u/PunjabReads

Because this is bigger than CJP, Wangchuk, NEET now. This is general anger against an arrogant, shameless government.

This is for youngsters who are still on the streets, this is for youngsters who are there of their own volition, this is for people who are there in solidarity, for farmers who are marching today, for tribals who are shouting at a deaf government, for states which are demanding their federal rights.

This is for an autonomous resisting population.

Of course I haven't yet read them all, but I have tried to curate a list based on the wider topics of human rights, impunity and counterinsurgency.

I deliberately avoided the common books because I believe this wasn't a Congress/Indira/KPS problem which all of them make it out to be. A democracy built on a colonial blueprint will always collapse into autocracy right when its people need freedom the most. It is bound to fail its citizens. So it could be Indira, Rajiv, or Narendra, they will all fail us. The breakdown of democratic structures in the 90s was not an aberration, it is very well a norm.

There is a book and a few papers on counterinsurgency. This is because the state repeatedly peddles the theory of 'KPS was just a man who did what had to be done'. Counterinsurgency experts everywhere propose better, humane and much more effective methods to curb it. Mizo Hills is a paper that shows a successful example.

A few books explain the precursors to the 80s, the economics, the federal relationship and such. And Jaijee's book explains how the Punjab of today is still crippled because of that era.

I cannot tell more about each book here, so please ask in the comments and I'll let you know. Most of these are available on either Anna's Archive or Punjab Digital Library. The papers are mostly open to access.

When researchers in India are raped and assaulted, those like Khalra are abducted and killed, then all questions pertaining to if their data was legitimate or an overstatement are meaningless. The data was never allowed to be recorded in full.

First, they kill, and then they have the gall to ask 'Why didn't the dead person probe deeper? Why wasn't the dead person more diligent? Why didn't the dead person complete the research?'

It took Cynthia a year to recover from her assault, but she was back in Punjab with her boots on the ground. Unafraid of those who try to dictate what topics a researcher must probe. You can read her entire ordeal at this link.

https://www.vidhia.com/Historical%2C%20Political%2C%20Philosophical%20and%20Informational/India%27s\_Shame\_-\_Cynthia\_Mahmood.pdf

The second slide is the book she eventually wrote after she returned to India.

It seems like everyone is reading articles, buying books, reading cases, watching documentaries. I don't think I've seen this ever before!

Ik deepak di roshni nal saare deepak jagna shuru hogye ne edda lagg reha, we are challenging the darkness. If we weren't there to bring those victims out of the clutches of injustice, then at least, it seems we won't let that chapter of Punjab drown in the waters of oblivion.

How eerie it sounds now that I read it as I picture the movie.

1. The Indian Constitution and its promises may be real, but so are their bloody and brutal violations and their ceremonial character of the state’s implacability. We cannot help being confounded by these parallel realities of constitutional promise and political practice, their structural insuperability and the annihilation of intelligence by the violence of the paradox. Incantations of human rights lose context or meaning and we begin to understand why Theodor Adorno said that “to write poetry after Auschwitz is barbaric”.

2. The repetition of the name Singh, as all male Sikhs carry the same surname must make it appear that the same Singh is abducted, tortured, disappeared or killed thousands of times. In a way, that appearance belongs to the irrationality of individual histories that vanish into nothingness. Human rights atrocities that remain unaccounted for and outside institutional verification leave the serial order of time. The past becomes a continuous nightmare, without awakening and beyond atonement. The individual identities of the victims and the perpetrators of crimes lose relevance in the myths of collective guilt and suffering.

3. India is a constitutional state that is supposed to confine the powers of its agencies by law and by clear divisions of their legislative, executive and judicial functions. The Constitution and its agencies remained intact even as pervasive atrocities occurred in Punjab. No official agency formally approved of them; all silently acquiesced. The operations did not develop out of deliberations or policy decisions, but the legislators and members of Parliament knew what was happening in their constituencies. Judges and magistrates colluded with the torture and elimination of detainees by literally closing their eyes to the evidence and by uncritically accepting the official denials and lies. The media appeased the state by practicing self- censorship. Many journalists in the print, wire and electronic media supported the murderous operations of the security forces more directly. This was the climate of approval in which the atrocities occurred and unless we recognize and address these issues contributing to the state of impunity in Punjab, the struggle for truth, accountability and justice will continue to be thwarted.

We'll be reading these poems:

1. ਮਾਏ ਨੀ ਮਾਏ https://www.punjabi-kavita.com/MayeNiMayeShivKumarBatalvi.php#gsc.tab=0

2. ਆਰਤੀ

https://punjabi-kavita.com/AartiShivKumarBatalvi.php#gsc.tab=0

3. ਯਾਰ ਦੀ ਮੜ੍ਹੀ ਤੇ https://www.punjabi-kavita.com/YaarDiMarhiTeShivKumarBatalvi.php#gsc.tab=0

4. ਬਿਰਹਾ https://www.punjabi-kavita.com/BirhaShivKumarBatalvi.php#gsc.tab=0

5. ਕੀ ਪੁੱਛਦੇ ਓ ਹਾਲ ਫਕੀਰਾਂ ਦਾ https://www.punjabi-kavita.com/KiPuchhdioHaalFakiranDaShivKumarBatalvi.php#gsc.tab=0

My personal recommendation for Batalvi recitations is this YouTube channel (the loona recitation is amazing) https://youtube.com/@official.manpreetrandhawa?si=7CEuyiE68FVbLT38

Drop your suggestions (shortest possible books please)

The painting is Jove decadent by Ramon Casas.

In Punjab the reading habits are so free, book fairs and shops regularly have venerating books about militants, armed radicals, and it's considered almost a rite of passage for a punjabi to be anti-state.

This is stemming from my last post about Umar Khalid, he's such a mellow activist, gentle man in his approach and politics. Diligent researcher. And people flipping out over him is so comical. Hilarious, even.

So, Punjabis, which books in your list would make the average bjp voter foam at the mouth?

Here's the full article - https://www.thehindu.com/books/umar-khalids-prison-reading-list/article71141134.ece