Current Events
Further Cracks Appear in the Very Foundation of India:
Now, Haryana Wants Sikh Farmers to go Back to Punjab
MANJEET SEHGAL
After Gujarat, Sikh farmers in Haryana are now facing the threat of eviction threat.
The Congress party, which raised a hue and cry against the Narendra Modi government's decision to evict Sikh farmers from Kutch, is now on the back foot after a similar issue concerning Haryana Sikh farmers has reached the Prime Minister's Office.
Former chairman of National Commission for Minorities Tarlochan Singh in a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has requested the latter to save hundreds of farmers in Kaithal and Kurukshetra districts from displacement.
"I have requested the Prime Minister to save 3,500 Sikh farmer families, settled in Kaithal and Kurukshetra districts for the last 55 years, who are facing displacement threat following a court order.
"These Sikh farmers were settled by the then government of India in areas [in Indian Punjab shortly after the Partition of Punjab] which later formed a part of Haryana state. The state government has asked them to vacate the land," Tarlochan Singh told Mail Today.
The land owned by the Sikh farmers in Kaithal and Kurukshetra districts is around 15,000 acres.
More than 3,500 families were given barren land on lease for a period of 20 years in 1952.
The lease was never renewed thereafter.
The farmers were issued eviction notices in 1973, which was challenged by the affected farmers in a local court from where the case reached the Supreme Court.
The farmers lost the case in the Supreme Court but the court said the state government can extend the land lease.
"The court had said the state government can give the land to the farmers but rather than extending a helping hand, the authorities are trying to snatch the land from us. They have asked 100 families to vacate their houses," said Beant Singh, one of the affected farmers.
These 100 families belong to Karah Sahib village.
They lost their land in 2012 and now they have been asked to leave their homes.
"We are not growing any crop for the last 18 months. Now they have asked us to vacate our houses citing the court order. Sikhs are being treated as second-class citizens here. The power supply to the village has been cut off to compel us to leave the place," said Lakhwinder Kaur, a farmer.
This is the second time the Prime Minister has been asked to intervene in the case.
"During 2009, when Manmohan Singh visited Pehova, the affected farmers had requested him to intervene in the matter and safeguard their interests. He had directed Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda to take steps to protect the rights of the farmers. But the Haryana government just slept over the issue," Tarlochan said.
Haryana revenue minister Mahender Pratap Singh was not available for comment.
State Congress Committee president Phool Chand Mulana expressed ignorance about the case of Haryana Sikh farmers. "I have no knowledge about the case. I am currently out of Haryana," he said.
[Courtesy: Daily Mail. Edited for sikhchic.com]
August 11, 2013
Conversation about this article
1: Gur Singh (Chicago, Illinois, USA), August 11, 2013, 12:18 PM.
Systematic displacement is "Genocide". Did the Haryana government not extend the lease of Hindu farmers who came from Pakistan? Did it not convert the initial lease of Hindu farmers into "ownership"? Someone needs to show light to these farmers to make a new appeal in the court of law in a way that they can at least shame every proud Indian.
2: G C Singh (USA), August 11, 2013, 1:02 PM.
There is only one solution to the plight of the Sikhs and the endless discrimination that they face because of the treachery and betrayal by the Hindu leadership and their mercenary collaborators - political, economic and massive military power in our own hands as a third major force on the Indian subcontinent.
3: Devinder Pal Singh (Delhi, India), August 12, 2013, 7:33 AM.
The coming elections are making ruling state governments to act with only a single minded agenda. It's apparent that minorities have no say in this country. It's shameful, the first uprooting for many was Punjab's and the land's partition and now it is another partition albeit evoked by deceitful interests to dislodge those that bore the brunt of tyranny time and again. Haryana did not even exist till the seventies. Hence what is the ruling being cited by a state which was carved out of a larger state. It's unfortunate; on the other hand if this continues it is quite clear that the political institution is encouraging distrust to develop and align the citizenry on the bases of region and religion. If this continues, we may soon find unbridgeable divides in the Indian social fabric which would sow and grow associated problems. Saner sense must prevail.
4: Baldev Singh (Bradford, United Kingdom), August 12, 2013, 9:17 PM.
I think it's time for the local Sikhs to stand up for themselves.