so-called Hindu-Sikh divide. He attributed the discontent in Punjab, not to any religious differences, but solely to the Government’s neglect of agriculture over the years. He once wrote, ‘Till November 1982, nowhere in Punjab was there any polarization of Hindus and Sikhs. I can say that with certainty based on my personal experience. There was absolutely no communal divide. Most Hindus lived in cities while farmers who were mostly Sikhs lived in villages. Hindus naturally were more urbanized while Sikhs had somewhat rustic appearance. The relationship between Sikhs and Hindus in Punjab was similar to the relationship between Jat and Lala in Haryana or Marathas and Brahmins in Maharashtra. In fact throughout the country the relationship between rural farmers and city-dwellers has largely been like this. Their relationship at economic level has been adversarial. Government’s policy of deliberately keeping the prices for farm produce low and using the surplus value of that farm produce for the development of industries had been responsible for this and that explains the so-called divide between Sikhs and Hindus. The discontent in Punjab is just the total reflection of India-Bharat divide.’ Joshi received a lot of love and respect from Punjab farmers. It is hard to think of any other person from Maharashtra in recent history who had earned that kind of place in the hearts of Punjabi farmers. When this writer met Bhupinder Singh Mann at his residence in Batala he noted that on the wall next to the dining table there were only two photographs; one was of holy Golden Temple of Amritsar and the other was of Sharad Joshi. Q
Joshi in Punjab
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