Sikh Virsa Epaper Calgary September 2021

Buy/Sell/Lease, Any kind of Real Estate : 403-681-8689
Mandi, Market
& Modi
(Cont. from last edition)
The Modi administration
has almost no channels open to
what is really happening in
Punjab. They do not have a
single Sikh leader of repute in
the cabinet, and the former
diplomat Hardeep Singh Puri,
who is the minister of civil
aviation as well as housing and
urban affairs, is akin to Mukhtar
Abbas Naqvi in his
understanding of the state or
clout with his own
community. The decision
by the Akali Dal to break
the alliance with the BJP
should have been sign
enough that it is untenable
for any political party, including
the BJP, to stand for the farm
laws in Punjab. Advice from its
own BJP leaders in the state has
been set aside as of no
consequence. The complete and
unprece-dented BJP rout in the
recent municipal election in the
urban areas, where Hindus
dominate, only confirmed that
the central government had no
idea of the extent of
disenchantment in Punjab.
The Modi government is in
the same position Ibbetson was
in, dependent on information
from people who stand to gain
from projecting an exaggerated
and conspiratorial version of
reality,
For the first four months of the
protests, this template failed. The
events of 26 January did allow the
government to build up some credence for its
fantasies of a conspiracy, and the farm leaders
played a part in this. For over a fortnight, having
built up expectations that the tractor rally Republic
Day would head to Delhi, they agreed to a route that
defied those expectations.
knowing that their superiors are
looking for exactly such a
version. There is, however, one
substantial difference. Ibbetson
was not an active participant in
the fantasies being spun around
him, and he had to answer
others who had the capacity to
see the damage his decisions
were causing. The British
Empire was not hoping to win
an election by consolidating
popular support behind it.
Modi, perpetually caught up in
shoring his base, seems
unconcerned by any sense of
what may or may not be good
for the country, as long as it is
good for him and his party.
The security apparatus
knows what Modi wants to hear,
and it is aware of what is
expected of it. They already
have a strategy that has worked
before with the protests against
the Citizenship (Amendment)
Act: a prolonged propaganda
campaign to tarnish the
predominantly Muslim
protesters with the label of
separatism and terror, which
was followed by violence
instigated by BJP politicians
and abetted by the Delhi police.
The investigations since have
spun a vast web of intrigue and
conspiracy that has allowed
them to pick up whosoever they
labelled as conspirators.
Hartosh Singh Bal
For the first four months of
the protests, this template failed.
The events of 26 January did
allow the government to build
up some credence for its
fantasies of a conspiracy, and
the farm leaders played a part
in this. For over a fortnight,
having built up expectations that
the tractor rally Republic Day
would head to Delhi, they
agreed to a route that defied
those expectations. A day before
the rally, it was clear that many
of the protesters would not
follow the designated route. The
security apparatus had already
begun suggesting that a
Khalistani-ISIS conspiracy was
afoot.
On the designated day, the
farm leaders who should have
been part of the rally that
headed into Delhi, guiding their
wayward supporters and
tempering their fervour chose to
abdicate. There was an
indefensible clash with the
police but, given the presence
Sikh Virsa, Calgary 92. September 2021