A chronological political history of Punjab—the title is self-explanatory—Rajmohan Gandhi began the journey of writing this book at the point of its denouement, Partition. It was the need to understand the painful birthing of two nations, of why the father of the Indian nation (the author’s grandfather) was left in painful isolation as the bloody events of 1946-7 unfolded, and make sense of the changing demographics of Delhi when Punjabi refugees began flooding its streets, as the young and slightly prejudiced Rajmohan observed first hand, that initiated this project. Additionally, the strength of the Punjabi and Sikh diaspora in the country of the author’s residence and work, the USA, along with the local prejudice against this community—whether seen in the Oak Creek, Wisconsin, gurdwara incident of 2012, or the more recent Waris Ahluwalia Gap advertisement fracas over its vandalism—indicates both the global presence of the Punjabis, but also the problems that multicultural and multiethnic societies face.
February 2014, volume 38, No 2