Kashipur incident a bad oven for Punjabi and Sikh farmers
Permanent solution along with Constitutional guarantee needed
It was way back in 1998 when the International Human Rights Organisation (IHRO) had asked the Shiromani Akali Dal (Badal) to withdraw its support to the Vajpayee government, in case it did not exclude Udham Singh Nagar district from the proposed Uttaranchal state, while suggesting the Centre to legislate Udham Singh Nagar district and its adjoining Terai areas, included in Rampur, Pilibhit, Shahjahanpur, Lakhimpur Kheri districts of UP, as a union territory where minorities, including the Sikhs, could live peacefully and feel safe as they have been facing various troubles during the past. The IHRO had also urged in a letter to Atal Behari Vajpayee to exclude Udham Singh Nagar from the proposed Uttaranchal Pradesh. This, the IHRO had said, would definitely promote the integrity of the BJP, otherwise bracketed communal and extreme right-winger party by many people and political groups. But this suggestion fell on their deaf years. Not only that, its coalition partner SAD (Badal) clandestinely connived with BJP leadership, whose brainchild was Uttaranchal state, in their “mission” and ditched the Sikh and Punjabi farmers. It needs no elaboration, and that was the reason why Parkash Singh Badal had sold his land from near Bazpur in Udham Singh Nagar, now included in Uttaranchal Pradesh. Thus, Badal betrayed the farmers of that area just to please the BJP leadership for his personal and political gains.
Now the eviction of Punjabi and Sikh farmers from about 1200 acres of farmland near Kashipur, declared surplus, following a Supreme Court order, has flared up into a bristly issue. It has opened up underlying wounds for residents, who originally did not favour joining Uttaranchal when the state was carved out of Uttar Pradesh five years ago. The Supreme Court had delivered its judgment last year. It had held that the said land was ceiling surplus and asked the Uttaranchal government to get it vacated from M/s Escorts Farms Ltd. Factually, this land was taken over by about 250 Punjabi families over 30 years ago when it was declared Ceiling Surplus by the Commissioner.
At a rally in held at Kashipur, Harbhajan Singh Cheema, MLA, has said, “When the state was formed we accepted our fate and even announced that we are one state but the eviction has betrayed us.” Protests were held by Sikh and Punjabi youth who blocked roads and held up trains over the weekend. They also protested the ban on the Nagar Kirtan procession that was held on Guru Gobind Singh’s Parkash Purab. The agitating leaders said it was not just an issue of Sikh farmers but of the entire Terai region. “Such an action is what we had feared five years ago,” thundered a former MP, B S Bhunder, while reminding the audience that the sacrifice of Sikh farmers had been forgotten when they turned the jungles of Terai into money-spinning crop-growing lands.
Simranjit Singh Mann, President Shiromani Akali Dal (Amritsar), condemned the recent tragic incidents, which took place in the state of Uttaranchal. Mann asked the Centre Government to intervene in this matter and help the Sikh farmers. He asserted that the atrocities committed against Sikh in Kashipur were preplanned. Whereas this event caused many to loose their properties, including houses and businesses, many were left physically injured. Simranjit Singh Mann also expressed grief that the current Punjab Chief Minister, Amarinder Singh, has failed to do anything for the betterment of the Sikh community of Uttaranchal.
Though many organizations have sent commissions to investigate this matter, very little substantial actions have been taken so far to help the troubled Sikhs. Some have been noted as using this incident as a tool for political gain while others use it as an occasion to cast blame on the Congress party. The controversy over eviction, seemed ended on January 9, following a compromise thrashed out at an emergency high-level meeting. Officials of the Uttaranchal Government, an 11-member Bharti Kisan Union delegation and BJP MLAs of the area, along with Punjab Congress men, tried to sort out the matter. That all evicted families, irrespective of the size of their land holdings, would be given compensation. The same was agreed upon by the Uttaranchal Chief Minister. Earlier the Uttaranchal Government had offered 3.5 acres to farmers with land holding of less than 5 acres. These were just 103 families while the affected families were 251 in number. Another 39 people had built houses. Under the compromise formula, all married members of a land-owning family would get 3.5 acres each. The 39 people whose houses were demolished would get actual compensation. The meeting had been convened after the chief of the BKU, Mohinder Singh Tikait threatened to forcibly take possession of 1200 acres and hand it over to the farmers.
This formula did not work well with the affected people. They rejected the compromise as conspiracy to ditch the rest of the farming community in future. During this resentment, the Punjab Rights Forum (PRF) decided to standby the affected families and held an emergency meeting of its constituents on Thursday at Circuit House, Ludhiana. The meeting was attended by SAD (A) president SS Mann, SAD (Longowal) president Prem Singh Chandumajra, SKD chief Bhai Daljit Singh, BKU leaders Pishora Singh and Balbir Singh Rajewal, besides representatives of human rights groups and other social organisations, including Damdami Taksal. The PRF has decided to protest against the eviction on January 17 at all district headquarters in Punjab. A team of PRF high command will visit Kashipur, meet affected people and decide the next course of action there and then. Meanwhile, the high profile team of the Rights Forum will meet Uttaranchal chief minister and Governor to suggest ways and means in order to give justice to the farming community. Let us all express our sympathy and solidity with the uprooted farmers and make efforts to reach at logical conclusion of the matter that needs a permanent solution with constitutional guarantee.
