By Gurnam Singh | Opinion |
After months of election frenzy, Panjabis are now keenly anticipating the results, which will be announced in 10 March 2022.
My feeling is that, whatever the result, though all the signs are for a Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) victory or a hung state assembly. They/we may be disappointed. The sad fact is the system is no longer, and arguably never was, capable of serving the needs of Panjab. It is quite simply rotten to the core and serves the needs of an increasingly criminally corrupt political class, and not the long suffering ordinary people of Panjab.
The only way to break free from the centralising monster Hindutva India state is to build a non-sectarian inclusive Panjab Liberation movement. Hindutva is a threat to all people who believe in peace, harmony and justice, irrespective of religion, and it needs all the forces to oppose it.
The job of the Sikh Panth is central to this struggle. Inspired by our Gurus and Shaheeds, we need to work towards uniting the people of Panjab to fight against corruption, injustice, race, caste and religious hate, and violence against women and girls, and to defend workers and farmers rights. We should also build alliances with other states of India that too believe in this ideal.
Liberation, freedom and justice was the ideology and historic mission of Guru Nanak. I believe this is what inspired Deep Singh Sidhu to forsake his lucrative Bollywood career and ultimately sacrifice his life. Sikhi was never intended to be a religion but a responsibility and wake-up call to fight injustice, wherever is appears.
The spectacle of the pathetic rabble of self-proclaimed ‘Sikh Sants’ falling at the feet of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) leader Narendra Modi should be a wake-up call for true Sikhs. These fake Godmen are the enemies of Sikhi. They distort Gurbani for their own ends and they are the dependents of those who opposed the Gurus during their lives and colluded with the Mogul, British and now Hindutva Imperialists.
These fake Godmen deploy religion (Dharam) not to promote liberation and freedom amongst the masses, but quite the opposite. They confuse the masses with all kinds of bizarre otherworldly magical theories and distortions of key Sikh concepts, such as ‘karam’, ‘naam’, ‘narak/swarag’ and ‘Dharam’. But sadly these RSS proxies now control many Sikh institutions and no longer can we look to the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbhandhak Committee (SGPC) or Akaal Takht for leadership.
What we need is for Panjabi youth, intellectuals and activists to build on the farmers movement and establish a peaceful and democratic Panjab Liberation movement. This movement should be open to Panjabi’s of all faiths and none. Whatever the result of the Panjab Assembly Election, my view is that the whole system is rotten and what we need is a new political settlement. This I believe was the dream of Deep Singh Sidhu and I for one will do what I can to keep the dream alive.
Gurnam Singh is an academic activist dedicated to human rights, liberty, equality, social and environmental justice. He is an Associate Professor of Sociology at University of Warwick, UK. He can be contacted at Gurnam.singh.1@warwick.ac.uk
* This is the opinion of the writer and does not necessarily represent the views of Asia Samachar.
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Indeed, where does one start?
The leaders and so called religious leaders and instituitions corrupt to the core, the people fed on an alcoholic induced diet of Bollywood movies and Zee tv serials that thrive on insane melodrama and superstition, with not an ounce of knowledge of Sikhism or our glorious history and not forgetting the wonderful system that makes a mockery of the electoral process and democracy. A judicial system that treats its minorities differently, where rapists and murderers like the Pakhandi Ram Raheem are released with maximum security and where Sikhs fighting for basic rights of their people are languishing indefinitely in jails.
Where alcohol ,cash and gifts are given to voters in the elections, these people are willing to sell their souls for a few scraps.
Only Waheguru knows what lies in store for Punjab , the land of our Gurus, now! Until then one can only pray and hope that another Deep Sidhu is born .
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