Research Article| December 01 1987 Understanding the "Punjab Problem" Gurharpal Singh Gurharpal Singh Search for other works by this author on: This Site PubMed Google Scholar Far Eastern Survey (1958) 27 (12): 1268–1277. https://doi.org/10.2307/2644634 Views Icon Views Article contents Figures & tables Video Audio Supplementary Data Peer Review Share Icon Share Twitter LinkedIn Tools Icon Tools Get Permissions Cite Icon Cite Search Site Citation Gurharpal Singh; Understanding the "Punjab Problem". Far Eastern Survey 1 December 1958; 27 (12): 1268–1277. doi: https://doi.org/10.2307/2644634 Download citation file: Ris (Zotero) Reference Manager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search Dropdown Menu nav search search input Search input auto suggest search filter All ContentAsian Survey Search This content is only available via PDF. Copyright 1987 The Regents of the University of California Article PDF first page preview Close Modal You do not currently have access to this content.
In this chapter, we examine how, less than forty years after accession to the Indian Union, the Sikhs' uneasy accommodation erupted into armed conflict. The chapter begins by reviewing the post-independence constitutional framework by focusing on religion and the rights of religious minorities. It then assesses how Nehru and his daughter, Mrs Indira Gandhi, managed ethnic tensions in the Punjab. We examine how opposition to the Centre's policies was sustained by the SAD by the campaign for a Punjabi Suba (a Punjabi-speaking state), that was conceded in 1966 without the state capital of Chandigarh and some Punjabi-speaking areas. The chapter then evaluates the Centre's policies in the Punjab and the SAD's response in adopting the Anandpur Sahib Resolution (ASR), which called for autonomy and sovereignty with radically reduced powers of the Centre. It concludes by reflecting on the autonomy movement in 1982–4 that ultimately led to Operation Blue Star.
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Pp. vi + 144. £11.95 (paperback). ISBN 0–85989–385–5. The Portuguese Empire in Asia, 1500–1700: A Political and Economic History by Sanjay Subrahmanyam. London and New York: Longman, 1992. Pp. xiii + 320, maps, tables. £14.99 (paperback). ISBN 0–582–05068–5. Portuguese Trade in Asia under the Habsburgs, 1580–1640 by James C. Boyajian. Baltimore and London: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1993. Pp. xvii + 356, maps, tables. £40.50 (hardback). ISBN 0–8018–4405–3. A World on the Move: The Portuguese in Africa, Asia, and America, 1415–1808 by A.J.R. Russell‐Wood. Manchester: Carcanet, 1992. Pp. xiv + 230, maps, tables, illustrations. £30.00 (hardback). ISBN 0–85635–994–7. The Spanish Frontier in North America by David J. Weber. New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1992. Pp. xx + 579, maps and illustrations. $40.00; £20. ISBN 0–300–05198–0. The Intellectual Construction of America: Exceptionalism and Identity from 1492 to 1800 by Jack P. Greene. Chapel Hill and London: University of North Carolina Press, 1993. Pp.xiv + 216, illustrations. $32.95. ISBN 0–8078–2097–0. Sojourners in the Sun: Scottish Migrants in Jamaica and the Chesapeake, 1740–1800 by Alan L. Karras. Ithaca and London: Cornell University Press, 1992. Pp. xv + 231. $37.95. ISBN 0–8014–2691‐X. Islanders in the Stream: A History of the Bahamian People, Volume 1, From Aboriginal Times to the End of Slavery by Michael Craton and Gail Saunders. Athens and London: University of Georgia Press, 1992. Pp. xxiii + 455, maps, illustrations. $60.00. ISBN 0–8203–1382–3. Making the Empire Work: London and American Interest Groups 1690 to 1790 by Alison Gilbert Olson. Cambridge, Massachusetts and London: Harvard University Press, 1992. Pp. xiv + 261. £31.95. ISBN 0–674–54318–1. The Apotheosis of Captain Cook: European Mythmaking in the Pacific by Gananath Obeyesekere. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1992. Pp. xvii + 251. ISBN 0–691–05680–3. 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* Introduction * 1. The Sikhs of Punjab * 2. Punjabi Society and Sikh Migration * 3. Settlement, Demography and Social Profile * 4. Gurdwaras and Community-building * 5. Homeland Politics: Class, Identity and Party * 6. British Multiculturalism and Sikhs * 7. Employment and Education * 8. Family, Gender and Sexuality * 9. Punjabi, Bhangra and Youth Identities * Conclusion
From 1984 until 1993, the Indian state of Punjab witnessed a sustained insurgency by Sikh militants campaigning for a separate sovereign state. This insurgency was ultimately defeated by the overwhelming use of security force that officially resulted in the deaths of 30,000 people. By the mid-1990s, a 'normalcy' had returned to Punjab politics, but the underlying issues which had fuelled the demand for separatism remain unaddressed. This paper examines critically the argument that India's ethno-linguistic federation is exceptional in accommodating ethno-nationalist movements. By drawing on the Punjab case study, it argues that special considerations apply to the governance of peripheral regions (security, religion). Regional elites in these states struggle to build legitimacy because such legitimacy poses a threat to India's nation and state-building. In short, India's ethno-linguistic federation is only partially successful in managing ethno-linguistic demands in the peripheral Indian states.
British Sikhs are often portrayed as the pioneers of British multiculturalism, a public policy that has come under serious introspection since 9/11 and 7/7. This article argues that although the development of the British Sikh community since the Second World War has contributed significantly to the shaping of national and local policies to manage religious and cultural diversity, this achievement has been realised within a traditional British statecraft that promotes opt-outs from general rule-making, localisation and asymmetrical pluralism. The dispute over the recent play Behzti highlights the tensions between this mode of diversity management and the need to address the claims of deep multiculturalists who call for the further cultural democratisation of public spaces.