Punjabi Antenna
Heroes or merely labels?
Randeep Wadehra

Let’s not treat Bhagat Singh as a mere label," pleaded Manvinder Jeet Singh Waraich on PTC News special show, commemorating the freedom fighter’s birth anniversary on September 28. Waraich, a noted authority on the martyr, has written a book on him. Dr Chaman Lal, on the same show, pointed out that Bhagat Singh, along with Tipu Sultan, is among the icons revered in India and Pakistan alike.

The anchor, Devinder, who had once made an impressive documentary on Bhagat Singh, expressed sadness at how his name has become a mere slogan for today’s faux patriots. He also protested the commercialising of the freedom fighter’s name. As memories of the freedom struggle slip into the recesses of history, contributions of freedom fighters get increasingly sheathed in layers of platitudes and trivial gestures. Politicians never forget to organise functions to commemorate our heroes’ sacrifices, but somehow manage to ignore the heritage that has been bequeathed to us in the form of their ideals.

Anchor Devinder, who made an impressive documentary on Bhagat Singh, feels the martyr’s name has become only a slogan today

However, it is futile to blame our politicians alone. As the show revealed, common Punjabis couldn’t recall even Bhagat’s date of birth or the significance of September 28. Worse, his two equally prominent comrades — Sukhdev and Rajguru — who were hanged along with him don’t even get a passing mention.

Social stratification is a harsh reality in India. The evil intensifies as increasing numbers among the already downtrodden are getting marginalised further — especially in the rural areas. The recent governmental announcement pertaining to carrying out a separate caste census has attracted Punjabi media’s attention.

On Zee Punjabi’s Khabarsaar, the BSP MP, while stressing the need for enumerating population on caste basis, looked askance at the government’s intentions, while the Akali representative initially opposed the very idea of caste census, but then seemed to have second thoughts — even as he asserted that there was no caste system in Sikhism.

However, the BSP panellist pointed out that there were now separate gurdwaras and cremation grounds for Dalit Sikhs in rural Punjab and small towns; he further observed that the claim that the SGPC and the Akali Dal don’t believe in casteism was a fa`E7ade for promoting the interests of a particular stratum of society.

He challenged the Akali candidate to name even one Scheduled Caste SSP in Punjab. He also pointed out that deliberate and relentless marginalisation of the vulnerable sections of society provides manpower to such violent set-ups as the Naxalites. Professor Manjit Singh, another panellist on the show, questioned the very need for having caste census, asserting that already there are columns allocated for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in the conventional census forms.

He suspected that the various political parties wanted to use data from the proposed caste census to indulge in diabolical vote bank politics. However, although the Khabarsaar panellists were not optimistic about positive impact of the caste census, one must not forget that the data collected from such an exercise has great potential for use in formulating long-term developmental policies and programmes.