People's Democracy

THE Punjab state secretariat of the CPI(M) has regretted that, in the Punjab assembly debate on the nightmare of terrorism in Punjab during the 1980s, both the Congress and Akali Dal (Badal) utterly failed to squarely name and condemn the real Khalistani culprits and their American imperialist mentors who disturbed communal harmony and peace in the state and threatened India’s unity and integrity. The soullessness of these parties in not condemning the killing of about 26,000 innocent people at the hands of Khalistanis is also regrettable.

The CPI(M) expressed its opinion in a recent statement issued from Chandigarh by its state secretary Balwant Singh.

The state secretariat said the narrow politics of both these parties during the debate got fully exposed as they did not mention those democratic demands underlying the Punjab problem. These are transfer of Chandigarh to Punjab, a just settlement of the river water dispute and of the territorial claim and counterclaims; all these need to be resolved in the framework of the Rajiv-Longowal accord. To make the peace in Punjab durable, it is necessary that the above pending issues are settled by the central government without further delay.

The CPI(M) further observed that the level of the debate was petty and relegated the real issues to the background.

Giving its firm opinion about who is to blame, the CPI(M) said the main responsibility for terrorism squarely lay upon the Congress party who was then ruling at the centre, did not do justice to Punjab by settling the above issues in time and continued its drift for narrow ends. Nor can the Akalis be absolved of their responsibility as they failed to demarcate themselves from Khalistani terrorists and provided them an ideological prop by propagating the wrong theory that the Sikhs are a separate nation to whom politics and religion are one.

The CPI(M) also felt that not recording with gratitude the heroic and patriotic role of those, including about 300 communists, who were killed by Khalistani terrorists, is also an act of ungratefulness and political bankruptcy of these parties’ leaders.

The CPI(M) urged the Punjabi people to look upon those black days of terrorism from a humane, democratic and secular standpoint and force the Congress and Akalis to take correct lessons from the past. This is needed so that Khalistani terrorists, who are trying to raise their ugly head again with support from imperialists, do not succeed in disturbing the hard earned peace and again pose a threat to our national unity and integrity.

While the CPI(M) said the Akalis should stop presenting the common democratic issues of Punjab from a communal angle, it urged the UPA government at the centre to transfer Chandigarh to Punjab and solve the river water and territorial disputes in the framework of Rajiv-Longowal accord.

The CPI(M) also urged the Punjab governor not to give his assent to the bill for setting up the private Lovely Professional University, an unethical step that lowers the standard of learning.

The party also demanded that the Amrinder government immediately withdraw the toll tax levied on all four-wheelers at the rate of 35 paise per kilometre. This ill-conceived toll tax imposes a burden on the common people as the levy will have a cascading affect on the prices of all commodities. (INN)