The sikhs were right in holding the grudges for issues like punjabi language and punjabi suba which should have been done earlier.
I am not exactly an admirer of Nehru, but it appears to me that Nehru was right, at least in principle, on the issue of Punjabi language and Suba.
From,
Amritsar: Mrs Gandhis Last Battle, by Mark Tully and Satish Jacob. (I am typing from a paper back, so expect a few typos)
In 1953 Pandit Nehru set up the States Reorganisation Commission in order to consider demands from many parts of India that state boundaries should be redrawn on a linguistic basis. Some linguistic groups received satisfaction, but not the Akalis. The commission rejected the Sikh claim for a Punjabi-speaking state, on the grounds that Punjabi was not sufficiently distinct from Hindi, and that furthermore the movement lacked the general support of the people inhabiting the area.
Punjabi Hindus claimed that the demand was communal. The three main languages of the undivided Punjab had been Urdu, Hindi and various forms of Punjabi. Of the three, Punjabi was by far the most widely spoken by all communities, including Hindus. But the Akalis argued that the states language be Punjabi written in the Gurmukhi script. This was the script devised by the second Guru for the Sikh scriptures. It was not widely taught or used outside Sikh religious institutions. Hindus were therefore able to maintain that the demand for the Gurmukhi script was a religious demand. Because of the Punjabi Suba Movement and the link between language and communalism, in the 1961 census many Punjabi speaking Hindus declared Hindi as their mother tongue. Bhindranwale used to refer to them scornfully as people prepared to deny their mothers. The Prime Minister, Nehru, remained resolutely opposed to the creation to a Punjabi Suba or state until the end of his life. He too was convinced that the Akalis demand was communal. He told Parliament: There is no doubt that I [Punjabi Suba] has grown up not as a linguistic issue but as communal issue. Whether the demand was communal or not, there is no doubt that the Akalis political ambition was to have a state they would always rule. But they had forgotten that by no means all Sikhs are Akalis, and that they could not hope to rule a Sikh majority state without the support of some Hindus. (pg 39 40)
The idea was to mark the state boundaries on the basis of language and not religion. Akalis demand to have a state on the basis of the most widely spoken language in that region Punjabi was no doubt a valid demand. But their demand, that the official script should be the one, which was exclusively devised to write Sikh scriptures, and which was not common outside the Sikh community, did have religious flavor in it. In that sense, I dont think Nehru can be blamed for interpreting the demands as communal.
In any case, that didnt prevent the creation of Punjab and constitutional recognition of
Gurmukhi.
Nehru remained adamantly opposed to the Punjabi Suba until his death in 1964 but in 1966 his daughter Indira Gandhi agreed to the formation of a Punjabi-speaking state. Fateh Singh helped her by stating unequivocally that his demand was for a linguistic not a Sikh state. Mrs Gandhi was undoubtedly influenced by the gallant role of Sikh troops and mainly Sikh rural population of the border areas of Punjab in the war with Pakistan in 1965
Shrewd politician that she was, Mrs Gandhi also undoubtedly saw the Akalis as potential allies in the fight she was having with the congress party bosses her father had left behind
Under the Punjab settlement the Hindi speaking plains became the new state of Haryana with its border running up to Delhi. The foothills of the Himalayas became the new state of Himachal Pradesh, and the rest remained Punjab. Punjab had a narrow Sikh majority of 56%, but language not religion was the basis for the division. (pg 42 43)
So eventually, the Sikhs did get their state. It is because of this, I do not agree with the argument that they were right in holding the grudges for issues like punjabi language and punjabi suba. Mind you, language movement had effected, perhaps even more, the southern and eastern parts of India. Although, it had resulted into riots, it still didnt spiral into what Punjab ultimately spiraled into.
