Turmoil in Punjab Politics

Punjab has been a problem State of India since Independence. In 1947, it was partitioned along with the partition of India. Even while partition-wounds were getting healed, it was rocked by several agitations both against and in favour of the formation of Punjabi speaking State. In 1966, the truncated Punjab was again trifurcated. Despite the formation of unilingual state in November 1966, peace has eluded it, because of the Akali demand for inclusion of the Union Territory of Chandigarh and the adjoining Punjabi-speaking areas of Haryana and Rajasthan into Punjab created more problems. It created a vicious situation with its explosive mix of region, politics and language. The traumatic events of the last decade in this border state have shaken the entire nation. The emergence of terrorism has battled political observers and has caused anguish to every citizen. The present day horrendous events and the surcharged atmosphere in Punjab the fear of reprisals of one community against the other, fear of terrorists – the man-eaters enjoying their murderous pranks, fear of police-repression or state terrorism, and last but not the least, fear bred by mistrust of the Government – Centre or State and its actions are all pervasive. It is suggested that there should be a multi-dimensional approach to the problem of Punjab. The most important thing to be done in the prevailing circumstances is to try to solve the problem with the help of the democratic process and within the democratic ambience.

Dr. Subhash Chander Arora (b. 1940) passed M.A. (Political Science) from the Punjab University, Chandigarh in 1970. He was awarded Ph.D. from Maharshi Dayanand University, Rohtak in 1982. Formerly a teacher of Political Science at Panjab University, Chanigarh: Punjabi University, Patiala and Kurukshetra University, Kurukshetra, Dr. Arora is currently heading the Department of Political Science, Maharshi Dayanand University College, Rohtak. He has contributed a score of research papers to journals of repute, and has President’s Rule in Indian States (Mittal Publications, Delhi:1990) to his credit as his major work.