Author: Gurdev Grewal
Publisher: Rupa
Year: 2006
Language: English
Pages: 349
ISBN/UPC (if available): 8129109069
Description
The 1980s was a turbulent period for the people of Punjab, a period marked by unprecedented social strife and political upheaval, far and revulsion, hate and retribution,. The so-called Punjab problem that embroiled the nation was brought about by the manipulations of some highly regarded but amoral and unscrupulous political leaders. Also active on the political stage were some self-styled sants, a number of administrators fostering corruption, and some men in police uniform doubling as vigilantes and extortionists. For want of a more appropriate description, this bloody mess was labeled a Sikh problem, which demanded an imminent final solution.
This combustible mix of communal hatred and secessionist violence, fuelled by the ambitions of major political parties climaxed in the desecration and destruction of the Golden Temple and the Akal Takht in Amritsar. The ostensibly retributive assassination of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi a few months later set in motion a chain reaction of vilence and carnage selectively aimed at the offending community.
Gurdev Grewal was an eye-witness to these developments from a vantage point in the Union Ministry of Home Affairs. Drawing on his own experiences as well as the accounts of his colleagues, he examines the evolution of the Punjab problem in all its complexity. Grewal describers his encounters with the high and mighty of the contemporary political and administrative set-up, and his attempts to stem this rot even though the political system did not allow room for a clash of ideas or the expression of ideological differences between a civil servant and his political masters.
The Searching Eye offers an insider’s account of one of the most important events in the history of independent India. It is a valuable corrective to the many myths and half-truths that surround the genesis of the Punjab problem. It is essential reading for anyone seeking to understand the causes of political insurrection, ethnic violence and secessionist movements in India.
Contents
PROLOGUE
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The Quest for a Sikh Homeland
The Anandpur Sahib Resolution
Demise of a Dream
Seeds of Discord
A Divine Intervention
Dal Khalsa
Khalistan
The Bhindranwale Phenomenon
Sikhism Revisited
Gandhi Versus Gandhi
Carnage in Delhi
I Remember
A Penitent Politician
Annexure: Anandpur Sahib Resolution
Epilogue
Endnotes
INDEX