Ethnic Conflict in India: A Case-Study of Punjab

242 Pages·2000·1.133 MB·English

by  Gurharpal Singh (auth.)

Ethnic Conflict in India
Also by Gurharpal Singh
REGION AND PARTITION: Bengal, Punjab and the Partition of
the Subcontinent (editor with Ian Talbot)
PUNJABI IDENTITY: Continuity and Change (editor with Ian Talbot)
COMMUNISM IN PUNJAB: A Study of the Movement up to 1967
Ethnic Conflict in India
A Case-Study of Punjab
Gurharpal Singh
University of Hull
First published in Great Britain 2000 by
MACMILLAN PRESS LTD
Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS and London
Companies and representatives throughout the world
Acatalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN 978-1-349-40492-6 ISBN 978-0-333-98177-1 (eBook)
DOI 10.1057/9780333981771
First published in the United States of America 2000 by
ST. MARTIN’S PRESS, INC.,
Scholarly and Reference Division,
175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Singh, Gurharpal.
Ethnic conflict in India : a case-study of Punjab / Gurharpal Singh.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. Communalism—India—Punjab—Case studies. 2. India—Ethnic relations—Case
studies. 3. Nationalism—India—Punjab—Case studies. 4. Punjab (India)—Politics and
government—Case studies. I. Title.
DS430 .S543 1999
305.8'00954'552 21—dc21
99–042137
©Gurharpal Singh 2000
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To Raghu, Sukhmani and Harman
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Contents
List of Tables, Maps and Figures ix
Preface x
Acknowledgements xii
Abbreviations xiv
Glossary xv
Part 1 Ethnicity, Ethnic Conflict and Indian Politics
Introduction 3
1 Perspectives on Ethnic Conflict in Indian Politics 5
2 What is Happening to the Political Science of Ethnic
Conflict? 21
3 Reassessing ‘Conventional Wisdom’: Ethnicity, Ethnic
Conflict, and India as an Ethnic Democracy 35
4 The Partition of India as State Contraction:Some
Unspoken Assumptions 56
Part 2 Punjab and the Sikhs
Introduction 73
5 Sikh Ethnicity and Punjab 75
6 Hegemonic Control: Punjab Politics, 1947–84 100
7 Understanding the ‘Punjab Problem’ 113
Part 3 Militancy and Counterinsurgency: Restructuring
Sikh Politics 125
Introduction 127
8 The ‘Punjab Problem’: a Post-1984 Assessment 129
9 The Punjab Legislative Assembly Elections, 1992:
Breakthrough or Breakdown? 149
10 Punjab since 1984: Disorder, Order and Legitimacy 162
vii
viii Contents
Part 4 Hindutva, Akalis and the BJP: The ‘Punjab
Problem’ in a Comparative Perspective
Introduction 179
11 India’s Akali–BJP Alliance: the 1997 Punjab Legislative
Assembly Elections 181
12 Resizing and Reshaping the Indian State: the ‘Punjab
Problem’ in a Comparative Perspective 194
Select Bibliography 223
Index 226
List of Tables, Maps and Figures
Tables
5.1 Punjab’s Area and Population, 1941–91 88
5.2 Selected Indicators of Economic and Social Change in
Punjab, 1971–89 94
6.1 Akali Dal, Sikh Demands and Outcomes, 1947–84 103
8.1 Main Developments since 1984 131
8.2 Punjab Legislative Assembly Elections, 1985 131
8.3 Rajiv–Longowal Accord 133
8.4 Punjab Lok Sabha Elections, 1989 137
9.1 Punjab Legislative Assembly and Lok Sabha Elections,
1992 156
10.1 Death Toll in Punjab, 1981–94 164
11.1 Punjab Legislative Assembly Elections, 1997 187
12.1 Performance of Regional Parties in State Assembly
Elections in the Peripheral Regions since 1983 206
Maps
5.1 Pre-independence Punjab Partitioned in 1947 84
5.2 Punjab after November 1966 92
9.1 Punjab Legislative Assembly Elections, 1992:
Turnout by Constituency 158
12.1 Self-Determination and Autonomist Movements in
the Indian Union 197
Figures
4.1 Territorial State-Building and State Contraction 59
5.1 Modern Sikh Identity 86
6.1 The Sikh Political System 102
9.1 Alignment of Militant Sikh Groups after 1986 151
ix