Well all things said and done, the Rajoana case shows that there are still festering wounds on the Sikh psychic, directly or indirectly caused by the events of the last 30 years. It again points to fault-lines in our democracy. Sometimes the state forgets its own principles and its tough to differentiate between the state and the criminal. You might say the Sikhs are unpatriotic or you may say they are the most patriotic, but wrongs were committed by the state, excesses were carried out and rights were tramples upon.
This may not be evident from the relative prosperity of Punjab, but deep within many Sikh youth hold grudges. They might simply be busy with carrying on with the business of life but scratch the surface and emotions will burst out. Almost everybody who saw the 80s knows a budding student, a bright scholar or a family member or a neighbor who picked up a gun and ended up in an encounter. Or another who was picked up late by the police, never to be seen again. And indirect result is the continued unabated migration of Jatt Sikhs, the backbone of Punjab. Stemming from a relative mistrust of the sate, a sense of alienation and of course stories of the better life abroad, the Jatt youth at some level do not trust they will find reasonable employment in India. And about 99% of Sikhs abroad share feelings that could be describes as unpatriotic. And these people are closely linked with their brethren back home. So what they feel and express is bound to impact what Sikhs in India feel.
I only hope the govt./state/people in power can learn from their mistakes and avoid such a turn of events in the future. Punjab was irreversibly changed in the 80s, hope the same doesn't happen for any other state or community.
