KHALISTAN,MYTH OR REALTY.

 

 By K P PASWAN

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India ia witnessing a different kind of agitation by a group of people in Punjab. A large number of Sikhs migrated to US, Canada, UK and Australia. Outside India these people are mostly engaged in different type of business and some of them are supporting separate sovereign nation for the Sikhs. . Most of the Sikhs are Jats who follow the teachings of Guru-Nanak and in the beginning these people were ardent supporters of Hindus and some of the prominent Gurus (Wise men) suffered at the hands of Mughals as they refused to convert themselves to the religion of the Mughals. As a matter of fact it was Ranjit Singh who first founded an empire for the Sikhs in the 18^th century. His kingdom consisted parts of Afghanistan and Pakistan and modern Lahore being the capital of the kingdom of Ranjit Singh. In the history of contemporary period we find fierce battle between Sikhs and Muslims and British but the colonial power succeeded in defeating the adversaries. We don’t find demand for a separate sovereign state for the Sikhs. It was impossible to break the brotherhood between Sikhs and the Hindus.

BACKGROUND. At the time of creation of Pakistan there was no mention of Khalistan, neither Lord Mountbatten nor Pundit Jawaharlal Nehru knew anything about Khalistan. After 1950 there were murmurs of a separate sovereign nation for the Sikhs but than there were also demand for sovereign nations for the Nagas, and for Dravidian but  except in Nagaland ,these were not violent movement on a large scale. Several states were formed on the basis of languages. During the period of Jawaharlal Nehru the PM of India, the Nagas and the Muslims in J&K demanded separate lands for themselves, we find violent agitation in Kashmir and Nagaland but  there was no mention of separate land for the Sikhs.

Multiculturalism and diversity are the greatest enemies of a sovereign nation. It has created anarchy in US. Canada and Australia are turning these nations into dense  of criminals who are bent upon destroying the  social and political institutions of the countries of their origin.

At the time of partition, separate land for the Sikhs was discussed. Major religious centre of Sikhs like Nankana Sahib is located in Punjab which was Muslims majority [provinces and the Sikhs were not ready to live under the rules which were alien to them, so demand was not pursued. Master Tara Singh continued to raise the slogan but he had few supporters  There is a close relations between Sikhs and Hindus. They are laborious, finding less opportunity of jobs Sikhs migrated legally and illegally to Canada, UK, US and Australia. Most of the migrants lost closer ties with Hindus and an idea of Khalistan began to resurface.

Hindus and Sikhs are virtually inseparable as there was and still is close relations  as the Jat communities dominate both the Hindus and the Sikhs. It is also on the records that the Sikh sect was founded to protect the Hindus from the onslaught of the Muslims, however with passage of time the distance between two faiths was growing due to political reasons,. With creation of Pakistan for Muslims and that too on religious ground, Sikhs, Nagas, Mizos and the Tamils also wanted separate sovereign states like Pakistan, if accepted India was likely to balkanization of a vast country.  Freedom struggle was to free India from the shackle of the colonial power, British empire never thought of dividing India on the basis of religions being practiced by small groups of people. of the colonial power. Both Pt Jawaharlal Nehru and Sardar Patel failed to anticipate the growing ambition among certain groups of people. After demise of Sardar Patel Pt Nehru was unquestioned leader of India but it was during his period that secessionists were galvanized in  J &K and in Northeast Eastern India. Pt Nehru was perhaps convinced that with economic progress demands for separatists would disappear. But over-ambition of his daughter Indira Gandhi led to galvanization of separatists in different parts of the country. Resurface of Khalistan is being attributed to her ambitions.

 1980s witnessed Green revolution and manufacturing activities in Punjab at its zenith, still Sikhs wanted more  and out of frustration the demand for Khalistan reached its pinnacle when Indira Gandhi became the PM of the country, She is regarded as the strongest nationalist but she also cared for more political power. It was her dream to retain in power and this attitude led to emergence of leader like Bhinderwale who acted like Bin Laden and escalated the social and political tension in Punjab and even and challenged the authority of Indira Gandhi. Some of the disgruntled politicians belonging to opposite parties also played in encouraging violence. The decade of 1980 witnessed murder of important political leaders by the separatists Ultimately Operation Blue Star witnessed the elimination of dreaded preacher Bhindrenwale but  Indira Gandhi also sacrificed her life in order to foil the attempts of misguided elements.

 At present a semi-literate preacher challenged the administration of Punjab and this former driver in the middle east even threatened to assassinate to the home minister of India. This was the moment when this preacher sealed his fate. This preacher enjoyed the patronage of the ruling party. But there is difference between the period of Indira Gandhi and the present regime. With the spread of ultra-modern communication, separatists cannot withstand the adverse public opinion. India has become a soft target, they will not demand Khalistan in Pakistan which has become bankrupt but still has the capacity to cause unrest with active help of some politicians. Punjab is a small state and is in the grip of severe drug trafficking. It is no longer a prosperous state. A new government was installed to tackle the problems of corruption and drug addiction but the new government has badly failed to contain social anarchy.

 Conclusion, the preacher has been arrested and is spending in a prison in Dibrugarh. There is not even scant hope of his release in near future. Except in UK, US and Canada there was no widespread agitation against the arrest of the preacher. Pakistan if involved in funding the Preacher than it means trouble for a bankrupt nation. Narendra Modi may make  life hell of the ruling regime of Islamabad. India has learned  the nature of mistakes committed by a strong Indira Gandhi and history shall no be repeated.from the