Jalandhar, Punjab (April 13, 2014): Describing Congress, BJP, AAP as feathers of the same flock, the Dal Khalsa head Harchranjit Singh Dhami said all mainstream political parties have same agenda when it comes to Sikh aspirations as they don’t want to resolve the Punjab problem and instead want to muzzle the voice of dissent through state might.
He was speaking at a conference organized by Dal Khalsa’s youth wing ‘Sikh Youth of Punjab’ focusing on Sikh Nationalism. The occasion was to commemorate birth anniversary of the Khalsa Panth. The SYP observed the day as Sikh Nationalism Day. The function was started with a tribute to martyrs of 1978 Baisakhi.
He slammed certain Akali factions that have been working against the interests of the community and causing harm to the Sikh cause by affiliating with the mainstream parties like BJP, Congress and AAP.
He dismissed the notion that the violent acts by militant groups were in any way a justification for the state repression against the Sikhs.
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Dhami said the [Indian] state carried out “nearly genocide” of Sikhs in June and Nov 1984 because its policy makers were determined ‘not to devolve power to states as sought by Shiromani Akali Dal and they also wanted to crush the fighting spirit of Sikhs beside teaching them a lesson.
To drive his point home, he said “No militant group is active today on ground. But 15 years down the road, the Sikh people continue to face state’s onslaughts and repressive policies. The state has founded militarily solution to Sikh problem, he rued.
He said the (Indian) state is centralising more and more power, and it is becoming more and more Hindu in character.
Party spokesperson Kanwar Pal Singh said Sikh people cannot live securely without securing their self-determination and this is something we must struggle for, regardless of who supports us in the world.” He said the Sikh Diaspora had been and would remain, pivotal in the struggle for self-determination.
To stem the attempts being made by Sangh brotherhood to assimilate minorities into Hindu ocean, SYP’s head Noblejot Singh called upon the youth to strictly adhere to Sikh principles, culture and traditions.
Rejecting Hindutva’s theory of ‘one nation, one culture’, senior activist of SYP Prabhjot Singh said the hegemony of New Delhi has polluted our culture, religion and social lives. Prof Jagmohan Singh, a human rights activist also spoke at length focusing on Sikh Nationalism.
He opined that the community that has sacrificed twenty thousand youth can’t abandon its aims and goals half-way. The youth were wearing T-shirts on which it was written ‘Azaadi is our birth right’ and they spiritedly raised slogans ‘We want Azaadi’.
The gathering passed a resolution reiterating that Khalsa Panth is not just a religious body but also a sovereign political entity. Throughout the centuries, the Sikhs have had a unique place among the people of world, developing into a distinct nation in their own right. The concept of sovereignty and statehood is a fundamental part of our very existence”.
The organization reaffirmed that none but the Granth Sahib is the perpetual Guru of the Sikh people.
In another resolution, the gathering paid homage to 13 Sikhs, who were gunned down by neo-Nirankaris in Amritsar 36 years ago on this day. In another resolution the conference demanded release of all political prisoners languishing in jails since long.