Dr. Veda Pratap Vaidik
When our Prime Minister was cordially entertaining a Sikh delegation at his official residence, belligerent groups of Sikhs and Hindus were fighting each other on the streets in Patiala. The Prime Minister had recently, on the occasion of the 400th birth anniversary of Guru Tegh Bahadur, lauded the exceptional contributions of the Sikh community to India’s independence and prosperity of the nation, and unfortunately on Friday there was a riot erupted in Patiala over the demand for Khalistan.
Hindu and Sikh organizations clashed each other with weapons. Bullets were fired and curfew was imposed in Patiala. The root cause of the violence was extremism, lack of mind and parochialism. It had nothing to do with Guru Nanak’s Sikhism or Hinduism. This was an act of a few senseless hooligans.
Recently Dwarka in the national capital witnessed a similar situation. Rajaram, a poor milkman, was murdered by some cow vigilantes because they suspected that deceased had killed a cow. Seeing some skeletal remains of a cow at his house, these self styled cow protectors hacked poor Rajaram to death. Can you call such barbaric and ruthless people the protectors of Hindutva or Gomata? Such heartless elements consider humans much inferior to animals and they have no regret in killing anyone at will under some convenient pretext.
Those vociferously demanding for Khalistan in Punjab may please tell how Khalis (pure) are they? Are they true devotees of Guru Nanak? Have they ever tried to understand the true meaning of Gurbani? They are more political and hardly religious. These elements are power hungry and they have no hesitation to align with any anti-national forces or even enemies of our country to grab power.
Is there any discrimination or any kind of injustice happening to the Sikhs in India? We had a Prime Minister from that community. We had the Speaker of Lok Sabha, Supreme Court Chief Justice, Governors, and Chief Ministers from the Sikh community. No minority group has got as much prominence and patronage as the Sikhs, in India. Is there any community in India, whose members killed a serving prime minister? Even then, cutting across cast and community, region and religion, every one condemned the atrocities committed on the Sikhs after the assassination of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.
The Sikh community is synonymous with its hard work and devotion to India. Indians are proud of the Sikhs. Our misguided brothers who raise the slogan of Khalistan may kindly recall how the life of millions of Muslims was made pathetic and pitiable by those who raised the slogan of Pakistan in 1947. The lives of millions of Muslims who remained in India have also been put in trouble by those unscrupulous selfish leaders.
I feel these misguided Khalistanis should take lessons, not support, from Pakistan.
*Dr. Vaidik is a widely travelled scholar-journalist. He has visited more than 80 countries on diplomatic and educationalmissions. Dr. Vaidik has won more than a dozen National and International awards for academic and journalistic excellence. He has been a member of several Advisory Committees of Government of India.
