Behind the Punjab crisis
Punjab. There is, however, still a large surplus seeking an investment outlet. Trade is closed to them because of the entrenched Hindu interest.
What about industry? Punjab lags behind in industrial development. There is virtually no large-scale industry. What
Temple at Amritsar in Punjab is the most prominent symbol
The Golden of the Sikh faith.
More recently it had been associated with Sikh extremism, being used as a sanctuary and arms dump
In early June, the Gandhi regime used the Indian Army to storm the
Golden Temple complex and other Sikh shrines-turned-fortresses. The whole state of Punjab was insulated and immobilised. Emergency measures were imposed.
There were sitede rotes rome emy at several indes noia. They.
Extremists were routed.
But this was a purely military solution to what is basically a socio-
The Sikh community is deeply troubled.
economic and political problem.
The leadership of the Akali Dal [the traditional Sikh political party] has been rounded up; so, for the time being, there are no avenues for neas ang sue gro from any quarters of a correct grasp of and gotiation.
approach to the Punjab problem.
A class analysis of the Punjab problem - albeit inadequate - suggests that a lasting solution is not possible within the present backward capitalist system of social relations in India.
Sharad JHAVERI
The religious factor has loomed large in the society and politics of the Punjab.
In recent times, the mixture of the Sikh religion and politics has proved highly explosive. As a result, communalism is on the rise and at a premium in politics, while there has been a considerable erosion of secular ideals.
This is due to the fact that different religious communities have differential access to the economic opportunities that exist.
The overwhelming majority of the population of Punjab belongs to the two main religious categories of the Hindus and the Sikhs. Hindus are a minority and
Sikhs preponderate in rural areas, while
Hindus outnumber them in the urban areas. Different districts of Punjab have a religious highly uneven composition.
While Gurdaspur, Jullundar and Hoshiarpur are Hindu majority areas; Bhatinda,
Amritsar, Sangrur, Ludhiana, Ferozpur, and Kapurthala have pronounced Sikh majorities compared with Rapar and
Patiala. (1)
Caste is an influential factor in the choice of occupation.
The Hindu and
Sikh religions as such do not bring any bias over the choice of occupation for their followers.
The Sikh castes are overrepresented in agriculture in Punjab, and the
Hindus are overrepresented in trade and services.
Whatever economic growth has occurred in Punjab, it has been directed through an inegalitarian social system.
This unbalanced distribution of the
Sikh and Hindu populations has had a big impact on communal tensions and
International Viewpoint 17 September 1984 the communalisation of politics in Punjab.
The uneven development of capitalism has further exacerbated the situation. Despite having the highest per capita income in India, Punjab is still predominantly an agricultural state. The Green Revolution modernised Punjab agricul-
Both agriculture and trade have grown enorand are very much linked toMost agricultural outputs and inhave to pass through the trade The class differentiations
The Hindus are dominant in the trade sector. Even where Sikhs are active in trade in certain urban areas, it is on a lower scale. Thus, the result is a clash of interests between the economic interests between the dominant castes of the two major religious categories. The economic interests of the Sikh agricultural castes in rural areas come into conflict with those of the Hindu trading castes in the urban
Even among the Sikh peasantry, the rise of a stratum of rich Jat peasants and their concentration in certain areas is more marked. They benefited the most from the Green Revolution. the capitalist farmers. Agrarian production has assumed the form of commodity
As a result, the degree of integration with the market has become
The capitalist development of agrifacilities, secured markets, more and industry there is is small-scale and capital intensive. There is no diversification of products. The three major production centres are Ludhiana, Amritsar and Jullundur, where woolen textiles, hosiery, cotton textiles, bicycles and spare parts, agricultural implements and machine tools, sports goods and rerolled steel are produced.
These capital-intensive and small-scale industries do not offer employment opportunities to the unemployed rural Sikh youths who flock to the urban areas in search of jobs. At the same time, nor do they offer many prospects to the rich Sikh capitalist farmers for investment of their surplus.
The rich Punjabi agrarian bourgeoisie cannot stand competition on an all-India scale with the highly monopolistic and well-entrenched Indian industrial bourgeoisie. At New Delhi [seat of government], this layer has control over all aspects of industrial development such as industrial licensing, capital issues control, location of new industries, market mechanisms, etc. Hence, the conflict between the capitalist Sikhs, especially the Jat peasantry of Punjab, and the Indian industrial bourgeoisie elsewhere. This takes the form of a struggle by the Sikhs against New Delhi, a communal form, and a question of Centre-state relations - which becomes a question of Sikh autonomy and ultimately of an independent Sikh state.
It is obvious that, in the communalisation of the Punjab problem, the real class contradictions and realities are blurred and blunted. The absence of a sizeable chunk of the modern, urban, cosmopolitan, industrial urban proletariat and the consequent lack of a clear class and left alternative and development of the class struggle have also contributed their portion of the Punjab crisis.
The current Punjab crisis is the outcome of uneven capitalist development of Punjab, which has occurred within the inegalitarian caste and class structure existing there. Nowhere have the interests of the really exploited workers, both Hindus and Sikhs, been taken into account.
•Economy, Caste, Religion and Population Distribution, An Analysis of Communal Tension in Punjab' by Victor S. D'Souza in Economic and Political Weekly, Vol. XVII, No 19, May 18,1982. 2. resolution outlining the demands of the Sikhs. See below (footnote 5) for further reference.
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Sikh state or Khalistan cannot be sup- crops.
The left parties, particularly the two major Stalinist formations the Communist Party of India (CPI) and the Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPI (M)), were rendered politically ineffective and did not develop a clear view of the Punjab crisis.
This is primarily because of their electoralist politics. Just like the bourgeois parties, both the CPI and the CPI (M) have used communalism for short-
At one time or another, they have joined with the Akali Dal in the Punjab, and other communalist parties and groups on an all-India level. Their pursuance of opportunist communal polices for electoral purposes has prevented them from fighting communalism effectively, despite their secular stance programmatically and ideologically.
One searches in vain in their writings and resolutions for an adequate class analysis of underlying causes of the rise of communalism in Punjab and for an in-depth study of the class realities behind each demand of the Sikh communalists.
As a result of their own failure, their approach has been to blame the Gandhi regime for the eruption of the Punjab crisis. (3) They always regret the failure of talks between the Akalis and the government, and urge the Akalis to differentiate themselves from the extremist Sikhs. (4) That is, in essence they ask the moderate communalists to take their distance from secessionist communalists. Implicitly, this amounts to accepting the political premises of communalism.
They have, of course, opposed the demand for a Khalistan, a separate Sikh state. But they have done this in terms of national unity, the integrity of a nation, etc. and not on the basis of a principled political approach to the question of the Sikhs as a religious minority on an allIndia scale, and a religious majority in
They have failed to perceive that the communalisation of politics has blurred the edge of class contradictions and the class struggle in Punjab. As a result, in the present situation they were incapable of developing a class movement of the oppressed of both the Sikh and Hindu communities and the migrant workers.
To conclude on this point; the rise of communalism in India and the recent ascendancy of communalist politics in
Punjab can also be accounted for by the failure of left politics to develop an alternative to this crisis.
The main political plank of the Akalis has been what is known as the Anandpur
Sahib resolution. There are three versions
The Akali Dal (Talwandi)
version recognises the Sikhs as a nation and stands for a separate Sikh state. So also does another version identified with
Kapur Singh. The third version, adopted by Shiromani Ahali Dal on October 16-17,
1973, is more frequently referred to, and is more comprehensive in that it raises social and economic demands.
Obviously, the demand for a separate
Sikhs in the Golden Temple (DR) ported because it militates against the so-called national unity or interest. basis for opposition is that a Sikh state would be based on religion only. It would be a theocratic state. Moreover, it presupposes a unity of social and economic interests among those who follow
This unity does not exist. Moreover, Sikhs are not a nationality because religion cannot serve as the basis of a nationality. Punjabis are a nationality, not Sikhs. So, no question of self-determination arises as is mistakenly supposed, even by many on the left.
The main backbone of this demand comes from a regional bourgeois class in Punjab that has to compete with the wellestablished and well-entrenched national industrial bourgeoisie for the market. This tendency is represented by the National Council of Khalistan and the Dal
It has social support from sections of the urban Sikh intelligentsia and unemployed traders and unemployed rural youth and ex-servicemen. (6) The clash of interests between the agrarian bourgeoisie and the 'central' bourgeoisie has added a new dimension.
Anandpur Sahib does not seek to protect the so-called interests of the 'Sikh community' but rather those of the rich middle farmer. (7)
For instance, the demand for cheap inputs and modernisation in agriculture will serve the interests of these strata of Sikh peasantry. So also would the demand to consider India as a single food zone benefit only those farmers who have
Again, only these would benefit from the demand for higher prices for agricultural prices and cash
The resolution argues for the nationalisation of all industry with the exception of agro-based industries. This will benefit the rich farmers.
The resolution envisages that only four areas will remain under control of the central government: affairs, communications, currency. The other subjects would be left to the state. The question of Centre-state relations is also an economic question. The emergent class of capitalist farmers in Punjab perceives a clash of interests with the big indemands are
As for the demand to give the city of Chandigarh to Punjab as its capital, this is a just demand. Chandigarh grew up in place of Punjabi-speaking villages, the Haryanvis (people of Haryana) are a
The majority speak Punjabi. Chandigarh was built up as the capital of post-Independence Punjab.
In general, the just demands should be raised and supported. At the same time, even though there is no discrimination against Sikhs on the basis of their religion, the slightest infringement of the rights of religious minorities has to
Again, in general, attempts to communalise Punjab politics in particula and Indian politics in general have to be
This has to be the framewors within which every demand of Punjab politics has to be evaluated, from a class point of view.
The army crackdown on the Golden
La growing trend towards increasing and frequent use of the army in civilian affairs. From communal riots to floods and other natural and social calamities, the army is being increasingly pressed into service by the re-
One more disconcerting feature was the appointment of General Dayal as the governor's adviser in charge of home affairs and justice. Never before has an army officer been made an adviser, much less been given the home affairs portfolio.
well-known columnist Kuldip writing in his famous column 'Between the Lines' in Bombay's Free Press Journal on July 5, 1984, rightly concluded that what the Gandhi regime has done in Punjab is to 'impose martial law without saying so'. According to Nayar, all the obnoxious aspects of the Emergency have been imposed, such as press censorship, denial of civil liberties, ete. And he is right in observing that the wounds of the excesses are not being
See speech by CPI (M) representative (Rajya Sabha) on November 15, 1983, quoted Harkishan Singh Surjeet in the Upper House in the CPI (M) newspaper People's Democracy on November 27, 1983
See *Joint Statement on Punjab Tangle' in the CPI newspaper New Age, November 14, 1982.
For the texts of these three versions see Punjab Crisis: Context and Trends by Pramodkumar ManMohan Sharma Atul Sood and
Ashwani Handa. Chandigarh 1984.
Ibid, page 27.
Nujhawan in Man and Development, Vol. "Genesis of the Punjab Problem' by P. IV, No 1.
International Viewpoint 17 September 1984