The editor of The World Sikh News outlines the history of the Sikh prayer to Akalpurakh  -God Almighty and how the daily prayers for the Sikhs over the last 70 years has been answered. He chides the Indian leadership for their game of upmanship and rebukes the Punjab CM for his illogical behaviour and statement regarding non-participation at the inaugural function on the other side of the fence.

Sikhs have an unwavering faith in prayer and supplication, yet it is very difficult to gauge how and when prayers will be answered.  Since the last 70 years, individually and collectively, Sikhs have been invoking in their daily prayer, “Jinha Gurdwarayan Gurddhama nu Panth tohn vichodya gaya hai, tinah de khulle darshan didar da dhian kar ke bolo ji Waheguru, Hey Sachhe Paatshah, tina Gurdwarayan, Gurdhama de khule darshan didar da daan appne Khalsa ji nu baksho.” Oh God Almighty, enable the Khalsa Panth to have free and unfettered access to the historical Gurdwaras and shrines which are presently not within the reach of the Sikhs and  may the Sikhs repeat O wondrous Lord, after reminiscing about the said Gurdwaras.

“On 25 January, 1952, just five years after the partition of Punjab, Sikhs gathered at Akal Takht Sahib and resolved to add the above lines to their supplication. This demonstrates that the Sikh community did not show any acrimony either to the people of Pakistan or to India and took this historic step of appealing and praying to the Lord Almighty.”

In 1947, when the Sikhs faced the unprecedented division of their beloved homeland Punjab and a massive transfer of population amidst mayhem and killings of thousands, it took them a while to come to terms with what had happened to them. Yet barring the Sikh leadership, the Sikhs had the good sense to face their hardship with grit, determination and prayers. On 25 January, 1952, just five years after the partition of Punjab, Sikhs gathered at Akal Takht Sahib and resolved to add the above lines to their supplication.  This demonstrates that the Sikh community did not show any acrimony either to the people of Pakistan or to India and took this historic step of appealing and praying to the Lord Almighty.

When the Akali Dal leadership decided to tie the destiny of the Sikh nation with India against the wishes of the Sikh people, they did so out of their incompetence to counter the lies, subterfuge and political manoeuvring of the Congress party whose primary tools were chicanery and lies. The Sikh leadership was naive and trusting. Naive to the ways of modern politics and trusting because they were religiously trained and indoctrinated to have faith. However they did not refer to their military tradition and tactics of assessing the enemy or those opposed to them.

The Indian leadership of Jawaharlal Nehru, after airing the carrot of “glow of freedom” followed it with the stick of “the times have changed.” Sardar Vallabhai Patel crushed nationalities and called the Sikhs, “a criminal nation” as reported by then Deputy Commissioner Bhai Sahib Sirdar Kapur Singh. Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi who proclaimed in 1921 that “the first decisive war of independence has been won” after the Sikhs regained the keys to Darbar Sahib Amritsar after the “Keys Morcha” in 1921, later on said, “Guru Gobind Singh was a misguided philosopher” and also opposed Sikh-Dalit affinity sought to be strengthened by Babasaheb Ambedkar.

“The Kartarpur corridor prayer has been answered and the Sikhs shall always remain grateful to Akalpurakh –God Almighty. We certainly, however, do not want to wait for another 70 years for Guru Sahib to satisfy our yearnings we repeat every morning and evening.”

Yet, the Sikhs continued to pray hoping that one day Akalpurakh will listen to them. The erstwhile Akali leader Kuldeep Singh Wadala started the Kartarpur Sahib corridor movement as a precursor to the fulfilment of the Sikh aspiration in the daily supplication.

Political expediency and electoral politics notwithstanding, World Sikh News humbly affirms that the prayers of each and every Sikh over the last 70 years has been answered. Nothing else can explain the change of heart of the government of India which is invariably inimical to the Sikhs and the large-heartedness shown by the military and political leadership of the government of Pakistan.

It is very sad and disheartening that the role of the Chief Minister of Punjab -the scion of the Maharaja of Patiala, Captain Amarinder Singh is that of a defeated chieftain unable to digest either the publicity of his co-minister Navjot Singh Sidhu. in the face of such a golden opportunity to talk about peace and how Guru Nanak has blessed the two Punjabs, he is harping on an incident of violence unmindful of the human violence committed by India unto the Sikhs irrespective of the political party in power.

The least he could have done is to pretend that he is busy like the Indian foreign minister Sushma Swaraj. He has chosen to equate violence in Punjab with the Kartarpur Sahib corridor, which is simply foolhardy. The language that he has chosen to use is unbecoming of a Chief Minister. He has belittled the Sikh case and his “holier than thou” attitude is simply funny and bogus.

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The Kartarpur corridor prayer has been answered and the Sikhs shall always remain grateful to Akalpurakh –God Almighty. We certainly, however, do not want to wait for another 70 years for Guru Sahib to satisfy the yearnings we repeat every morning and evening.