Anti-incumbency has not set in against the government led by Amarinder Singh, and the excesses of the past regime have not been forgotten

A hundred years after the massacre of Jallianwala Bagh, the history and politics of Punjab are being robustly contested, once again, on the eve of the Lok Sabha election. But notwithstanding the nostalgia, the grandstanding and mud-slinging about who collaborated with whom, it is clear even to the politically naïve that it is the Congress that dominates Majha, Doaba and Malwa, the three principal geographical divisions of the State.

Anti-incumbency has not set in against the government led by Chief Minister Amarinder Singh, and the excesses of the past regime have not been forgotten. But the josh is missing, as Punjab has faced its worst decade, economically and socially, since the years of militancy. Once, as you travelled from Jammu to Delhi through the Punjab, there was joi de vivre of the Punjabi gabrus across the rural countryside of one of India’s most prosperous States.

As you stopped at the Verka milk bars, through GT Road, and emerged refreshed, you were convinced of the potential and power of the Green Revolution, multi-purpose projects such as Bhakra Nangal, and the indomitable spirit of Punjab. Not so anymore, as economic growth has plummeted, unemployment has increased, and agricultural distress is a stark reality! And Udta Punjab is not just a cinematic delusion, but the reality of even small town Punjab.

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Given this reality, it is not surprising that even a century after the massacre at Amritsar, looking back seems as important as looking ahead. Every occupation constructs its collaborators, and most are often pushed into the proverbial dustbin of history. So was the case with the worst days of British colonial rule.

Heated battle

In the case of the Amritsar massacre of 1919, ironically the contemporary descendants of the dramatis personae are today engaged in a heated political battle: from the royal house of Patiala, to the landed aristocracy of the Majithias.

But as you enter Amritsar’s heritage square, the makeover (unlike rural Punjab) is stunning and you can be forgiven if you forget the political squabbles.

The aesthetic sensibilities of purists will rarely be satisfied, but for lesser mortals, this glimpse into Punjab’s past is sensitively reconstructed. My friend, the brilliant Kishwar Desai, is the force and inspiration behind the still growing Museum of Partition, though she does not take credit for the overall transformation of Amritsar’s heritage square.

The narrow galis, as you leave heritage square, are still the same, as I search (in vain) for my grandmother’s havelis in Katra Alhuwalia and Katra Jaimal Singh (all in the vicinity of Hall Bazaar), but the square reminds you of the best creative efforts of old European towns. Even in the days when every dominant discourse invites suspicion and scepticism, the basic narrative of Jallianwala Bagh is rarely challenged. But it is the subtext that is mired in controversy.

Originally the property of Himmat Singh of Jalle in Fategarh Sahib, it was once a public garden in the vicinity of the Golden Temple complex. The main proponent of the 1919 Amritsar massacre that happened on Basakhi on April 13 was Acting Brigadier-General Reginald Dyer. He ordered the firing at an unarmed crowd of protesters. Several hundred were killed, and the shooting was arguably the worst blight on the history of the British Empire in India. Even worse, Michael O’Dwyer, the Lieutenant-Governor of Punjab, was supportive of the General’s actions.

Many Indian responses are well known. Rabindranath Tagore renounced his knighthood, Mahatma Gandhi used the term “Dyerism” to describe the tyranny of force, violence and oppression, and even Winston Churchill described the killings as a monstrous event. But there was a section of the elite in London, who sought to rehabilitate Dyer and there were Indian collaborators as well. Jathedar Arur Singh Naushera, of the Akhal Takht, presented a saropa to Dyer. Arur Singh is an ancestor of the radical politician and former MP (and ex-IPS officer) Simranjit Singh Mann (who leads his own version of the Akali Dal).

Sundar Singh Majhitia, the great grandfather of Union Minister Harsimrat Kaur (spouse of former Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Sngh Badal, and daughter-in-law of Prakash Singh Badal, supremo of the Akali Dal), is believed to have continued to socialise with Dyer even after the Jallianwala Bagh tragedy. And Maharajah Bhupinder Singh of Patiala, current Chief Minister Amarinder Singh’s grandfather, seemed to have a pally relationship with Lt. Governor O’Dwyer, who was subsequently assassinated by Udham Singh in London in 1940.

My politics is, of course, fundamentally the politics of the classroom, and I reflect on the present (and the election) in my friend Professor Harmeet Singh’s MA Politics class in Guru Nanak Dev University.

Bright, spunky young men and women help me forecast the results of the election. What is remarkable is the degree of consensus that the Congress will dominate the election, with the possibility of even touching double digits in the 13 constituencies of the Lok Sabha. The NDA, with the BJP contesting from Amritsar, Hoshairpur and Gurdaspur, and the rest left to the Akalis, could win as few as three seats.

Nuanced view

Even Majha, where Amritsar sits, and with a history of voting the incumbent out of power, is likely to vote for Captain Amarinder Singh’s regime. Unless, of course, the border with Pakistan tenses up and there is rapid escalation.

The Captain, politically shrewd as he is, has articulated a nuanced view of the Karatarpur corridor connecting Dera Baba Nanak Sahib in Gurdaspur with Gurdwara Darbar Sahib in Kartarpur in Pakistan, welcoming the move and yet voicing his apprehensions about Pakistan’s intentions.

Even Doaba, which has been the source of a large section of immigrants to the U.K. and Canada and has been an Akali Dal stronghold, is unlikely to be a source of optimism to the Badals. Only in Malwa is Ms. Kaur probably assured of a victory in Bhatinda; and Bhagwant Mann is likely to retain Sangrur, but with a major fight on his hands. But Punjab’s honeymoon with the Aam Aadmi Party seems over as well.

The economic slowdown, contributed by agricultural distress, unemployment among educated youth and the epidemic of drugs remain the dominant issues. There is little by way of policies and their implementation that the Congress can give as evidence of a new Punjab in the making.

But it has only been two years since the previous Assembly election, and even given the reputation of the House of Patiala, too short a period for the honeymoon to end.

(The author is a Professor of International Relations at Jawaharal Nehru University and at the University of Melbourne)