It is now more than ever, a need for the global Pan­jaabi-Sikh Com­mon­wealth to take a grip of it­self, in­ter­nally and ex­ter­nally, sen­si­bly and in­tel­li­gently look to re­con­struct its af­fairs away from the de­bil­i­tat­ing chaos and dis­or­der that has been al­lowed to over­come our in­sti­tu­tions, or­gan­i­sa­tions, pur­ported du­bi­ous ‘Pan­thic’ and Pan­jaab lead­er­ship, ar­gues Sikh ac­tivist-writer, Jagdeesh Singh.

THE AM­RIT­SAR MAS­SACRE OF 1984 OUT­SHAD­OWED THE AM­RIT­SAR MAS­SACRE OF 1919. From 1919 to 1978 to 1984, Am­rit­sar has been a city of coura­geous re­sis­tance. It is a mon­u­ment of Sikhi and the soul of Pan­jaab!

Dur­ing the 1984 to 2020 pe­riod, we have seen so much come and go. So many ex­cit­ing mo­ments in the la­bo­ri­ous strug­gle. So many mo­ments of coura­geous sac­ri­fice. So many mo­ments of hope. So many chang­ing faces, pur­ported ‘lead­ers’ pro­jected onto us, or­gan­i­sa­tions, etc. The hard fact re­mains, we have to­day achieved lit­tle po­lit­i­cal progress at an elec­toral level. Nor at a hu­man rights jus­tice level.

Un­doubt­edly, a cross-sec­tion of the lead­er­ship has been able to keep the flag aloft. De­spite odds, they have stood up to the il­le­gal, un­law­ful, in­hu­mane poli­cies of the In­dian gov­ern­ment from time to time.

We have seen very lit­tle in terms of a co­or­di­nated, co­her­ent lead­er­ship-dri­ven strat­egy to trans­form and es­ca­late the move­ment to new lev­els and heights – elec­torally, in­ter­na­tional me­dia pres­ence and en­gage­ment with the United Na­tions.

Many re­gional and In­dian state elec­tions have come and gone, in which ‘Pan­thic’ can­di­dates have proven to be ex­tremely un­pop­u­lar and de­fec­tive. Why?! ‘Pan­thic’ fig­ures and groups have failed to come to­gether into a long-term civil mass move­ment, du­pli­cat­ing the pre-June 1984 Dharam Yudh Mor­cha.

We have seen very lit­tle in terms of a co­or­di­nated, co­her­ent lead­er­ship-dri­ven strat­egy to trans­form and es­ca­late the move­ment to new lev­els and heights – elec­torally, in­ter­na­tional me­dia pres­ence and en­gage­ment with the United Na­tions.

De­spite fran­tic calls, a united Pan­jaab Na­tional Coali­tion of all Pan­jaab-cen­tric and Pan­thic groups has not ma­te­ri­alised. In ag­o­nis­ing dis­ar­ray and vac­uum, there is no strat­egy in­side Pan­jaab or out­side in­ter­na­tion­ally, to progress the crit­i­cal cause of Pan­jaab.

It is not a lack of peo­ples’ will but a lack of au­then­tic lead­ers, be­cause of which there is con­fu­sion, stag­na­tion and even aban­don­ment as was seen in the un­ex­plained clo­sure of the Bar­gari Mor­cha in 2018.

It raises poignant ques­tions about who is de­cid­ing our agenda. Who is pos­ing as our lead­ers? Who is ac­tu­ally com­mit­ted and ca­pa­ble? Who is mis­lead­ing and de­ceiv­ing in the name of ‘pan­thic’ rhetoric? Who is ac­tu­ally de­liv­er­ing in terms of tan­gi­ble progress and gains? Who is sim­ply mak­ing a po­lit­i­cal and mon­e­tary for­tune out of the sorry saga of Pan­jaab?

Un­less there is a fresh, sin­cere, coura­geous and in­tel­li­gent lead­er­ship for Pan­jaab to break us out of the straight-jacket of In­dia pol­i­tics and stag­na­tion, Pan­jaab is doomed to con­tinue on the mis­er­able tread­mill that it has been since 1947!

Un­less there is a fresh, sin­cere, coura­geous and in­tel­li­gent lead­er­ship for Pan­jaab to break us out of the straight-jacket of In­dia pol­i­tics and stag­na­tion, Pan­jaab is doomed to con­tinue on the mis­er­able tread­mill that it has been since 1947!

The Pan­jaabi soul aches and screams for democ­racy, hu­man rights and self-de­ter­mi­na­tion for Pan­jaab be­ing free to de­ter­mine its des­tiny. Will cir­cum­stances per­mit for such a qual­i­ta­tive lead­er­ship to emerge?