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Editorial
Be Vigilant, The Blind Are
Asleep too!
 These are
certainly not easy times. The Sikh community is braving through a
host of improbably complicated set of coordinates: an Akali Dal
which is hell bent on compromising the panthic interests and instead
secularize itself to the extent of being totally identified with
India's brahamanical forces, an SGPC that has let itself become the
wing of the Akali Dal to the extent that its president openly says
he works as per the instructions of the party supremo Parkash Singh
Badal, a leadership where even the veterans touch the feet of brash
upcomers and power hierarchy is clearly laid out, a religious turf
where the derawad and self-styled holy men and babas carry more
clout than missionary zeal young enthusiasts, a social milieu in
which young Sikhs are losing their unique identity, an atmosphere of
divisiveness within the community ranks where the best of the
leaders are arraigned against each other over minor ego hassles, a
tough time when Sikhs are having to fight minor and major battles
all over, be it for turban or hair or keeping their kirpan on a
flight.
Read the story
on someone naming a Sikh as a "TERRORIST" merely because he was
having a turban on and received a UPS parcel. Recall the news about
three ragi Singhs being asked to get off a flight because the pilot
simply refused to fly with them on board.
 In such an
atmosphere, the SGPC, the premier gurdwara management body that got
a larger than real image of itself and took pride in being referred
to as Mini Parliament of Sikhs has come out with a sinister move of
re-defining the Sehajdhari Sikh. The WSN columns have explained in
detail about how the move was motivated, ill conceived, guided by
those who have no commitments to Rehat or Sikh Code of Conduct.
No wonder, the
SGPC president Avtar Singh Makkar was in deep trouble when Sikh
activists in the
United States
asked him about the SGPC's affidavit that opens the floodgates to
anyone who declares himself to be a Sehajdhari. On top of it, the
SGPC has yet to react to another sinister move of the Indian
Government whereby it plans to take away the minority status of the
community by amending the Constitution.
As the WSN
brings out in its front page story, the 103rd Constitution Amendment
Bill draft is ready and the Union Cabinet has met more than once to
discuss and push this bill. As per this draft, the minority will be
defined at the state level and thus the Sikhs will no more be a
minority in
Punjab.
But the Centre
has kept a rather tricky clause in the bill that leaves it with
power to designate any community as a minority. So it has already
amended the draft bill to include Jains as a minority. We welcome
the step as it clearly demarcates the Jains as not being part of the
larger Hindu conglomerate but why is the Centre silent on granting a
similar status to the Sikhs? Why should Sikhs have to see their
minority status being questioned in one after the other court case?
 We at the WSN
greatly appreciate the response of the Sikh community to the
Sehajdhari issue and the urgency with which many organizations
including the Akali Dal (Panch Pardhani), Akali Dal (Amritsar),
Shiromani Khalsa Panchayat, Dal Khalsa, DSGMC, Chief Khalsa Diwan,
American Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee (AGPC), Damdami Taksal and
many others have come out to challenge the sinister move of
redefining the Sehajdhari into the Sikh fold, but our subtext note
is even clearer now. The price of Fateh is eternal vigil. And this
vigil should be even greater when our leaders are asleep.
Jo baat munasib
hai, usse hasil nahi karte
Jo apni girah mein hai, usse kho bhee rahe hain
Be-ilm bhee yeh log hain, gaflat bhee hai taari
Afsos! ke andhhe bhee hain aur so bhee rahe hain
24 December
2008
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