COMMENTARY

Gun Culture in Punjab

Sucha Singh Gill

A burgeoning gun culture in

Punjab, aided by changes in the
police administration that have
made officers subordinate to
full-time politicians, has led to
meaningless violence breaking
out every now and then. In the
absence of mass mobilisation and
welfare-oriented politics, this
has furthered the growth of a
politician-criminal nexus.

Sucha Singh Gill (dgcrrid@yahoo.in) is

Director General, Centre for Research in Rural
and Industrial Development, Chandigarh.

16

series of violent incidents involving supporters and activists of

the ruling Shiromani Akali Dal
(SAD) in Punjab have made headlines in
the national media. Police officers, revenue staff, tax officials, hoteliers, teenage
girls, political opponents, and the common people have been victims in these
incidents. In two prominent episodes in
2012, the victims were young girls. In the
first case, a 15-year-old girl was abducted
during the day from her house in Faridkot
town. Her parents were injured and the
neighbours were kept at bay by firing
guns in the air. In the second case, the
daughter of an assistant sub-inspector
(ASI) of police was harassed by an armed
group of youth in a car in Amritsar. When
the ASI, who was in uniform, tried to stop
the delinquents, he was injured. With
their ammunition running out, they went
to the house of a member of the group to
fetch a gun and shot the ASI dead in full
February 23, 2013

view of his young daughter and a crowd.

In another incident, an assistant inspector general (AIG) police was assaulted in
Ludhiana, fracturing his leg. Earlier, a
tehsildar was assaulted in his office in
Ludhiana in the presence of a crowd,
and a hotelier was killed in Jalandhar.
The media alleged that supporters and
functionaries of the SAD were involved
in all these cases. They attracted wide
publicity and the persons involved were
arrested and cases registered against
them. But there are a large number of
cases that go unreported in the media.
In many of them, the victims are ordinary
people living in rural areas and small
towns. The Congress has been complaining that a large number of its members
and supporters have been framed by the
police. The Peoples Party of Punjab led
by former SAD finance minister Manpreet
Singh Badal has also made similar charges.
The frightened people are fast losing
trust in the police, which tends to act in
a partisan manner when charges are
made against ruling party members,
supporters, or sympathisers. The ruling
SAD-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) alliance
has been in denial, stating that those
vol xlviiI no 8

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Economic & Political Weekly

COMMENTARY

The violence of the ruling elite cannot

be explained without looking back to
the terrorist bloodshed in the state during 1982-92. During this decade, political leaders and activists who ran the risk
of being attacked were provided gunmen by the state. The terrorists killed
several leaders who opposed them, while
many of them were killed in encounters,
often staged. Senior leaders were provided a large number of gunmen and
security personnel who escorted them
while travelling.
This continues today though the terrorist violence ended two decades ago.
Political leaders travelling by road now
have police escorts who clear the way by
using sirens, lathis, and guns, while
driving very fast. Such rash driving
frequently results in accidents. Vehicles
with flashing lights have become a status
symbol in the state. Political leaders,
police officers, and bureaucrats have such

lights on their cars, which also exempts

them from paying tolls. Many jump red
lights at crossings, as though showing
the youth that it is not worth observing
traffic rules. The culture of armed
guards and rash driving is a legacy of the
terrorist phase in Punjab. In addition,
this phase weakened mass mobilisation
and protest movements in the state.
Trade unions and labour movements are
now at a low ebb, while the farmers
movement, once very powerful, is fragmented and weak. Political parties occasionally hold rallies to demonstrate their
strength but have been unable to launch
any mass movement. The dominant
ones use money and muscle power to
garner electoral support.
The way in which electoral support is
mobilised and the manner in which the
political leadership has projected its
power have promoted a gun culture in
the state. Popular folk songs today portray Jat or Punjabi youths dancing with
guns and enjoying alcohol, and they are
played in buses plying in the state. The
leaders of political parties and members
of the State Legislative Assembly and
Parliament (MLAs and MPs) get security
guards at the cost of the state exchequer.
Of course, lower-level leaders and cadres
are not that privileged. Besides police
security guards, the leaders have licenced
weapons of their own.
The lower level leaders and cadres
imitate their leaders in terms of dress and
eating habits, and in acquiring weapons
too. A press report (Tribune, 28 December 2012) had the startling figure of
3,25,000 licences for guns in the state.
The most are in Gurdaspur district, followed by Bathinda, Ludhiana, Jalandhar,
Patiala, and Amritsar in descending order.
Sometimes, one licensee is allowed more
than two weapons. The main accused in
the ASI murder case in Amritsar had three
weapons on one licence, which means
that the number of privately-owned
weapons in the state is in excess of
3,25,000. This is in addition to the weapons possessed by the security forces and
the illegal guns possessed by criminals.
Having a weapon has become a fashion
statement and a matter of prestige for
influential people, creating a gun culture
in the state.

Economic & Political Weekly

vol xlviiI no 8

involved in crimes have been expelled

from the SAD or are not related to the
party. They have even been labelled as
drug peddlers. But the sequence of the
events before and after ugly incidents
makes these claims ring hollow.
The people of the state have had to put
up with the overbearing behaviour of
ruling politicians during elections to
urban local bodies and panchayati raj
institutions. It is alleged that several
members of the Opposition were not
allowed to file nomination papers and
some of those who did were made to
withdraw. Those who insisted on contesting were not allowed to put up their
booths near polling stations and their
supporters were prevented from voting.
All this did little for grass-roots democracy, and decentralised governance
and development in the state. In these
circumstances, mass mobilisation for
democratic protests becomes very difficult, if not impossible. The trend of undermining freedom runs deep. Running
an independent business in the real estate, television, transport, or hotel and
restaurant segments is well-nigh impossible unless one supports the ruling alliance or a ruling party member/supporter
has a share in the business.
Emergence of Gun Culture

EPW

February 23, 2013

Guns are now displayed in public, especially at marriage ceremonies and on

other festive occasions. One hears gunshots being fired at marriage celebrations. Guns have a great role to play in
intimidating opponents at election time.
They help whichever is the ruling party
win contests in strategic locations. Guns
and those who can fire them in the air or
at a target when the situation demands
it are critical in constituencies with
tight contests. An incident indicating
the growing importance of such persons
was narrated by a high-level official
on condition of anonymity. A cabinet
minister went to have a cup of tea in the
Patiala home of a person facing several
criminal charges, making a deputy superintendent of police wait outside. The
embarrassed officer was not only miserable, but also wondered aloud how law
and order could be maintained in such
a situation. This is what has happened
in the state.
Partisan Police
There has been a radical change in the
police administration in the state. Earlier, the police administration in a district
was run by the senior superintendent of
police (SSP) with the help of several subordinate officers and constables. It was
the SSPs prerogative to appoint those in
charge of police stations, or station house
officers (SHOs), and other personnel. A
couple of years ago, police stations were
placed under halqa (constituency) incharges, who are ruling party MLAs or
defeated candidates in the assembly
election (if the MLA is from an Opposition party). SHOs now work under the
overall guidance of those who are constituency in-charges. They are not chosen
by the SSP, but by the constituency
in-charge, an active politician. The primary
interest of a constituency in-charge is
promoting his or her partys interests in
the constituency. This leads to the use or
abuse of police force, and its effects can
be seen in the implementation of welfare
schemes and centrally-sponsored programmes. Party supporters are favoured
even when they are found to be not eligible, and the deserving are denied benefits when they do not back the party
in power.
17

COMMENTARY

Making SHOs subordinate to constituency in-charges has played a huge role

in promoting the gun culture and the
issue of gun licences to party cadres on a
massive scale. Those involved in killing
the ASI in Amritsar and the Chadha
brothers in Delhi had been issued arms
licences in Punjab. In both cases, they
possessed multiple weapons. The existence of such a large number of licenced
weapons tempts people to use them in
feuds over petty issues. SHOs play a crucial role in the weapons licensing procedure because they give the final clearance certificate that district magistrates
use as the basis for granting arms licences.
Of course, an SHOs report is routed
through the SSP, who has no other channel to verify how deserving an applicant
is. And SHOs now act under the guidance
of constituency in-charges who seek to
promote themselves by getting licence
clearance certificates for their supporters. Long-term law and order is thus being sacrificed on the altar of immediate
popularity and support. According to
the news report, of the 3,25,000 licences, 50% are for double-barrelled guns,
30% for pistols and revolvers, and 20%
for rifles. This has created a nexus between petty criminals and politicians,
not to mention the one between the
police and politicians.
The police administration in the state
has meekly surrendered to a partisan
way of managing it. This is because some
important police officers face court cases
for allegedly misusing their authority.
Some officers got quick promotions during the phase of terrorism without undergoing the necessary training, passing
promotion examinations, or meeting other
requirements. To maintain their positions, which are considered lucrative,
these officers have learnt to accommodate politicians. They do so to such an
extent that they do not protest even
when they are superseded by their
juniors. The conduct of these officers is
so well known that they are easily identified as being with the SAD or the
Congress. This has diminished professionalism among them and seriously impaired their ability to function objectively.
There is neither an internal process
within the police administration nor the
18

political will among dominant politicians

to rectify this.
Politics as Business
With politics emerging as a very profitable occupation, winning elections is of
paramount importance. Since there is
no mass mobilisation, weapon-wielding
supporters and allies become very handy
for emerging victorious. The electoral
process promotes the politician-petty
criminal nexus. This has become important in the absence of welfare-oriented
politics. The poor financial health of
governments in the last two decades has
pushed the welfare role of politics as
well as mass mobilisation to the background, increasing the part of money
and muscle power in politics. The current phase of violence against women,
lower-level state officials, and common
people is a manifestation of the politicianmusclemen nexus. This has decreased
the role of dissent in politics and within
political parties. Outside criticism is not
acceptable to political leaders, who can
pay for favourable news reports. Those
who cannot be bought are threatened by
using the police or thugs. This shows the
diminished role of dissent and different
viewpoints, so essential for a working
democracy, in the state today.
The gun culture and violence is bound
to be inimical to decentralised governance and development in the state. It
has already affected the performance of
the government machinery, especially
tax collection. Tax collection is considerably lower than its potential level, which
has eroded the capacity of the government
to undertake development and welfare
activities. It is in the larger interest of the
state and society to eliminate the culture
of violence that prevails among its elite.
The violence cannot be contained by
patchwork solutions or cosmetic measures
like transferring low-performing officers.
It is the underlying structure responsible
for this that has to be dismantled. Even
the recent government announcement
that women and children will not be
summoned to police stations cannot be
effectively implemented without bringing down this structure.
To control violence, the proliferation
of guns has to be checked, while the
February 23, 2013

police and administration are depoliticised. As a first step, the licences issued
for guns in the state during the last one
decade have to be reviewed. A screening
process has to be carried out at the district level by a committee of experts. The
licences of those who do not face any
threat need to be cancelled and their
guns deposited with the police. This will
not succeed if the extra-constitutional
practice of appointing constituency incharges, who have a lot of power but
no responsibility, is not stopped. The
authority of district police officers must
be restored, and they will be able to
exercise it if their records are clean. It is,
therefore, necessary to ensure that all
officers who face court cases should not
be given such responsibilities. This requires that ruling politicians rise above
petty politics and act as statesmen. Such
a change is necessary to safeguard the
long-term interests of Punjabs society
and economy.

Survey
September 8, 2012

Revisiting Communalism and

Fundamentalism in India
by

Surya Prakash Upadhyay, Rowena Robinson

This comprehensive review of the literature on
communalism and its virulent offshoot,
fundamentalism in India considers the various
perspectives from which the issue has sought
to be understood, from precolonial and colonial
times to the post-Independence period. The
writings indicate that communalism is an outcome
of the competitive aspirations of domination
and counter-domination that began in colonial
times. Cynical distortions of the democratic
process and the politicisation of religion in the
early decades of Independence intensified it. In
recent years, economic liberalisation, the growth
of opportunities and a multiplying middle class
have further aggravated it. More alarmingly,
since the 1980s, Hindu communalism has
morphed into fundamentalism, with the Sangh
parivar and its cultural politics of Hindutva
playing ominous roles.
For copies write to:
Circulation Manager,
Economic and Political Weekly,
320-321, A to Z Industrial Estate,
Ganpatrao Kadam Marg, Lower Parel,
Mumbai 400 013.
email: circulation@epw.in
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