Outlaws campaign for parties in Majitha

By Sarabjit Pandher

CHAWINDA DEVI (Majitha), FEB. 16. The people of Chawinda Devi village in the heart of the Majitha Assembly constituency, which is right now the centre of hectic election-related politicking, literally shudder at the slightest reference to the ``dark period'' of terrorism.

The horror-striken relatives seem to be at a loss to explain their plight as they watch helplessly at the killers stalking the streets of their villages once again - campaigning openly with the top leaders of different parties.

So when the Chief Minister, Mr. Parkash Singh Badal, while campaigning for his party candidate, began crying hoarse to accuse the Congress of being responsible for ``Operation Bluestar'' and the November 1984 anti-Sikh carnage, perhaps to strike an emotive chord among the Sikhs, he opened numerous wounds elsewhere.

Refusing to accept it as an act of cynical opportunism, a senior functionary in the Akali Dal admitted that those involved in acts of terrorism, were actively campaigning in Majitha. While welcoming the return of these former outlaws into the political mainstream, he says such elements were associated with both the parties.

A former Congress Minister says his party had already paid a price by facing electoral debacle in the last polls. ``By invoking such bitter memories what are the Akalis aiming at?,'' he asks.

This village prides over its historic Hindu shrine, which has been attracting devotees from far and wide. But on June 4, 1984, five members from Hindu families were killed by a mob, which retaliated to the Army storming the Golden Temple.

On January 1, 1989, another three persons were killed when a powerful device went off near the entrance of the Chawinda Devi temple here. There are other smaller incidents of violence, which has left a scar on people belonging to different communities.

Meena Rani, who saw her brother-in-law, Lakhwinder Pal and another relative, Girdari Lal, being hacked by a frenzied mob, is highly critical of the decision of the ruling party to have requisitioned the widows of the November 84' riots, to canvass against the Congress.

``The politicians' policy to open old wounds just to get a few extra votes is an extreme act of human debasement, which stands exposed now,'' she says, refusing to participate in election rally to mourn the grief of her family.

Meena's husband, Chaman Lal, a tailor, is a broken as well as bitter man. He says his family feels more hurt when they watched the killers of his brother moving freely with the top leaders. He says that among those involved in electioneering, along with the former SGPC chief, Bibi Jagir Kaur, were also those who killed his brother.

Some locals pointed out that an individual Akaljit Singh alias Okun Singh, from this village, who was incarcerated in Tihar jail for terrorism-related charges, has been active again - this time under the command of Bibi Jagir Kaur, who has been going door to door, seeking votes for the party's candidate.

``While justice was denied to us by the Congress and the present Government, the political leaders are now making a mockery of our anguish by encouraging such criminal elements,'' he says, expressing concern at the misuse of the widows of the anti-Sikh riots, as he seeks proper rehabilitation to all those who were effected by violence perpetrated either by the terrorists or the police.

The octogenarian Kartar Chand, who runs a hardware shop and the 70-year-old Khiraiti Lal, a hereditary priest of the shrine, are mental wrecks as both had lost their young sons, Inder Pal and Nirmal Das, respectively in the January 1, 1989 bomb blast near the shrine. Inder Pal's widow and Kharaiti Lal's other son were employed by the State Government, but in both cases the direct beneficiaries were separated from the family, leaving parents of the deceased to fend for themselves.

Resigned to the tyranny of fate and having lost all hope for justice, the parents are intrigued at the Chief Minister's silence over the agony of the victims of terrorism. ``Violence forced many Hindus and Khatris to migrate from here. Terrorists and politicians of the extreme line had launched a struggle to even change the name of this historic place. Why does Badal not recall such things, which directly affected us here?'' asks Kharaiti Lal.

While Mr. Badal's shouting brigade and the widows of the November 1984 anti-Sikh riots, have been thirsting for the blood of the Congress, using every possible rhetoric to warn the people against voting for the party, the victims here seek no revenge. They argue that the Sikhs in Delhi as well as other parts of India and the victims from all communities in Punjab, suffered losses in life and property, due to the policies of the politicians, who are again raking emotive issues just for political mileage.

Travelling westward on the dusty broken roads is Sohiyan village, from where members of all the nearly 50 Hindu families migrated following threats from the terrorists. None returned. These days, people in this village as well as others have been receiving phone calls from terrorists, who are based in foreign countries for votes. ``Sohan Singh Bhakhna, the chief of an active terrorist group, the Kamagata Maru Dal, called me from abroad to command me to vote for the ruling party,'' says Jasbir Singh, the sarpanch and a Congress sympathiser.

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