Former Foreign Minister, Ariel Sharon of Israel told the New York Times (The Ottawa Citizen, Oct 11, ‘00) that Israel had not one normal day during the last 50 years. This brings to mind a similar chequered history of the Sikhs since the martyrdom of Holy Guru Arjun in 1605. Ever since this tragic martyrdom, they remained under tyrannical rulers till 1765 with their sufferings varying in intensity and horror.

In the meantime, however, the miracle of creation of the Khalsa - Akal Purkh Ki Fauj had taken place to salvage the battered young nation and to establish a benign regime. (Prof. Jagjit Singh.) Thanks to Baba Banda Singh Bahadur and his Iron-sides, personally commissioned by Guru Gobind Singh Ji to punish the wicked and to install a plebeian State in Punjab, which they did as a landmark in history, placing the lowest of the low to the highest position in the regime. Short lived as this breathing period 1710-16 was, the community was again under tyranny for another half a century, when its stalwarts re-established a vast and righteous empire (1765-1849) which was to prove a model in peace and prosperity, secularism, communal harmony, absence of oppression and banishing of death sentence, still unknown in the West. Besides, they stemmed foreign invasions, 72 till then. For the first time in history their soldiers marched beyond Khyber to install King Shah Shujah on the throne of Kabul. Also, they crossed river Yamuna 17 times to punish the former oppressors. But this was achieved after sacrifice of its cream of 2 lakhs of Sikh youth (Prof. Hari Ram Gupta). The crucial betrayal of mercenaries Misr Lall Singh, Misr Tej Singh and Gulab Singh Dogra from neighbouring states, during the Anglo Sikh Wars brought about another period of humiliation and misfortune.

It took them another century to stand on their feet when the Partition again struck them down, killing 2.5% of their population, and the prosperous 40% suddenly rendered homeless and penniless. With their unique ethos of resilience bestowed upon them by their holy Gurus, they brought about "green" and "white" revolutions, besides vigorously defending the Indian borders in the five wars after independence. Inspite of all this, the Sikhs, in the words of Ariel Sharon, have had not one normal day since independence, and find themselves besieged and face to face with their scriptures, identity, history, culture, institutions and ethos being ruthlessly trampled upon by the new rulers and the so-called Sikh leadership lying prostrate in utter helplessness. This is not to say that the Sikhs submitted tamely to this humiliating scenario. Another crop of 2,00,000 Sikhs perished at the altar of their faith against the dark communal state forces (Inderjit Singh Jaiji, Politics of Genocide).

Core Group under guidance of Chief Justice Ranjit Singh Narnla (Retd.) has asked the Akali Dal to withdraw from alliance with the B.J.P. and for unity among Akali and Non-Akali Sikh leaders and to fight for the legitimate rights of the Sikhs and other minorities. Several Sikh institutions in India and abroad have been clamouring for the same ends since long. Vast literature and many conferences in this respect have proved inadequate. As such, in a situation as the present one, in accordance with the Sikh tradition "When all other means have failed’ a group of a dozen or two Sikh ‘elders’ and intellectuals should, in the first instance, in the manner of Sikhs of the 18th century, take council with the Jathedar of Akal Takht, our ‘rallying point’ and discuss how best to bring all this about.

This, however, needs some greatness of mind on the part of all concerned, as was pleaded in a deeply moving broadcast by Lord Wavell when appealing to all political parties in India to accept the 16th May 1946 proposals for a united independent India. In his keynote address during the Oct. ‘99 Seminar of the Institute ‘Role of Panthic Leadership and Decision Making’ Prof. Prithipal Singh Kapur, Editor-in-Chief, Encyclopedia of Sikhism had lucidly brought out why and how the Panthic agenda was the need of the hour.

The task undoubtedly is extremely difficult. But if the 15 major European countries, who were, till recently fighting each other, could bind themselves in a common market with a single currency, and have common defence system, NATO, why the Sikhs under threat of absorption into Hindu fold, cannot act jointly to save their religion and identity. The present day ‘elders’ and the ‘intellectuals’ owe it to the Guru and the posterity to play their part at this crucial hour. Their scriptures, glorious history and traditions are before them as a guide. I enclose a copy of exchange of views between the Pope and Queen Elizabeth II of England (The Ottawa Citizen Oct. 18, ‘00). In spite of their doctrinal difference, they agreed to work jointly in the larger interests of a harmonious Europe and the Christian religion as a whole.

Justice R. S. Narula’s 36 questions (SR : Oct. 2000) and hundreds others to be asked during justice Nanavati Enquiry Commission regarding Nov.’84 Ghalughara, as published in The Sikh Review, are laudable. Gurcharan Singh Babbar, in the Government Organised Carnage, in a six-page plea to the Supreme Court and Delhi High Court, has asked why both these courts remained closed for four days when the Sikhs were being massacred and when there are examples when judges had passed midnight orders and had often acted on mere press reports. Also, when these courts opened, none of them took notice of what a gruesome tragedy had taken place. I think this question must also form part of this enquiry.

As regards amendments of the Constitution, already amended some 90 times according to the whims of the rulers, time will tell what comes out of it. Every party engaged in this exercise has different motives. It would be the majority community whose say would ultimately prevail. The national agenda of the RSS and the Hindutva is no longer hidden.

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