Behind Closed Doors: Politics of Punjab, Haryana and the Emergency

A riveting volume that paints politics and politicians in their true colors. A candid, hard-hitting and incisive work that throws light on crucial events in post-independence india, focusing on punjab, haryana and the emergency, that had serious repercussions for the nation. As a seasoned journalist, b. K. Chum, who was a witness to history-in-the-making for more than six decades, has gone ‘behind closed doors’ to unearth secrets that politicians prefer to keep hidden. Beginning with punjab in the early 1950s, when the akalis demanded a separate punjabi-speaking state, chum recounts how the resultant turmoil led to the state being split on the basis of language. He moves on to describe the terrorism years, which had disastrous consequences for the nation. In the process, he reveals how an unholy nexus between the congress leader giani zail singh and the sikh preacher turned extremist jarnail singh bhindranwale, to counter the akalis, led to indiscriminate killings and widespread bloods