A Window To Perceptive Journalism

A Picture PostCard
From Punjab

S P Singh

Picture postcards come in many form, and friends living far away from Punjab often badger me for these. Strange how people become touristy about their own place when they are abroad. I am not great with camera. So here is a quick picture postcard that I can draw tapping on the keyboard. 

Punjab has just won an award, if you believe the awards and the full page advertisements fully paid by you, for being the numero uno state in the country. We are the best in agriculture, best in infrastructure, best in prosperity. If you sometimes hear things like farm crisis, or of city areas and villages going without power, or of Lalru residents being brutally beaten up because they happened to protest power outages lasting days, please do ignore these as ramblings of a citizenry that does not matter. Wallow in the low of the awards, and the smug satisfaction of numero-uno advertisements. 

Awards flow the other way too, and that should complete the picture. So not only has Punjab received one, it has also dished out one. To Khushwant Singh. On his part, Singh dished out his part of the bargain. "This award is more special to me than all the rest," he said. Happy now?

In a state widely known as the home of the Sikh community, the ruling party takes credit for a record income from liquor shops. People widely connected to the thriving liquor trade are also the ones backing major politicians, and their participation through their kin in gurdwara management bodies' elections is no more a secret in Punjab. 

The Director General of Police admits as a matter of fact that the police in the state register false cases as a routine under political pressure and frequently makes the life of innocent civilians hell. That such admission come in writing, signed and sealed, and fails to evoke mass outcry is a measure of things to which apathy levels in Punjab have risen. 

Reaction from the political class? Congress: Mum. Akali Dal (Badal): One ghost-written press release. BJP: None of their business. Left: Has long been irrelevant in Punjab politics. 

The premier Sikh shrine management panel, the Shiromani Gurdawara Prabandhak Committee (SGPC) secretary is sacked from his post for undue political enthusiasm. He is immediately offered a similar post by the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (DSGMC). On his part, the sacked fellow has listed in fine detail the alleged efforts by Akali Dal president Prakash Singh Badal to usurp land worth crores. That he chose to keep all this valuable information to himself throughout and waited till his sack to share the facts with the people holds meanings of its own which you can well understand. 

Former MP Simranjit Singh Mann barges his way into a function at Talwandi Sabo (Bathinda) where Badal's men tried to stop him unsuccessfully. Later, as the SGPC president honours him with a siropa and Badal Sahib castigates the move to accord such respect to Mann, the questions go abegging. Why was he and other senior leaders, not affiliated to the Badal-led party, not invited? Why were there an effort to stop him? Why did he insist on barging in? And why did those who honoured Mann kept mum after Badal castigated them? Clearly, instead of guru-ki-bani permeating the air, petty politics was writ large over the function connected with Sri Guru Granth Sahib. How shameless can leaders be, even in the presence of the Guru?  

Now, step back and look at this picture postcard carefully to see how everyone is a winner. Punjab is a winner (See the advertisements). Amarinder Singh is a winner (You didn't see his beaming face next to President Kalam's?). Prakash Singh Badal is a winner (The DGP's letter has proved that things were better in his regime, so as corollary the self-indicting letter also proves things will be better in the next regime if Badal heads it). The SGPC is a winner (They did sack an irritant who was working against the panth). The DSGMC is a winner (After all, they have helped a wronged person in the true spirit of religion). Simranjit Singh Mann is a winner (Brave man braved the task force hooligans to reach his Guru).  

Now spot the losers. For a clue, try a mirror. 

September 5, 2006

P.S. Picture postcards are mostly disappointing.

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