Pro-free­dom Sikh po­lit­i­cal bod­ies Shi­ro­mani Akali Dal Am­rit­sar and Dal Khalsa led by MP Sim­ran­jit Singh Mann and spokesper­son Kan­war Pal Singh, have an­nounced a ma­jor protest in Moga on Jan­u­ary 26. The protest co­in­cides with In­di­a’s Re­pub­lic Day, mark­ing a strate­gic stand against what they de­scribe as the In­dian gov­ern­men­t’s re­pres­sive mea­sures and mis­rep­re­sen­ta­tion of the Sikh free­dom strug­gle. WSN re­ports.

Amidst es­ca­lat­ing ten­sions be­tween Sikh ac­tivists and the In­dian state over is­sues of iden­tity, po­lit­i­cal free­dom, and hu­man rights, in a de­fi­ant re­sponse to on­go­ing re­pres­sion and mis­rep­re­sen­ta­tion by the In­dian gov­ern­ment, two lead­ing Sikh po­lit­i­cal par­ties -Dal Khalsa and Shi­ro­mani Akali Dal Am­rit­sar, have de­clared a protest march on 26 Jan­u­ary 2024 in Moga.

Sim­ran­jit Singh Mann, a promi­nent Akali leader and Mem­ber of Par­lia­ment from San­grur, and Dal Khalsa spokesper­son Kan­war Pal Singh ad­dress­ing a press con­fer­ence out­lined the rea­sons for the protest.

“This is not just about cur­rent in­jus­tices,” Mann stated, “but a long his­tory of our Sikh na­tional iden­tity be­ing com­pro­mised, our po­lit­i­cal as­pi­ra­tions crushed, and our eco­nomic po­ten­tial un­der­mined since the adop­tion of the In­dian Con­sti­tu­tion.”

“This is not just about cur­rent in­jus­tices but a long his­tory of our Sikh na­tional iden­tity be­ing com­pro­mised, our po­lit­i­cal as­pi­ra­tions crushed, and our eco­nomic po­ten­tial un­der­mined since the adop­tion of the In­dian Con­sti­tu­tion.”

Kan­war Pal Singh high­lighted the al­leged mis­use of dra­con­ian laws like UAPA and NSA against Sikhs, stat­ing, “The gov­ern­men­t’s tac­tic of equat­ing Sikh free­dom fight­ers with gang­sters is a bla­tant at­tempt to de­fame our strug­gle for in­de­pen­dence. We strongly re­ject this nar­ra­tive and stand united in our cause.”

The lead­ers con­demned the ban­ning of the pro-Kash­mir free­dom body Hur­riyat Con­fer­ence and the con­tin­u­ous in­car­cer­a­tion of Kash­miri po­lit­i­cal de­tainees.

“The gov­ern­men­t’s tac­tic of equat­ing Sikh free­dom fight­ers with gang­sters is a bla­tant at­tempt to de­fame our strug­gle for in­de­pen­dence. We strongly re­ject this nar­ra­tive and stand united in our cause.”

Kan­war Pal Singh, Se­nior Leader, Dal Khalsa

They ac­cused the Naren­dra Modi gov­ern­ment of play­ing a “dou­ble game” with Sikhs, par­tic­u­larly re­gard­ing the is­sue of Bandi Singhs -po­lit­i­cal pris­on­ers serv­ing jail be­yond their terms. They de­rided the stance of the gov­ern­ment ask­ing Sikh po­lit­i­cal pris­on­ers to seek mercy.

The protest aims to shed light on the im­punity of se­cu­rity forces and their un­bri­dled pow­ers, cit­ing the ex­tra­ju­di­cial killing of for­mer act­ing Jathedar Gur­dev Singh Kaonke as an ex­am­ple. “Our protest on Jan­u­ary 26 is sym­bolic,” said Kan­war Pal Singh. “It’s the day the Con­sti­tu­tion came into ef­fect, a Con­sti­tu­tion that has been used and mis­used to sup­press our rights.”

The protest is more than a demon­stra­tion of dis­con­tent; it’s a re­minder of the en­dur­ing strug­gle for Sikh rights and au­ton­omy in a po­lit­i­cally charged In­dia.

This demon­stra­tion, set against the back­drop of In­di­a’s Re­pub­lic Day cel­e­bra­tions, is ex­pected to at­tract sig­nif­i­cant at­ten­tion. It un­der­scores the on­go­ing strug­gle of Sikh groups in In­dia and their de­ter­mi­na­tion to counter the nar­ra­tive that ma­ligns their move­ment.

The protest is more than a demon­stra­tion of dis­con­tent; it’s a re­minder of the en­dur­ing strug­gle for Sikh rights and au­ton­omy in a po­lit­i­cally charged In­dia.

The sig­nif­i­cance of this protest lies in the mes­sage that it sends to the In­dian gov­ern­ment and the world about the Sikh com­mu­ni­ty’s un­wa­ver­ing re­solve to fight for jus­tice, free­dom, and fair rep­re­sen­ta­tion.