"The Captain era has come to an end in Punjab and today the new CM Charanjit Singh Channi has taken oath as the Chief Minister. Explaining why Punjab is important for this country, retired Major General Manoj Oak, who is a defense expert, is currently the Chair Professor of Savitri Bai Phule University, Pune
The geographic location of Punjab is what gives it added importance. Lying just below the Jammu region, it guards the 600 km plains sector of our International Border with Pakistan. Amritsar is the heart and soul of this state of the brave, good hearted and rustic Punjabis who are ever ready for a bit of adventure and enterprise. But alarmingly, of late, Punjab is hurtling down the dark abyss of drugs and substance abuse. Being located on the Pakistan Border, the drug smuggling rackets thrive here and the young valarous Punjabi known for his love for farming and soldiering is battling the demons of drug addiction.
The
country and the state of Punjab are presently engaged in fighting a war on
drugs in Punjab. ‘Drugs' and ' drones' are one of the many nefarious means being aggressively used
by our inimical western adversary to destabilise this golden land. India draws
tremendous strength from the
state of Punjab. Major rivers like Ravi, Satluj and Beas,
their tributaries and effective canal network give Punjab an inherent strength
to tide over any agrarian and weather related crisis. This bounty of nature and
irrigation planning is complemented
by the enterprising nature of the Punjabis which has brought prosperity and
glory to this land.
A strong
Punjab is the western anvil of our nation and this is precisely what our
western neighbour is trying to break by proxy. The earlier efforts by foreign based fundamedametalist outfits to
destabilise Punjab was
by exploiting the religious sentiments and fuelling a mistaken belief that a
separate state of Khalistan could be carved out.
It needed an excruciating decade from 1980 to 1990 to
wean the youth away from such a radical
misadventure. Although the State is still nursing the psychological
wounds caused to remove the cancerous growth of religious fundamentalism,
Pakistan is trying hard to prop up misguided elements and reignite the dying
embers of separatist thoughts.
Pakistan
gives a very high priority to destabilise
Indian Punjab. This is because Punjab provides inherent strength to India as a
strong border state that boasts of loyal populace, strong economy and abundant
water. It is therefore a leadership challenge at national level to keep Punjab away from drugs and terrorism.
The
heroism of the Sikhs is folklore. The
leadership qualities of Guru Govind Singh, Maharana Ranjit Singh, Guru Teg
Bahadur and scores of such great Sikh warriors are legendary , emulatory and
rare. Punjab ranks amongst the highest in the gallantry awards won by military personnel
hailing from this state..It has an Army Regiment named after it i.e. the
Punjab Regiment along with the Sikh Regiment and the Sikh Light Infantry
Regiment. This, along with its all-round track record makes Punjab a frontline
state of India.
So why is Punjab a
leadership challenge at the national level ?
Well, it is so because it has a 600 km border with Pakistan, the proxy war
launched by Pakistan and the widespread drug menace.. This
juxtaposed with the gullible
Punjabi youth with high adrenaline , more propensity to take risk and
the human lure for easy money has been assiduously cultivated by Pakistan resulting in a huge security challenge for Punjab and India. This
challenge, unless combated by positive cultural and disciplinarian
forces,
is sure to have
catastrophic results for the stability of Punjab.
It
therefore becomes mandatory for our central and state leadership to lead the
way by persuasive, educational and reformative measures to keep the youth in good spiritual, mental and emotional
health. Petty politics has to make way for unselfish
measures to strengthen the state's
fabric and the nation’s security.
