was almost the same in various localities. The attackers “either came armed with weapons and inflammable materials like kerosene, petrol and some white powder or were supplied with such materials soon after they were taken to the localities where the Sikhs were to be attacked.”…. “Male members of the Sikh community were taken out of their houses. They were beaten first and then burnt alive in a systematic manner. In some cases, tyres were put around their necks and then were set on fire by pouring kerosene or petrol over them. In other cases, a white inflammable powder was thrown on them which immediately caught fire. This was a common pattern which was followed by the big mobs which had played havoc in certain areas.” The silver lining in the otherwise dismal picture was the role played by the well-meaning members of the civil society and organisations like the People's Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL), People's Union for Democratic Rights (PUDR) and the Sikh Forum. At that difficult moment when most of the Sikhs had taken shelter in the homes of non-Sikh neighbours and friends and poor widows and children taken to relief camps, it were mainly non-Sikhs, especially Mrs Mohini Giri and her colleagues from the Guild of Service and War Widows Bhavan, who rushed relief to Teliwara and other areas in East Delhi which were not easily accessible. Faculty and students of the JNU played a positive role in coming out in open defence of the hapless Sikhs, who had become objects of hate and ridicule overnight. It was only appropriate that when Sant Harchand Singh Longowal came to visit Delhi to express sympathy with the members of the Sikh community, the first thing he did was to visit the JNU, wherein he started his speech by thanking non-Sikh sisters and brothers for saving many Sikh lives. While immediate relief was provided to the victims of the riots in different camps, no long-term strategy was planned for their emotional and economic rehabilitation and integration in the mainstream. VP Singh, who became the Prime Minister of India in 1989, in his wisdom provided small flats to the widows of 1984 riots in Tilak Vihar, Sector 16-J, Rohini and Garhi in East of Kailash, thus giving the national capital the dubious distinction of having “widows colonies” to be used as a votebank during every election. In spite of nine inquiry commissions, during the Congress, Janata Dal, NDA and UPA rule at the Centre, justice has eluded the Sikhs. This shows that the State is either unequipped or unwilling to punish the guilty. In spite of the Mishra Commission fixing the responsibility of the Delhi carnage on Congress workers and criminal elements and giving a clean chit to Congress leaders, popular Sikh memory will neither forgive nor forget HKL Bhagat, Sajjan Kumar, Jagdish Tytler, Dharam Das Shastri and others for their role in the anti-Sikh riots. Now that history has come full circle — from November 1984, when the Sikhs were hiding their identity and taking shelter in safe havens — to May 2004 when Dr Manmohan Singh, a turbaned Sikh, was elected to highest executive office of the Prime Minister of the world's largest democracy: What should the Sikhs do? Should they forget the past? Should they live in the past? Or should they live with the past? These are the questions to which there are no easy answers. —The writer is Professor of Eminence, Punjabi University, Patiala Violence unleashed *
After the assassination of Indira Gandhi on October 31, 1984, by two of her Sikh bodyguards, anti-Sikh riots erupted on November 1, 1984, and continued in some areas for days, killing more than 3,000 Sikhs. *
Sultanpuri, Mangolpuri, Trilokpuri, and other Trans-Yamuna areas of Delhi were the worst affected. *
Mobs carried iron rods, knives, clubs, and combustible material, including kerosene * The mobs swarmed into Sikh neighbourhoods, and arbitrarily killed any Sikh men or women they could find. *
Their shops and houses were ransacked and burned down. * In other incidents, armed mobs stopped buses and trains, in and around Delhi, pulled out Sikh passengers and either lynched them or doused them with kerosene before burning them alive. *
Others were dragged out from their homes and hacked to death with bladed weapons.
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I asked a dazed Sharada, “What happened. Who shot her?” “She was walking from 1 Safdarjung Road to 1 Akbar Road to be interviewed by film actor and producer Peter Ustinov. When she was walking on the glass “river” (presented by the government of Czechoslovakia), which led to 1 Akbar Road, she was shot by the two Sikh guards at the gate leading to 1 Akbar Road. I heard the shots, but thought it must be someone playing with fire crackers… it was over in a few seconds.” I walked up to the gate to see the spot where she had fallen. Her blood had not dried. Her spectacles, chappals and bag were still lying on the glass river.
There is a prayer in the Vedas, ‘Jeevem Sharde Shatam’ ( May I live a hundred years). I do not subscribe to this view. It is not my goal. I believe in an active, healthy and happy life. I do not long for a long life and then die as a vegetable. It has been aptly said that one moment of glorious life is worth an age without a name.