How Narendra Modi’s massive Sikh outreach is marked by humility and determination

Ahead of the 2022 Punjab Assembly elections, 38 prominent Sikh representatives met Prime Minister Narendra Modi at his residence in Delhi and felicitated him for declaring 26 December as “Veer Baal Divas” in the memory of the Chhote Sahibzaade (younger sons) of the 10th Sikh guru, Guru Gobind Singh, and reopening the Kartarpur Sahib Corridor. Modi has repeatedly said that right from his childhood he has been greatly influenced by the lives, valour, supreme sacrifice and generosity of the Sikh gurus.

Modi has in the past criticised the Congress for not taking adequate measures to ensure that the Kartarpur Sahib did not fall in Pakistan, when India was divided in 1947. Those who allege that the prime minister engaged with the Sikh community only with elections in mind, seem to have lost the plot. The prime minister, elections or no elections, has never missed out on an opportunity to reach out to the brave Sikh community. Removal of the “langar tax”, visiting Gurdwara Sis Ganj at every available opportunity, quoting from the holy Sikh granths, promoting Anandpur Sahib, Hemkund Sahib and the Golden temple of Amritsar as places of worship and places that celebrate our unity in diversity, are things that Modi has done unabashedly, because he truly believes in them.

A few months back, Jharkhand State Gurdwara Prabandhak committee head Sardar Shailendra Singh presented the prime minister with a “swarupa” and memorandum, urging him to extend the frequency of the Jallianwala Bagh Express four days a week, running of the Jammu Tawi Express from Tata Nagar and opening of an AIIMS hospital at Kolhan and a ESI hospital in Jharkhand. Besides, he requested the prime minister to establish a Gurmukhi academy in Jharkhand. The moot point is: welfare of Sikhs has been uppermost for the current dispensation.

Sikhs have carried with them huge pain because many commitments made to them by successive Congress regimes were not fulfilled, but the Modi government has done transformative works, including opening the corridor to Kartarpur Sahib and taking the decision to commemorate the martyrdom of Guru Gobind Singh’s sons. On 21 April 2022, the prime minister also released a commemorative coin and postage stamp to mark the 400th Parkash Parab of Guru Tegh Bahadur. On this landmark occasion, in his speech at Red Fort, Modi also said that India has never posed a threat to any country or society and it thinks for the welfare of the entire world even today, amidst global conflicts, asserting that the country is following the ideals of Sikh gurus.

Reach-out to India’s Sikh community has had many positive effects elsewhere too. Many Sikhs who were blacklisted by erstwhile Congress regimes and were forced to take shelter abroad or stay in foreign lands, have had the opportunity to visit India, their homeland, thanks to Prime Minister Modi. One such example is that of Ripudaman Malik, who was wrongfully accused during the Kanishka bombing but was exonerated by a Canadian court in 2005 and visited India years thereafter, once he was declared innocent. From 341, the blacklist number is now down to only 2.

The credit for mainstreaming the ideals and thought processes of the ten Sikh gurus by reinforcing them from various public platforms, from time to time, goes singularly to Modi. In his speech on 21 April 2022, Modi also laid bare the murderous marauder, Aurangzeb, who beheaded Guru Tegh Bahadur in 1675. For decades under Congress regimes, our history books whitewashed the crimes of the Mughals and likes of Aurangzeb even had a road named after him, till the Modi government decided enough was enough and changed Aurangzeb Road in the heart of Delhi to Dr APJ Abdul Kalam Road in 2015.

Aurangzeb, however, wasn’t the only one whose crimes were sanitised by the Khan Market Gang and the Congress establishment. Speaking of bloodthirsty marauders, one is also reminded of Tipu Sultan. There were repeated attempts to capture Kodagu by Tipu and his father Hyder Ali before him. Tipu’s barbarism reached its peak from 1760 to 1790 and this period is considered as one of the most gruesome eras in the history of Kodavas. From the year 1760-80 Tipu destroyed more than 600 temples across Kodagu. His cruelty and self-obsession had reached its peak when his closest friend left him in the final war with the British where Tipu died in the stampede. He was not shot by the British. So, let us be clear, Tipu was no martyr. He was a tyrant, first and foremost.

It is therefore shameful that India’s Tukde Tukde gang, fed by the Congress and the Leftist media, wants to celebrate Tipu’s birthday across Karnataka, something the BJP is completely averse to. Both Aurangzeb and Tipu were religious fanatics and bloodthirsty rulers who believed in the ethnic cleansing of Hindus, Sikhs, Kodavas and other communities across India.

For decades, Leftist historians, backed by the Congress party, distorted our history and history books by legitimising gore, bigotry and violence. For decades our history books tried to lionise mass murderers like Aurangzeb and Tipu and efforts were made to project them as heroes. The real history needs to be told to our future generations and Prime Minister Modi, from the ramparts of the Red Fort, by eulogising the valour of Guru Tegh Bahadur and exposing the tyranny of Aurangzeb, set the ball rolling. Modi’s Sikh outreach is in line with his philosophy of “Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas, Sabka Vishwaas and Sabka Prayas”.

Coming back to what Modi has done for Sikhs, besides resurrecting religious and cultural tourism, thanks to better infrastructure and connectivity that will be provided to Fatehgarh Sahib, Chamkaur Sahib and Anandpur Sahib, a Bill was passed in 2019 for renovation and upgradation of the Jallianwala Bagh memorial. The Jallianwala Bagh National Memorial (Amendment) Bill, 2019 amends the Jallianwala Bagh National Memorial Act, 1951. The Act provides for the erection of a National Memorial in memory of those killed or wounded on 13 April 1919 in Jallianwala Bagh, Amritsar. In addition, it creates a trust to manage the National Memorial.

For decades, Congress president was a permanent member of this trust but the Jallianwala Bagh was poorly maintained and the fraudulent Congress did nothing to restore the legacy of this place. By inserting a clause that removes the Congress president as permanent member of the trust and by broad-basing the composition of the trust, the Modi government has made the trust apolitical, so that the upkeep of the memorial is not at the mercy of politicians.

In 2016, long-standing demands of the gurdwara committees were met by passing the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee Amendment Bill to ensure greater operational flexibility. FCRA registration was approved for Harmandir Sahib.

“Sri Darbar Sahib’s divinity gives strength to us. For decades, the Sangat worldwide was unable to serve there. The Modi government’s decision to allow FCRA to the Sri Harmandir Sahib deepens the connection of Seva between the Sangat globally and the Sri Darbar Sahib. A blessed moment,” are the words of Union Home Minister Amit Shah, after Prime Minister Modi’s historic decision to give FCRA registration to the Golden Temple, also known as Gurudwara Harmandir Sahib.

On the 550th Parkash Parab of Guru Nanak, Modi took personal interest and requested UNESCO to ensure that Gurbaani is translated in as many local and foreign languages as possible, worldwide, so that Guru Nanak’s spiritual message is transmitted to a larger global diaspora. Amendment to the Sikh Gurdwaras Bill, passed in 2016, has many facets regarding the voting rights of Sahjdhari Sikhs.

The amendment introduced by the Modi government brings the inclusion of Sahjdhari Sikhs to vote in the elections to the Sikh Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee (SGPC). Sahjdhari Sikhs are the people from the Sikh religion who cut/trim their beard or hair. Sahjdhari Sikhs were not allowed to vote in the SGPC since 1944. The new amendment Bill will come into force retrospectively from 8 October 2003. Under the Sikh Gurdwara Act of 1925, every Sikh above 21 years of age, who is a registered voter, is entitled to vote in the SGPC election.

Again, the plan to set up an interfaith university in Amritsar, at the cost of over Rs 510 crore, is a great step. Modi has paid obeisance at the historic Dera Baba Nanak in Gurdaspur and Ber Sahib Gurdwara at Sultanpur Lodhi in Kapurthala. Guru Nanak Dev had spent much of his life at Sultanpur Lodhi, which is now being developed as a heritage site. On the 350th Jayanti of Guru Gobind Singh, Modi also commissioned a 750-bed hospital in the 10th Sikh guru’s memory, in Jamnagar, in Gujarat.

The most transformative outreach, however, by the prime minister that will bring much-needed relief to thousands of Sikhs, is the game-changing Citizenship Amendment Act of 2019, which seeks to give citizenship rights to persecuted minorities in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Bangladesh. Don’t forget that while in the 1960s, there were over five lakh Sikhs in Afghanistan, that number has dwindled to a mere 700 by 2022.

The writer is an economist, national spokesperson of the BJP and the author of ‘The Modi Gambit’. Views expressed are personal.

Read all the Latest News , Trending News , Cricket News , Bollywood News , India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook , Twitter and Instagram .