Political Diary
New
Delhi, 4 May 2013
Martyr Politics
NETAS CAPITALZE ON DEATH
By Poonam I Kaushish
When you go back, remember that he gave his today for your
tomorrow. Juxtapose this with the vulgar tamasha
of manufactured grief displayed over any
death or calamity that strikes India.
The first is an epitaph of a valiant soldier. The second the anatomy of a
politician.
The tragedy is that while our soldiers are willing to die
for their country, our political tribe is only interested in living. Nothing
illustrates this better than the shenanigans by all Parties to extract political
mileage read Sikh votes out of death-row prisoner Sarabjit Singh, in jail for
22 years, brutal death in Pakistan
on 2 May. Especially during Delhi Assembly poll later this year and next year’s
general election.
Starting with Prime Minster our netagan fell over each other in one-upmanship by eulogizing
Sarabjit. Notwithstanding that the farmer from Punjab’s Bhikhiwind in Tarn Taran district was convicted by Pakistan’s
Supreme Court for being an Indian spy who killed 14 people at Faisalabad
and Lahore in
1991.
While Manmohan Singh called him a “brave son of India’, the
BJP raised the ante against Pakistan demanding India scale down diplomatic
relations, Punjab’s Akali Chief Minister Badal dubbed him a “national martyr”
and announced a three-day State mourning.
He also offered Government jobs to Sarabjit’s two daughters
along-with Rs 1crore ex gratia for his family. Not to be outdone, the Centre
too appended Rs 25 lakhs, Parliament observed two-minutes silence in his memory
and he was cremated with full State honours, wrapped in the national flag and given
a 21-gun salute.
Led by Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi, Union Minister
of State for External Affairs Preneet Kaur, Punjab
first Family Badal’s, State PCC Chief Bajwa, BJP President, State Ministers and
various Sikh leaders joined nearly 50,000 people in Sarabjit’s funeral.
But the moot point is: What made Sarajit into a national
martyr and a cause celebre? Was he a soldier being rewarded for saving
people’s lives on India’s
borders with Pakistan and China? What
sacrifice did he make for the country? Did the Government know Sarabjit was
innocent? If so, why didn’t it take up his case in Pakistan’s Supreme Court which had
convicted him for terror and espionage? What was his truth?
Did the UPA rush in because it didn't want its rivals
specially Punjab’s Akali-BJP Government to steal political advantage and accuse
it of having failed a citizen in Pakistan? Also, what signal does New Delhi want to send Islamabad by “honouring” Sarabjit in his
death?
Undeniably, Sarabjit Singh’s life is a heart rendering tale
of vicious and deadly injuries resulting in his death. A morbid release from years
rotting in jail not knowing if he would live or die. Against the backdrop of Islamabad’s
refusal to release him on ‘humanitarian grounds’ Sarabjit catapulted into an
emotional issue along-with a test case of India-Pakistan ties.
Alas, there is no gainsaying that it was
politics which dictated our netas embracing
Sarabjit in death while rejecting him during his life. Today it has once again
opened the Pandora’s Box of who Sarabjit really was? A terrorist who killed
people, an India spy arraigned on false charges, a smuggler or a simple drunk
farmer who crossed the border, as alleged by his family.
By participating in Sarabjit's funeral it has
complicated its position vis-à-vis Pakistan.
Already, Islamabad has gone international over former Hizbul
Mujahideen prisoner
Sanuallah Ranjay by fellow prisoners in Jammu’s
Kot
Lakhpat jail. Unlike Sarabjit, Ranjay is undergoing life imprisonment following
his arrest in 1999 for bomb blasts in Jammu
city. Pakistan Foreign Minister is demanding a UN probe on
the plight of Pakistani prisoners in India.
Pertinently, this reported tit-for-tat only nails the
thoughtlessness of confrontational jingoism over isolated cases, no matter however
nasty. Given that many soldiers who have risked all and laid down their lives for the country are not given their rightful due and their
valour appreciated and admired. Dismissed as a slight of a hand as an
occupational hazard of discharging a soldier’s duty. Sic.
Indeed, the Congress is using Sarabjit’s
‘martyrdom’ to neutralize the Sikhs simmering anger and demonstrations over
1984 riot accused Sajjan Kumar’s acquittal by a Delhi court last week and the
UPA’s soft handling of Sarabjit’s case with Pakistan. The Congress leader’s exoneration
has revived agonizing memories of the anti-Sikh riots which killed over 3000 post
Indira Gandhi’s assaination by her Sikh security guard. The victims’ families
are particularly enraged as they feel that political leaders involved in the
riots were allowed to go scot free.
In fact, the Party is worried that it could pay
a heavy price first in the forthcoming Delhi
and 2014 Lok Sabha polls. Especially as the Sikh community’s disillusionment
with the Congress has been growing since it was dethroned by rival Akali Dal in
the recent Shiromani Gurudwara Prbandhak Committee elections in Delhi. Worse, Kumar’s
judgment is the last nail in the advantage it gained over the years. On the
flip side, an aggressive Akali Dal is moving in to encash on the hurt feelings
of the Sikhs.
Undoubtedly, one needs neither a bleeding heart
nor blindness to see how our polity capitalizes on human tragedy to fill their
vote-bank coffers. They also know what should be done to stop the daily
de-humanizing and brutality of every day existence.
Simultaneously, unlike the brouhaha over
Sarabjit New Delhi needs to put in place a policy on how to honour her sons and
daughters who die serving the country. The brave hearts on the borders, the
security personnel in Maoist-infested zones et al who need to know the country
has confidence in its heroes. It must not dismiss those who fall by the
wayside. The tragedy is that our polity uses the Defence portfolio as a means
of making money by padding up costs of armaments, ships, submarine and planes
to shore up the country’s security preparedness. Borne out by innumerable scams.
Clearly these measures would help prevent the
disgusting race by our netas to
exploit popular sentiment over the passing of ordinary innocents or alleged
spy’s like Sarabjit Singh.
It is now imperative for our polity to rethink
its strategies and approach to the future and what should be done to stop their
political jamboree. Let’s not make our hellenial fate our millennial future! Time
to think of the long-term domestic and international repercussions. Political
fevicol is not the binder for the nation’s oral and emotional fabric! -----
INFA
(Copyright,
India News and Feature Alliance)
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