Driving Naari Programme launched in Chandigarh
Amritsar : A considered analysis of the religious and political developments in Punjab leads to the understanding that our established religious and political institutions have failed the Sikhs in providing leadership and resolving short-term and long overdue conflicts.
People’s growing anger and acrimony against the established political parties –ruling and opposition, has resulted in a bizarre show of strength on the streets, a phenomenon unheard of in Punjab. Physical confrontation against opponents is unacceptable, yet there is no authority to call a spade a spade and the people’s outpouring is directionless, though the urgency and spontaneity of it has to be appreciated.
Much of the angst and angry outburst has been fuelled by the absolutely irresponsible utterances and provocations of those who were expected to accept their gross mistakes. Instead of owning up, they have raised the bogey of “Panth in danger” and the ubiquitous “Hindu-Sikh affinity endangered”. The Sikh leadership too has fallen prey to the current trend in India, which is to launch hyped undemocratic behaviour to cover one’s lies and faults on prime time TV and through social media.
Specifically, the ruling Congress party and their predecessors -the Shiromani Akali Dal has failed to respond to the Panthic Morcha at Barghari Kalan, started on June 1 for justice for the sacrilege incidents and its fallout at Kotkapura, Barghari and Behbal Kalan. The Punjab government has released the Commission reports and enacted a scripted lame-duck session of the Punjab Assembly, without any follow-up action. As the events unfold, the State has enabled an escape route for the high-ranking accused police officials as well as the then political leadership. The state is playing games for impunity to police and political camaraderie.
There have been two official reports –official reports of the Justice Zora Singh Commission and the Justice Ranjit Singh Commission. Since 1947, on Sikh issues –waters, land rights, organised and conspiratorial blasphemy against Sikhs, India’s Commissions have given anti-Sikh rulings, prevaricated and through administrative wrangles delayed decision-making and action rendering the whole exercise meaningless.
The Justice Markandey Katju Commission, formed by human rights group in Punjab has also indicted the police officials for their actions and the political leadership for their complicity in the firing at Behbal Kalan.
In the present case, the two official reports, instead of conclusively identifying the guilty, have only pointed the needle of suspicion against political leaders and the then police chief and his unlawful actions. The current police chief, instead of showing intentions of “the law taking its own course” is attempting to invoke a “humanitarian view” to revoke proceedings against guilty police officers for their past crimes, with an intention to protect the present culprits too.
The ruling party –the Congress is practising protectionist politics –save the politicians because if they are not saved, it may become impossible to save the tarnished police officials, who acted from their anti-Sikh mindset and killed unsuspecting silently-protesting youth who were part of the sit-in protest at Behbal Kalan in 2015. It is also a repetition of the typical, “you scratch my back, I will scratch yours” syndrome. The setting up of a Special Investigation Team, without fixing a time-frame is once again likely to be only an evading tactic. The government has delayed action allowing the accused to obtain judicial reprieve through a stay on the official report from the Punjab and Haryana High Court.
The Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee and the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee also failed to rise to the occasion. They did not admonish the political leadership for their wrongs. On the contrary, they condoned them and tried to fudge facts and botch the issues.
Very sadly, the incumbent of the temporal authority of the Sikhs –the Akal Takht Sahib and his companion Jathedars of other Takhts have also not lead the community from darkness to light. They have either toed the line of the party that controls the SGPC or have maintained a deafening silence on substantive issues, which has not only diluted their authority but has also resulted in Sikhs losing hope in justice from this exalted historic institution of the community.
In totality, the Panth has been sidelined. The Punjab Assembly and the “Mini-Parliament of the Sikhs” –the SGPC have both resorted to rhetoric and subterfuge. They have obfuscated facts to mislead the community. Therefore, to make the Panthic voice heard loud and clear, a cross-section of Sikhs –from political parties to political activists, from human rights activists to religious activists, have decided to convene a Panthic Assembly of 117 Panthic representatives in Amritsar on 20-21 October 2018.
The Preliminary Central Secretariat of the Panthic Assembly, comprising 11 members will decide the participants, the issues and methodology to be adopted for the conduct of the Panthic Assembly.
The Panthic Assembly will discuss and deliberate the reports of the various Commissions on the incidents of sacrilege and blasphemy, specifically hold the guilty responsible for the continuing acts of sacrilege and suggest social, political and legal actions to be taken up to ensure justice to the Sikhs. It will aim to nullify all divisive tendencies of the entrenched political parties and bring in a fresh air of inclusive politics.
The 117-member Panthic Assembly will not represent geographical constituencies of the state but will bring together a spectrum of Sikh opinion makers from all walks of life to strengthen and to give a new direction to the Sikh polity. The Panthic Assembly will be a step to democratise the Sikh Panthic domain and set up a mechanism to highlight and resolve internal and external conflicts of the Sikhs.
The Panthic Assembly will be a trendsetter in setting up procedures and systems whereby issues can be addressed and resolved through dialogue, discussion and debate encompassing the worldview of Sikhs. It will be an endeavour to revive the historic methodology of the Sikhs to evolve a Gurmata –a considered consensus on substantive issues confronting the Sikh Nation.
The Assembly will be convened by an organising committee comprising of Giani Kewal Singh, Sukhdev Singh Bhaur, Simranjit Singh Mann, Harpal Singh Cheema, Navkiran Singh Advocate, Jagmohan Singh, Kanwarpal Singh and Jaswinder Singh Advocate
