Rise of the Sikh Militancy: An Appraisal of the Economic Factor

Abstract

The Sikhs are an enterprising and a dynamic community. They are able to adjust to diverse situations and circumstances and still make a comfortable living in any part of the globe. A section of the Sikhs in the Indian Punjab was however involved in militant violence from 1978 to 1992. It cost the state exchequer many billions of rupees and loss of thousands of men in the security forces and others. Numerous public figures and political leaders including the then Prime Minister of India, Indira Gandhi succumbed to their violence. The impact of this violence was not only confined to the country but spilled over to all places where Sikhs had sizable population especially Canada, the U.S.A. and the western Europe. They were also involved in this struggle, directly and indirectly, following the premise of ‘distant nationalism’ a la Anderson. This militant movement has been characterized differently by various people and political parties on the basis of their ideology. The Indian government led by the Indian National Congress(Indra) labeled it a ‘separatist’ (separation from India), ‘disintegrationi st’ (breaking the integrity of the Indian nation), ‘fundamentalist’ (a la Khomeini of Iran), and a ‘terrorist’ movement. The then dominant party in opposition, namely the Bhartiya Janta Party called it an ‘anti-Hindu’ and an ‘anti-national’ movement interested in creating Khalistan, a Sikh theocratic state. They consider India a nation of the Hindus and Sikhism a sect of Hinduism. The Communist parties characterized militancy an ‘extremist’, ‘undemocratic’, ‘fascist’, ‘obscurantist’, ‘ethnic’ and a ‘fundamentalist’ movement. But a sizable section of the Sikhs led by their democratic party the Shiromani Akali Dal, and later the militant groups spearheading the movement did not believe in such characterization. They considered themselves ‘fighting for a just cause’ that meant their rights, against discrimination, for freedom of belief, expression and action. The former had earlier passed an Anandpur Sahib Resolution in 1973 seeking more rights for the Indian provinces such that the regional communities and