As the politically harassed, culturally humiliated, and spiritually confused Sikh nation examines its future destiny for the last decade of the twentieth century, it is imperative that the Sikh organization take a comprehensive view of the nation’s current status and plan feasible political, cultural, and educational strategies of surviving as a nation in full control of its destiny.
To enable the present generation to enter the twenty first century with confidence and pride, they need to develop the nation’s potential for taking a firm hold on the rightful gains for which the nation has made supreme sacrifices from time to time.
Among all other efforts, the effort to educate the world and the Sikhs themselves, and misfortunes of the Sikh nation must be given top priority. As Thomas Jefferson once said, “If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization it expects, what never was and never will be.” FREEDOM AND KNOWLEDGE ARE INSEPARABLE.
If one takes an overview of the Sikh nation’s efforts in education, one can note that although much has been done, a whole lot remains to be done. The SGPC has done a highly commendable job of promoting, establishing, and supporting some institutions of higher learning. However, the educational strategies of the modem times have gone far beyond the use of pen, paper, books, and teachers in the traditional classroom setting. We are living in an age of the media, and the television has acquired dominance over the other tools employed for disseminating information to the masses. Realizing this, the Indian government has been exploiting the television network with tremendous success. In addition to using the Indian television industry for soliciting support for the government policies, it has been educating the masses about the Hindu way by telecasting episodes from the Ramayana and other Hindu religious books on a regular basis. In addition, those given the charge of censoring the Indian movies never lose any time in realizing that they have to play the sycophant in order to keep the job. As a result, hardly any Indian movie is released to the public without its showing some Hindu gods and goddesses or statues and/or pictures of politically powerful personalities like Mahatama Gandhi, Pandit Nehru, Indira Gandhi and those who have risen to some status by being their “yes-men.”
Sikhs in the 1990’s must acknowledge the fact that without using the television and the movie industry, they are bound to remain “ANA TION A TRISK” while the risk may continue to become
Increasingly manifold. In fact, the Sikhs have not found themselves in a perilous state only after 1984; they have been in a perilous state ever since they put their destiny in the hands of the Indian leaders like Gandhi, Nehru, Indira and others of the kind. The series of events of 1984 that unleashed an unspeakable scenario of terror on the Sikhs brought about a rude awakening. And one of the realities the Sikhs must awaken to is the immediate need of exploiting the television and movie industry to their advantage. It is expediency for the Sikh organizations to establish educational and religious trusts and to commit themselves to developing documentaries and videos for presenting positive images of the Sikh history. They must create movies for children and adults to provide a clear historical perspective of the Sikh present and to create an awareness of the perils and promises of the future. The 1990’s must be dedicated to the establishment of television stations at each of the five Takhats, so that the Sikh families in India and abroad can maintain their cultural identity with knowledge and pride. Documentaries may also be used for preserving records of the Sikh archives on the camera; Complementary to the endeavor can be a monthly or weekly historical calendar that may be published in newspapers such as the World Sikh News.
In addition to exploiting the television and the movie industry in the noble service of the Panth and other oppressed communities of the world, Sikhs all over the world need to exert their influence in convincing the local governments that the Sikh problem is no longer India’s problem. It is a global problem because the Sikhs are settled in various parts of the world. BESIDES S TRUGGLE FOR HUMAN RIGH TS AND DEMOCRACY IS A COMMON HUMAN CONCERN OF ALL CIVILIZED NA TIONS. Other nations must be persuaded to support the Sikh cause, As the recent elections have shown and as the daily events in India continue to show, the Sikh masses and people with high principles are behind the Sikh youth leadership. Therefore, no negotiations of any kind should be conducted without due repression from the trusted groups. A peaceful solution to the problem should be found without unnecessary delay. Army must be withdrawn from Punjab, the innocent must be released from the jails; and all criminals who planned and/or participated in organized massacres must face punishment. Honorable VP Singh’s government must devote full energy to the task of healing all wounds and working out a peaceful solution. The Sikh nation must do all it can to see that things move in the desired direction.
Article extracted from this publication >> June 1, 1990
