Punjab Assembly Polls 2017 - Part VII (The Global Effect)

Something that empowers me to write this seventh article in series on the subject, is the recent report of the religious census which has shown alarming results for minority communities.

Though these figures are not specific to the state, Punjab's statistics are (from The Tribune):

Total Population: 2,77,43,338

Sikhs: 1,60,04,754

Hindus: 1,06,78,138

Muslims: 5,35,489

Christians: 3,48,230

Now, it's not that I want to create my own subjective reality using these figures. Some genuine opinions are floating around, about the decline in %age of the sikh population in the state and the country. The main reason that the majority of the analysts are citing for the same is the immigration to other countries. Though it's not a hidden reality that Sikhism and Punjabiyat became global phenomenon long time ago as it's been more than a century ago that Punjabis and sikhs have been migrating to countries like USA, Canada, England, Australia etc. and some of the migrants might be reaching their 4th or 5th generation.

Every political party targets to garner the majority community vote-bank in any elections and in this case it is definitely the sikh vote bank that holds maximum importance. Though the parties would even get to the level of fielding the candidates based on their castes to mobilize the masses in their favor and there's no denying the fact about the existing and operating caste system in the sikh community which I have touched in my article "Caste System in Sikh Community", the link to it is 

http://mysikhism.blogspot.in/2015/04/caste-system-in-sikhcommunity-it-would.html 

Though my current article is not centered around any particular community but there's a general notion that can be felt and clearly observed w.r.t. the sikh community. Sikhs generally have a notion that Canada, US, UK are much more livable countries for sikhs where Canada tops the chart wherein states like Vancouver is called "Mini-Punjab" and the state of "British Columbia" has Punjabi as the second official language. Some religious hardliners even go onto saying that Canada is a safe-haven for the sikh identity because it's a cosmopolitan country to its core unlike India where pseudo-secularism prevails under the hegemonic Hindutva framework and the sikh identity is under constant threat of cultural assimilation and even physical extermination. Their arguments sometimes look justified if we read the Article 25 of the Constitution which states that:

Freedom of conscience and free profession, practice and propagation of religion
(1) Subject to public order, morality and health and to the other provisions of this Part, all persons are equally entitled to freedom of conscience and the right freely to profess, practise and propagate religion
(2) Nothing in this article shall affect the operation of any existing law or prevent the State from making any law
(a) regulating or restricting any economic, financial, political or other secular activity which may be associated with religious practice;
(b) providing for social welfare and reform or the throwing open of Hindu religious institutions of a public character to all classes and sections of Hindus (Explanation I) The wearing and carrying of kirpans shall be deemed to be included in the profession of the Sikh religion (Explanation II) In sub clause (b) of clause reference to Hindus shall be construed as including a reference to persons professing the Sikh, Jaina or Buddhist religion, and the reference to Hindu religious institutions shall be construed accordingly

 Now, Punjabis settled in any part of the world always have a vested interest in the govt.-formation in their state back home. Some of them have their property disputes, some have their pending court cases, some even look for investment opportunities in their home-state. Now looking beyond the interests of entrepreneurs and capitalists, some NRI's have their parents, kith and kin settled back here and those who're emotionally attached to their roots often look back for a home-coming after spending a decade or two abroad and making money which suffices their needs. Such NRI's who come back to get settled here often seek political affiliations to enjoy higher status in the society or even to pursue their vested interests and take favor from government departments. Hence, the need for the leaders having a global outlook becomes utmost important even at the level of the state.

The problem with the incumbent govt. is that they have a trust deficit not just with the Punjabis living in India but also abroad. This can be justified with another social media source which shows that the Canadian Sikhs made a ruckus at the rally of some Akali ministers who tried to hold a rally in Canada. Though this video doesn't show anything substantial but it shows that NRI's showed their absolute non-acceptance for the Punjabi Ministers and thoroughly protested their arrival over there which forced the ministers to leave the venue to avoid any untoward incident:

Now after watching this video, it becomes very hard to decide on your ambitions to move abroad because this video makes sure that if u've climbed up the stratification ladder in India and enjoyed vertical mobility by acquiring an elite office like that of a Minister, you'll be treated as a public figure even in the countries that claim to have an egalitarian and a cosmopolitan culture. On the other hand I want to ask those Canadians to swear in the name of God and tell that is it just the "Panthic Agenda" or "Community agenda" which drives them to stay connected to the government back home and they have no property disputes, pending court cases or other personal issues which are impossible to resolve without government intervention.

I simply do not want to think like an escapist who plans to run away from the country if the current system is not favoring me, but I believe in staying right here and act under my capacity to make the system favorable for myself. We should be clear about the fact that life is not a bed of roses in the west nor money grows on trees over there. Ultimately what matters is that which country is yours and how much you love it.

On the other hand if I take a dig at the politicians of Punjab, I don't see any face who can portray the true picture of Punjab at the national as well as the global front. SAD claims the Punjab Reorganization Act of 1966 was an achievement taking into account the security of the linguistic heritage of Gurmukhi but some analysts claim that the "Punjabi Suba" movement ultimately sufficed to the vested interests of a few Akali leaders who laid the foundation for their dynasties to rule the state and was a complete failure to preserve the true heritage of Punjab which shrunk to only 12% of its actual size after the reorganization.

The destruction of Punjab hasn't stopped, since then. 1947, 1966, 1984, 1987, till date Punjab continues to get a fatal blow from the insiders. If we cannot avert the damage, we can at least minimize it by caring for it.

Punjab Assembly Polls 2017 - Part VI (Local Case Study)

I think the time is absolutely right to connect my real life politics with my passion for blogging. This is the 6th article in my series where I want to include a local case study in my thesis on the upcoming Punjab Assembly polls. The purpose of choosing this topic is that I can draw a clear-cut picture of the state-of-affairs and its ripple effects. Some people will get astonished with the fact that an issue of such a small stature can be viewed with the frame of reference of state or even national politics.

I live in Basant Nagar area of Amritsar which has around 600 families residing in it. Though this area is scattered over several acres and has approximately 4-5 streets  and a beautiful park which is in the proximity of almost every resident. This park used to be a garbage dump almost 20 years back and has been rehabilitated and destroyed from time to time, sometimes by the government and sometimes by the residents.

Now the present state of this park has been out of an unsaid "PPP" i.e. Public-Private Partnership agreement. There has been some sort of help from the govt. and the residents are bearing the monthly cost of maintenance of the park. At one corner of the park is temple which is an illegal construction as per the municipal corporation norms. Though the history of this temple is very interesting in a sense that, almost 2 decades back when there used to be a garbage dump in the park, some residents made a small sacred chamber here with the photos of demigods and goddesses in it, so that people refrain from dumping the garbage in it. 

Though the Basant Nagar demography is very much like the Indian demography with Hindu majority, the person who took initiative for constructing this temple was a sikh. Then around 9 years back there was complete "Hindu-Sikh" riot like situation in the area for renovation and extension of the temple into a full fledged religious construction that it is today. Now this area, though located in Amritsar which is known as the hub of Sikhism, has over 80% Hindu population and around 20% sikh population. It doesn't have any Mohammedan, Christian, Jain or Buddhist family settled in it as per my knowledge.

The issue that is resonating the area these days is of a "Jaagran" that is scheduled to be held in Basant Nagar area where many Hindu fundamentalists are residing.

These Hindu fundamentalists want to organize the "Jaagran" in the park and using the "Jaagran" as a religious tool, they want to capture the space of the park and use it for their ulterior motives. They want to destroy the park and make this place as a full-fledged community center where they can organize their social gatherings like- marriage and other functions. Hence their destructive and malicious intentions are very clear from this initiative. Though there are many educated and liberal Hindus against this move and fully support the idea of not organizing any sort of religious or social function in the park.

Now if we look at ripple effects of this seemingly small issue, they're immense in real life. The "Basant Nagar Residents Welfare Association" has already shot-off official letters stating the anticipated communal tension in the area to the MLA of the constituency (also the Cabinet Minister), A very prominent Akali leader of the state (off the record), Councillor of this ward, Commissioner of Police Amritsar, Sub-Divisional Officer and Station House Officer of the related police station but these Hindu fundamentalists are not ready to back-off from their stand and expecting some financial compensation for their retreat. Now, whatever be the outcome of this issue, we need to look at larger picture of this scenario.

There is no doubting the fact that as soon as Modi came to power, radical Hindu outfits like RSS, VHP and Bajrang Dal got emboldened to assert their will in the political space. Punjab is a state where these outfits are very active and some analysts even say that RSS clearly dictates terms to SAD as SAD also needs Hindu votes. The local case study that I've mentioned hasn't got much political mileage yet because the intentions and the outcomes of political intervention can be well-predicted as no political party would like to let go off the majority community vote-bank and take a rational and an unbiased stand. Another social-media source that is worth sharing here is a youtube video of Arundhati Roy and I strongly recommend the readers to watch it:

Now this video would give any civilized person some goose-bumps and the sense of insecurity is bound to get inculcated in all the minority communities. Now many readers may not be aware of the fact that constitutionally, all the minority communities of India except Muslims and Christians are recognized as Hindus, be it Jains, Buddhists or even Sikhs. This analogy perfectly fit the hegemonic framework of Hinduism that the Hindu fundamentalist want to make for all the Indians. They want to rob-off their originality, personal identity and individuality by labeling all the people of minority communities as Hindus without realizing the historical context of the term. The term "Hindu" is actually a geographical term as implied by the history of it origin. The river Indus is called "Sindhu" in Sanskrit and Arabic and the Turks and Afghans of the olden time had a hard time pronouncing "Sa" and they repeatedly called it "Ha". Hence, the term "Hindu" got originated which means that people living on the other (eastern) side of river Indus. And some ignorant, illiterate Indians still think that "Hindu" is a religious term and sikhism is an off-shoot of Hinduism which actually is "Sanatan Dharam." I have touched this topic of Hinduism and Sikhism in my article "Hindus and Sikhs- Oneness and infighting" and the link is:

http://mysikhism.blogspot.in/2015/04/hindus-and-sikhs-oneness-and-infighting.html

Now considering the present political scenario of the country, I think the issue of sikh-identity crisis is likely to get exaggerated and the so called PANTHIC party in Punjab, currently ruling the state, has miserably failed to get the sikh identity established as independent and second to none. Hence, sikhs need to make a better choice for securing their identity which is under constant threat of forcible extermination or cultural assimilation.