The Sikhs volunteered to get mired in a 5,000 year old crisis of values. That was an honest mistake. Being honest themselves they expected it of others. They believed the “secularism, liberalism and peaceful coexistence” preached to them while their very roots were being slowly destroyed. India’s traditions and heritage are founded on fundamental lies. Buddhists were assimilated out of existence without their ever getting to know about it.
The movement for a Sikh homeland after many travails is at a crucial juncture, much of the chaff has been separated from the grain. We now see a greater maturity and a firm commitment of the Sikhs at large and their leaders. The selfishness of so called Sikh leaders while still present, is no longer a dominant factor in Punjab politics.
Simranjit Singh Mann after having tried to fathom the motives and to reason with the corrupt and fendal Indian leaders has reached the conclusions we had drawn for him soon after his release from jail last year. The only way out for the Sikhs is freedom. Independence from 43 years of slavery in which the Sikh value system was tainted by the 5000 year old culture of the Hindus which even today demeans human beings to a status of animals.
S Mann’s earlier stance for a negotiated settlement could have been praiseworthy if we were dealing with honorable men. Since 1929 scores of promises made by the Hindus to Sikhs disappeared into thin air when the time came to implement them. That is history. Many Sikhs have been led up the garden path with promises of high office. Most have succumbed to Hindu wiles. Sikh history will not forgive them. The likes of Barnala are today in self-imposed exile in faraway Madras. These leaders will not stand among their own people. No matter how much propping up Delhi provides. The Sikhs have woken to the peril of extinction at the hands of India and we are sure Sikh leaders will not be found wanting in this hour of dire need. The time now is to lead the nation to freedom and beyond. And to head a sovereign state.
Khalistan is beyond Barnala’s and Badal’s limited imagination precisely because they are petty, self-seeking and influenced by thinkers like Chanakya. We need a man with the vision of Abraham Lincoln, the determination of Nelson Mandela and the courage of General Hari Singh Nalwa. Nelson Mandela, a living world hero, has stuck to his stand for 28 years and his achievement, though tough to emulate, is the stuff which liberates peoples and nations.
Mann must stand firm. His earlier postures, we hope, have been dispensed with for good. The futility of a negotiated settlement, at the present juncture both in Delhi and among his own people, had made him back down. He went to the extent of resigning as Akali Dal chief. However he has been persuaded to stay on. He must stand firm.
Article extracted from this publication >> September 21, 1990
