We would like to congratulate Simranjit Singh Mann, the Sikh leader and former police inspector general for his magnificent victory in the elections. Mann won by 527,760. Votes to 45290 votes, a massive mandate and the second largest margin in India. The people showed that they were solidly behind him. Similarly the other candidates supported by the nationalist Sikhs, won handsomely while the Akalis were dismissed as power hungry opportunists. The mood of the electorate was clearit was an anti-India and Delhi, anti-Rajiv vote.
Latest reports indicate that Mannis being asked to becomea Minister in the Central Government and that he is holding talks with Prakash Singh Badal and other Akali Dal leaders. Simiranjit singh Mann’s personal integrity and his commitment to the Sikh cause are well known thought the same cannot be said about his aides. He has been in jail since the last five years and as such may be somewhat out of touch with the present Sikh struggle even though he has become a symbol of it.
We would like him to ask himself whether he can guarantee an end to the mass killing, torture by the police and the rape of Sikh women by them which has become common place now, if he were to become a Minister.
When prominent lawyer and member of parliament, Ram Jethmalani was asked by the World Sikh News if he could guarantee that a massacre such as that happened in Delhi would not be repeated were he to become a Prime Minister, he said he could not. When those who are likely to be high officials of the new government can’t even give this commitment, then the answer is simplethe Anandpur Resolution is dead and we will live only in a land which guarantees our rights of life, liberty, freedom and justice.
In the last five years thousands of Sikhs have been tortured and killed by the Indian police. Sikh women have been raped and dishonored. They are all held under the draconian laws draconian internal security measures which suspend the basic civil rights and are contrary to the laws of jurisprudence such as the Terrorist and Disruptive Practices Act.
Mann himself has been held in Jail for writing a letter to the then President of India in which the spoke against the Indian army’s brutal attack on Harmandir Sahib in June 1984. He was then held for allegedly conspiring to kill Indira Gandhi. The government did not have a shred of evidence against him. This was demonstrated when Rajiv Gandhi released him just before he was booted out.
His talking with the so called Akali leaders who already have been rejected by the Sikh Nation them is misadvised move, as would be the move to quickly join the government.
Mann is regarded as the leader of the Sikh movement which has supported him. He should no let himself fall into the same trap as Sant Harchand Singh Longowal or Surjit Singh Barnalaboth of who made peace with the Center and were betrayed by it.
The Anandpur Sahib Resolution is a historic document just that. It does not represent the present aspirations of the Sikhs and as such any agreement based on it would fall much short of the expectations of the people and would have disastrous consequences for the nation.
The wind of freedom is sweeping Eastern Europe and has even broken the so called Iron Curtain. When even a mighty nation like Russia has had to how to the aspirations of the people, what is India? The Sikhs want their freedom and they shall have it. We hope that Simranjit Singh Mann will avoid the traps and will lead us to it.
Article extracted from this publication >> December 8, 1989
