Almost two dozen terrorist attacks have happened under the watchful eyes of the Manmohan Singh administration. Maoists routinely murder policemen and civilians while their apologists sing peans. While we blame the government for being soft on terror, Saisuresh reminds that we look at Punjab as the nation’s granary, not armoury because of strong action by Julio Ribeiro and KPS Gill.
I am not sure how much of the Internet-savvy generation knows anything about the Sikh insurgency that almost sundered India in the 1980s. Punjab was more or less out of India’s grasp, newspapers daily told horror tales of Hindus being singled out and shot dead, and the name of a putative sant struck terror all around, ably fanned by his cross-border friends in Pakistan. (Aside: Plus ça change, Plus c’est la même chose.) New Delhi then was a city under siege, with roadside bunkers being the most common scenery.
Today one wonders if it is the same Punjab with its mustard fields that one sees digitally colourised in Bollywood films. How did it happen? How was the battle that was so nearly lost, won?
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