Articles by Gopal Singh

Gopal Singh This paper seeks to probe the objective material forces which have led to the current crisis in Punjab. The author argues that it is the rural Jat Sikh landlords, particularly from the Malwa region, who control the Akali Dal and the SGPC. The agitation led by the Akali Dal reflects a number of underlying tensions: .the Jat Sikhs' feeling of receiving inadequate returns for their farm output; the Akali leadership's frustration at being out of power; the fear of both the Sikh fundamentalists and the Akali leadership of the Sikhs being pushed into a minority position within Punjab by immigration of Hindu migrant labourers and emigration of Sikhs to foreign countries; the conflict of interests between the Jat Sikh landlords On the one hand and the Sikh agricultural labourers, the scheduled and lower castes on the other; and the conflict of interest between the Bhapa Sikhs and Hindus in the urban areas as well as between the Hindu traders and the Jat Sikh peasants.