Plane-Loads of Illegal Migrants Sent Back to Panjab
As US military planes bring back illegal Indian migrants at Amritsar, we are compelled to look at the root causes why young Indians, including Panjabis, risk their lives to leave the country at great cost. The short answer is that most are moving away from a failed system which has neglected them and driven them to desperation to flee from the whole socio-political environment.
By contrast, western countries have the systems which enable the same young people to work hard and offer them the opportunities to realise their dreams. In addition, they can live in secure environments where the law rules.
That the planes bringing illegal migrants are landing at Amritsar is also highly symbolic and significant for Panjab. As noted last week, the administrations of Panjab and India carry the ultimate responsibility for creating conditions which compel young men and women of working age to run from own homes and country. The Indian state and central governments are in the dock and not the foreign governments.
The disappointment writ large on the faces of those returned home in handcuffs and shackles is also a verdict on the performance of the leaders and politicians of Panjab since 1947. These political and, for the Sikhs, religio-social, leaders, include those who are in the dock before Sri Akal Takht Sahib today. They have been found guilty in the Court of the Guru and Sangat.
It is questionable if any Sikh political or religious leading figure since 1947, deserves a Panth Ratan award. At best, some leading Sikhs did try in all honesty to improve the socio-political environment of Panjab but did not succeed. The progress and performance of Panjab is probably the worst amongst Indian states when looked at against its starting growth potential from 1947 onwards.
Successive Panjab administrations and politicians missed opportunities to retain the lead position of the state in the country. There has been no shortage of agro-scientists, agro-economists, agro-environmentalists and planners recommending sensible policies including diversity of crops and industries. They delivered their well-researched papers, but the politicians and public servants in power, relegated these to the office bins and gave priority to personal gains and promotions. They played and continue to play political games at great cost to the state and the people. Communal politics led to the bloodshed of 1984 and the following years. It is not surprising that there is a credibility gap between what is in the biographies of Panjab leaders and their actual performance in office. The result is the Panjab ground realities today in all spheres.
We now have a failed system and socio-political milieu from which even wealthy Panjabis and other Indians are moving away to Western countries. The colonial system of administration was devised to rule over subordinate people. Colonial powers behaved as if they had the god-given right to rule as superior human beings. Today, Indian brown sahibs have the same powers and behave in the same way, except that they are openly corrupt. Nepotism (parwarwaad) is common and bribery is openly demanded for public services.
Everyone tries to jump the queue in almost every sphere by whatever means. Yet, the same people behave very differently when in western systems.
There is general lack of compassion for those at the lowest rungs of the society. Even today most Indians do not fully grasp the injustice and cruelty of the caste system. (The topic continues.)
Gurmukh Singh OBE
Principal Civil Servant retd (UK)
E-mail: sewauk2005@yahoo.co.uk
Sikh ideology articles: https://www.sikhmissionarysociety.org/