Shambhu Morcha Panchayat held a press conference at Press Club Chandigarh on October 25, 2020 to announce their future strategy. Addressing media persons Shambhu Morcha Panchayat members said From the very beginning we had vociferously asserted that this is not merely a question of MSP or few concessions, rather these draconian laws pose an existential threat to very fabric of Panjabi society and Punjab . It needs to be countered at both political and social levels.
The “Shambu Morcha” is physical manifestation of this assertion as well as defiance to the powers that be in New Delhi.
One of the prime objectives of the “Shambu Morcha” was to spread awareness amongst the people of Panjab that it was not merely a question of a few financial concessions but the very existence of what it meant to be a Panjabi was at stake. The land of Gurus where the agriculture has been accorded the highest status amongst all professions and the entire way of life, right from culture, economics , politics and very identity revolved around it is under threat.
“Shambu Morcha” apart from creating this awareness is also helping us hear out the views of large cross section of Panjabis from varied walks of life on what needs to be done and at same time to build the collective consciousness of the people that as long as we do not have right to make our own decisions we shall continue to face such existential threats . But alas , today we do not have a single creditable political organization or party that can shoulder this responsibility with sincerity . The conventional political parties of Panjab are either controlled by headquarters based in Delhi or are mere puppets of forces inimical to Panjab. We cannot pin our hopes on such organizations as they shall never have interests of Panjab as their top priority. From the various suggestions we got from millions of well meaning Panjabis who either visited us or contacted us on social media platforms, phone calls or through e- mails and out of hours of interaction sessions in evenings and late nights with activists at “Shambu Morcha” we have come to a conclusion that today Panjab is dire need of Panjab centric political outfit, which has interests of panjab as its top and only thing in mind. Moreover we also realized that Panjab has no dearth of such well meaning leadership at all levels. It is just that they need platform to come together and work towards betterment of Panjab . In past too efforts have been made to this effect and Panjabis came out enthusiastically to support it but unfortunately both efforts failed miserably and resulted in big disillusionment .Also the conventional Panjab centric party Shromani Akali dal which was outcome of a struggle and had always stood for interests of Panjab has lost its credibility amongst the masses as its leadership deviated from the said objective in last few decades.
It is today seen as puppet of forces inimical to interests of Panjab and plagued with nepotism and corruption of highest order . This decay took place in last three decades or so , as earlier the shromani Akali dal had systems of checks and balances in place . We have always maintained that present state apparatus corrupts even the most well meaning political leadership . Knowingly or unknowingly it starts acting against the interests of its very own people . Moreover to bring out a fundamental change we need a revolution at social level to precede a political change .Therefore out of various interaction sessions we have reached a conclusion that along with a political outfit Panjab needs a dynamic and active social organization of eminent people who want to work for interests of Panjab. This social leadership would also keep check on activities of the political leadership . They will provide course correction whenever political leadership goes astray thus guarding the interests of Panjab.
We hereby dedicate the “Shambu Morcha” platform to Panjab and call upon all well meaning Panjabis all across India and abroad to bury their differences , putting their self interests behind and rally together to save Panjab from the existential crisis It faces today. Historically misls have rallied together to fight Afgans and Mughals burying their mutual differences, lets learn from our venerable ancestors . Today same threat stares us in face ,lets come together keeping our self interests away and take on this challenge . It is matter of our identity , It is matter of our existence . It is matter of very idea of Panjab …It is teachings of our Gurus and our way of life that is at stake today. We call upon you to share this platform and work towards the common goal, for history shall judge us from our actions of today. — by Shambhu Morcha Panchayat Deep Sidhu, Joga Singh Chapar, Harpreet Devgan, Hakam Singh, Ajaypal Singh