“The idea of a sovereign Sikh state has never

been very far from the Sikh mind,” 2.

When Sikhs realized that the government of the Punjab had come under the control of the Muslim majority, under the Provincial autonomy Provisions of the Government of India Act, 1935:

“…the concept of the Sikh state, which had

never been abandoned, was resuscitated.” 2.

and

“It gathered strength as the Muslim demand for

Pakistan grew.” 2.

And when personal sacrifices were required to overthrow the British rule in India, over 95 percent of the Freedom Fighters of “India” who were hanged by the British came from Sikhs who were a bare one percent of the population of India. This is really no credit to the persuasive salesmanship of Indian Congress party leaders, dominated by Hindus, but in fact a living testimony to the yearning for freedom that is ingrained in all Sikhs and quickly finds them on the side of any movement which is a fight for anybody’s freedom. Is it too much to expect, that for once, Sikhs are entitled to their own freedom in the contemporary world? Sikh sovereignty in 1982? Why not?

The installation of a small private radio transmitter (1) in the precincts of the Sikh Temple at Amritsar, often cited as “the Vatican of Sikhs”, following a public declaration made in 1979 by Dr. Jagjit Singh of his resolve for this achievement, and in defiance of the State control over radio in India, is a current symbolic proof of the prevalence of Sikh nationalism today.

That there has been persistent hue and cry against it in the Hindu press in India is further evidence that Sikhs are not to be tolerated in India. Their separate culture and identity must at every opportunity be demeaned and discouraged by the majority community. The Hindu fanatics in Bihar state in May, 1981, burnt down 13 motor trucks driven by Sikhs and 18 Sikhs were burnt to death. (ii)

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  1. Khushwant Singh, A History of the Sikhs, Princeton, 1966, Vol. 2, pp. 289-90. ‘That learned author agrees that the Sikh masses wanted a sovereign Sikh state but the Sikh leaders failed them in the critical years preceding the relinquishment of power by Britain.
  • The Tribune, supra, 25 Nov. 1979 and Dec. 1, 1979
  • (ii) The Ajit International, (Punjabi) 15-21 May, 1981, p. 3.