London, UK – The answer is some Sikhs who consider themselves to be greater visionaries than their Gurus. Sadly, some misguided Sikhs are trying to divert attention from the legacy of our illustrious Gurus to themselves with anti-India rhetoric. The media always pays attention to the negative activities and some politicians join them for votes. These handful of Sikhs are going totally against the teachings of our Gurus who established the Sikh faith to unite humanity and these separatists are using the same religion to divide humanity.
If they are not careful, then they will not get the Kingdom for themselves, but instead, they will succeed in making their fellow Sikhs second class citizens, or even victims in a country their Gurus and their followers helped save from the tyranny and injustices of the then Mughal rulers by paying unparalleled sacrifices.
It is a matter of pride for every Sikh that everyone in India and beyond is talking about the lives and teachings of Sikh Gurus and their children to inspire their next generations. Many foreigners are adopting the Sikh faith. The government of India celebrated the 350th Birth Anniversary of Guru Gobind Singh, the martyrdom of Guru Tegh Bahadur, and now the 550th Birth Anniversary of Guru Nanak Dev Ji, the founder of the Sikh faith, not only nationally but also internationally. Every government of India’s mission abroad is celebrating the life and teachings of Guru Nanak and also establishing Chairs in Universities across the world to spread his message of love and harmony.
The time has come for the Sikhs to enjoy respect throughout the world due to the vision and sacrifices of their illustrious Gurus, but a handful of Sikhs have come up with their separatist agenda to tarnish the achievements of Sikh Gurus for humanity.
Guru Tegh Bahadur accepted martyrdom in the capital of India, Delhi to uphold the religious freedom of Hindus which unleashed the fury of the Sikhs. It led to the establishment of the Brotherhood of Khalsa by his son, the 9th Guru Gobind Singh.
He did not rest until he was able to bring an end to the oppression and tyranny of the then Mughal rulers against those who did not follow his form of religion. Guru not only sacrificed his own life but also that of his four sons for religious freedom in India. Every Indian feels that they owe the Sikh and their Gurus a debt of gratitude for saving their ancient civilization.
With an increasing number of Sikhs settling in different parts of the world, the internet and social media are helping more and more people to know about the lives and teachings of the Sikh Gurus and what they stood for. The world is in awe as Sikh Gurus were ahead of their time. They believed in human rights, equality for race, religion and gender long before the UN charter ever came about.
It is the vision and actions of these separatists which is bringing hardship to our fellow Sikhs in India, whilst the separatists are enjoying the protection of American, Canadian and British passports. How considerate of these Sikhs to advocate for a separate country whilst having no intention of living there. Did Guru Gobind Singh Ji seek protection whilst fighting for our freedom? It just shows how cowardly these people are. They should be in Punjab making their case rather than embarrassing us and our Gurus.
India is a secular and democratic country and as a result, we are all equals. We can always change the government through the ballot box. Demanding extra privileges or rights for the Sikhs has brought us to this juncture. It is worth remembering; these people attract a low calibre audience who is unable to appreciate the consequences for their fellow Sikhs in India.
Sikhs leaders broke up Punjab into three parts. Punjab, Himachal and Haryana because some Sikh leaders could not rule United Punjab. Now some Sikhs are trying to make Khalistan where their IQ can fit in the absence of merit. They would like to drive non Sikhs out by making them second class citizens like Muslims did to us in 1947 by using the religion card.
Pakistan is going nowhere and becoming a dangerous country with its economy in ruins. We mustn’t kill diversity, as when we do, we also kill the soul of the country. Imagine if we were a united country how progressive and prosperous we would have been. The breakup of India resulted in the death of over a million innocent people including our father www.shaheednanaksingh.com and many millions became refugees including our family. We have fought four bloody wars since with more bloodshed and next could be a nuclear war with consequences for the world. If religion had the strength to unite people, then Bangladesh would still be part of Pakistan. Now Baluchistan wants independence from Pakistan. People of the Middle East could enjoy freedom to move from one Islamic country to another due to their religion. In reality they hate each other.
Similarly, there will be infighting in Khalistan between Jats and non Jats, between Amritdharis and Sahijdharis, between those who trim or color their beards and those who do not. Women will need to cover their head and so on. The Sikhs will be put into religious straitjackets and controlled by the scholars of religion. We just have to see what is happening in other religious countries.
Before 1984 there was no quota for Punjab for its citizens to join the Indian Armed Forces and now there is. Only 2% soldiers can join from Punjab according to their population. Who was responsible for this change? Sikhs themselves, sadly.
As a result, farmers are committing suicide due to lack of land and employment . They are on drugs and committing crimes to feed their habits, whereas before they could join the Indian Armed Forces and turn out to be disciplined citizens.
Sadly, we are all right from our point of view as it is based on our education, experience and above all, vision. Only time can tell if we were right or wrong.
Let’s use intelligence rather than threats against a country that has a population of 1.3 Billion people, the fifth largest economy in the world, as well as the second largest army in the world.
India is no longer a fragmented country. It is united and has modern security forces to quell any anti India activists.
We must decide if we are with India like our Gurus were before us and enjoy respect as we did before 1984.
We must support the Indian government in its endeavor to promote the lives and teachings of Sikh Gurus on a national and international level. Or we can stop the government of India from promoting the lives and teachings of our Gurus because of the actions of a few disloyal Sikhs.
Sikh Gurus and their followers dedicated their lives and paid supreme sacrifices to uphold religious freedom in India 🇮🇳. Due to the legacy of the Sikh Gurus and their followers, the Sikhs are respected throughout India and beyond.
Sadly, the Khalistanis are behaving totally against the teachings of Sikhs Gurus and acting totally opposite to what Sikh Gurus stood for. No Sikh Guru ever acted against the unity and integrity of India. Instead, they stood for India’s unity and integrity at all times. This is the reason the government of the secular country India is promoting the lives and teachings of the Sikhs Gurus on an unparalleled scale because their teachings benefit all mankind. Every Indian mission overseas is celebrating the 550th Birth Anniversary of the founder of the Sikh faith, Guru Nanak Dev Ji.
The Government of India 🇮🇳 is establishing Guru Nanak Chairs in many universities at the cost of millions of pounds to promote the teachings of Sikh Gurus for the greater good of mankind. No Sikh organization can promote the Sikhs and their Gurus like the Govt of India 🇮🇳 is. We must thank the Government led by the Hon PM Shri Narendra Modi Ji.
Because of the behavior of a handful of separatists, many will think that the Sikh Gurus too were separatists who believed in dividing mankind when they were not.
Khalistanis with their anti India rhetoric are damaging the respect of Sikhs in India who do not have the luxury of a foreign passports. We must shun them for the sake of preserving the legacy of our illustrious Gurus. Thank you.
Lord Rami Ranger CBE
Lord Rami Ranger CBE, Baron of Mayfair, was ennobled to the House of Lords in October 2019 for his long-standing services to the United Kingdom, British business and the Asian Community. Prior to Lord Ranger’s ennoblement, he had received the MBE in 2005 and was made a Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire for his services to British Business and the Asian Community and in 2016 Lord Ranger was again honoured with the title of his CBE, Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire in Her Majesty’s New Year’s Honours List.
Lord Ranger as the Chairman of the British Sikh Association ( BSA) www.britishsikhassociation.org , works hard through the BSA to promote interfaith dialogue for peaceful coexistence. This was set up to promote the vision of the Sikh Gurus for the betterment of mankind. He advocates that we must always follow the teachings of our illustrious Gurus and not that of self-proclaimed leaders.