We celebrate the 37th independence day today under the shadow of the barely controlled crisis in Punjab. This cannot but affect the nation’s mood. The President, Giani Zail Singh’s address reflects the reality of the threat as it developed in Punjab as well as the mood it has produced in the country. To meet the ritualistic requirements of the occasion, he has also spoken of achievements in the past 37 years. But not many Indians are likely to pay attention to that part of his address. Their hearts and minds are dominated by what they have witnessed in Punjab. This has been a traumatic experience as no other since independence, with the possible exception of the Chinese attack in 1962. We have witnessed other violent secessionist challenges to the country’s unity. Indeed, in a sense the guerrillas in Nagaland and Mizoram in our eastern borderlands have posed greater threats than the Bhindranwale gangs in Punjab, But never before have the Indian people been so shaken as by the events in Punjab in the past two years. This sense of shock is only natural. Unlike the Nagas and the Mizos who are still going through the necessarily prolonged process of being assimilated to the larger Indian society, the Sikhs are an integral part of the national mainstream, however we define that main stream, and it could never have occurred to anyone of us that any section of this community would ever advocate the killing of fellow citizens on religious grounds and raise the secessionist banner. Mercifully the worst is over. But those elements which brought the country so close to disaster are still on the collision course. While it is only proper to appeal to them to see reason, in the final analysis the Indian state must be willing to deal with them in the manner such elements deserve to be dealt with. August 15 should serve as a reminder that independence was won at great sacrifice and must be defended whatever the price and the odds.
In Punjab we witnessed the fusion not only of religion and politics but also of these and of crime and violence. Smugglers and other anti-social elements provided Bhindranwale the money, weapons and the muscle power he needed for unleashing a reign of terror in the state. And we have seen how similar elements have promoted, financed and sustained communal clashes in other states such as Maharashtra and Andhra. The President has not referred to this problem in his address apparently because, in his and the government’s view, independence day is not the proper occasion for it. But if we are to be true to the memory of those who won freedom, especially Mahatma Gandhi’s, we cannot engage in this kind of escapism. We have to face up to the fact that the Indian state is in peril not so much because it is being assailed from without as because it is being eroded from within. On this historic day in our history we should undertake an honest appraisal of the country’s problems and of practical solutions to them. There can be no better way to celebrate independence day.