tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3464520582626879960.post8763357049067075766..comments2024-01-09T23:51:22.626-08:00Comments on ghulamkalam: ਕਾਮਰੇਡ ਪੰਜਾਬ ਤੇ ਸਿੱਖ ਮਸਲਿਆਂ ਨੂੰ ਖੁੱਲ੍ਹ ਦਿਲੀ ਨਾਲ ਮੁੜ ਵਿਚਾਰਨ-ਜਸਪਾਲ ਸਿੱਧੂਗੁਲਾਮ ਕਲਮhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07297188853560061487noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3464520582626879960.post-51923978462030342862012-06-04T11:06:48.216-07:002012-06-04T11:06:48.216-07:00Jaspal Singh Sidhu has been very successfully able...Jaspal Singh Sidhu has been very successfully able to highlight the central flaw in the mainstream Punjabi Left (mainly CPI and CPM and some Naxalite groups)position on the conflict in Punjab in the 1980s and 1990s and continuing in different forms even now. This flaw can be put in these words: If the Punjabi Left was opposing all aspects of Sikh struggle because of its oppostion to identitiy based politics, their opposition eventually came to support the viewpoint of Indian nationalism which is also identity politics. So there was no logic in the mainstream Punjabi left's mode of criticism of the Sikh struggle. Some sections of the mainstream Punjabi Left criticised the Sikh struggle as communal but failed to criticise the Indian state and Indian media's openly Hindu card politics. I have written an article on Left and Third Front in EPW in 2009 in which I had argued that the Left in India need to recognise multiple nationalisms in India and reorient its strategic position by forming alliances with regional nationalist forces to beat both Congress and BJP- the parties representing centralised Indian nationalims in slightly different garbs. Congress's semi-secular/secular and BJP's Hindu plank are two versions of the same perspective- construction of a homogenous Indian national identity through the power and ideological apparatus of a strongly centralist state. <br />There were certainly flaws in the Sikh struggle's vision which the Left must criticise and the most serious flaw was the idea of a theocratic Sikh state of Khalistan. If the Left had criticised the Khalistan movement for its theocratic connotations and not from the angle of India's unity and integrity, there would have been a moral force in the Left's critique. In the absence of this moral dimension in the Left's critique of theocracy, the Left came to be seen by the Sikh activists as a stooge of the Indian state.<br />For articulating a truly democratic perspective on Punjab, the Sikh activists also need to do rethinking and reframe their vision from the perspective of an inclusive Punjabi nationalism which would be at par with Tamil nationalism, Assamese nationalism and Bengali nationalism etc. <br />So there is a basis for asking both the mainstream Indian and particularly Punjabi left (mainly CPI and CPM because the Maoist/Naxalite stream already recognises India what I can 'a territorial space with multiple nationalisms')and the Sikh activists to rethink their political perspectives. There is no point in point scoring exercies. It is too serious a matter for indulging in point scoring exercises. The point is to construct a vision and a political perspective that helps in shaping a future that is democratic and free of as many forms of oppression as possible.<br />Finally, I would like to reiterate that not every Punjabi leftist took the postitions CPI and CPM took. I am one of those minority of Punjabi leftists who were critical of theocratic dimensions of the Khalistan movement and at the same time highly critical of the politics of the indian state.Malwinder Malli had edited a very useful book in Punjabi which carried articles of Punjabi left intellectuals (including mine) which was critical of the politics of the Indian state.<br />Dr Pritam Singh (Oxford)<br />p.s. Sorry for any spelling mistakes because there was no tool I could find for spell checks of my comment. Sorry also for posting this as anonymous because i did not know how to post under my name. The select profile in the comment section was very confusing, so I chose anonymous but of course I have mentioned my name because I have no hesitation in saying what I have saidAnonymousnoreply@blogger.com