Posted on 09/05/2004 3:59:20 AM PDT by CarrotAndStick
AMRITSAR, India, Sept 5 (Reuters) - Two decades ago, India's Sikhs were going through their worst crisis -- a separatist insurgency was raging, the army bombed their holiest shrine and two Sikh bodyguards assassinated the prime minister.
Thousands of Sikhs then died in reprisal riots which flared across northern India.
Just 20 years later, many in the small but highly visible and prosperous community believe this is their finest hour. For the first time, a Sikh, Manmohan Singh, has become prime minister, leading the world's second-most populous nation.
But even as they revel in Singh's achievement, the wounds of 1984, when the Indian army stormed the Golden Temple in the holy city of Amritsar to flush out separatist militants sheltering inside, refuse to heal completely.
"That was a great tragedy. It brought years of misery to us," said Gurdial Singh, 50, a Sikh businessman from Punjab.
"It may not show on our faces but the heart still hurts," he said at Sunday's end of celebrations to mark the 400th anniversary of the installation of the Sikh holy book, the Guru Granth Sahib, in Amritsar, 450 km (250 miles) north of New Delhi.
"Of course, it shows the greatness of the Indian system that a Sikh can become prime minister today. But that is all."
With their beards and distinctive turbans -- their religion prohibits men from cutting their hair -- Sikh men are easy to spot in India and all over the world.
Traditionally India's warrior class with a fearsome reputation on the battlefield, male Sikhs take the name Singh, which means "lion", when they are baptised into the faith. Men are supposed to carry a dagger or kirpan, as well as a comb.
The world's fifth largest religion and the youngest of the major faiths, Sikhism's darkest hour came with Operation Bluestar in 1984 when Indian troops stormed the Golden Temple.
Months later then prime minister Indira Gandhi, who had ordered the operation, was assassinated by her Sikh bodyguards in New Delhi. Thousands of Sikhs were killed in a wave of reprisals.
The assault on the temple complex also fuelled the Sikh insurgency for a separate homeland or Khalistan. The insurgency claimed more than 25,000 lives before burning out in the early 1990s after a relentless crackdown by security forces.
"Operation Bluestar is not something Sikhs can forget," said Dalmegh Singh, secretary of the Shiromani Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee, which manages the religious affairs of the community.
"It cannot be overcome by Manmohan Singh becoming prime minister. The two cannot be connected," he told Reuters in his office in the Golden Temple complex.
LOSING STEAM
The prime minister, who took part in the jubilee of the holy book, announced a package to meet demands of local political groups, including the creation of an 11-billion-rupee ($235 million) special economic zone in Amritsar.
But analysts said the steps were symbolic and would provide only superficial relief.
Agriculturally prosperous Punjab, home to many of the world's 25 million Sikhs and India's granary, was ranked India's most prosperous state by India Today magazine last month in an annual survey based on social and economic parameters.
That position, however, was due to the headstart the state gained during the 1970s and 1980s as India's fastest growing economy, the magazine said.
Analysts said the "lost decade" due to militancy, a corrupt bureaucracy, poor governance, bankrupt finances and a focus on development of the urban rich, were set to drag the state down in the coming years.
"Punjab No. 1 For How Long?" India Today asked, adding that the state's economy was losing steam, female foeticide was rampant and farmers' debts were rising.
One route to lift Sikh spirits could be to provide rural masses with basic requirements like irrigation, education and health care, help restore their prosperity and bring them on a par with the cities, said Harish Kumar Puri, an Amritsar-based author and retired political science professor.
"I am sure even Manmohan Singh knows this," Puri told Reuters. "But the challenge is to correct it when the state bureaucracy is so corrupt and inefficient."
"Otherwise, him becoming prime minister will only provide a psychological boost to the Sikh ego, a vicarious sense of honour," he said.
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