Ram Mandir Consecrated, Sikhs Join

On 22 Jan, Indian PM Narendra Modi formally consecrated the Ram Mandir (temple) in Ayodhya. Thus, a process of explicit Hindu dominance of India’s political system that started with the demolition of the historic Babri Mosque – claimed to be the birth place of Lord Ram – on 6 Dec 1992 came full circle. The 1992 demolition set off riots across the country, resulting in the killing of about 2,000 people, mostly Muslims. No one was ever punished, and the battle to erase the mosque came to represent the country’s rapidly growing Hindu nationalism. The BJP long promised to build the Ram temple on its remains. Now, in 2024, many consider this consecration to mark a more material shift in the nation from secularism to Hindu religious majoritarianism. Hindutva forces launched a huge campaign to enroll other communities in endorsing the temple consecration and invited the SGPC. On 17 Jan, the Chandigarh-based Kendri Guru Singh Sabha asked the SGPC if they had accepted the invitation. Considering that idol worship is not part of Sikh rehat maryada (code of conduct), the SGPC responded by congratulating the BJP, but declined to attend. Meanwhile, the BJP’s Sikh national spokesman RP Singh organized an 'Akhand Path' in Gurdwara Brahm Kund Sahib in Ayodhya. Sikh history, Sikh practice, and the Sikh community at large are once again subject to the larger forces of Hindutva narratives. (SDW Vol. 1 Issue 14, Story 7).

Residents of historic Gharram village, 18 km from Patiala, believe Lord Ram was born not in Ayodhya, but in their village in the palace of his maternal grandfather, the local Maharaja Khoh Ram. They cite a publication of Punjabi University, Patiala, titled Patiala and its Historical Surroundings, published in 1969, and some historic remains. Manmohan Kumar from Maharshi Dayanand University, Rohtak, says that an excavation at Gharram was done in 1975-77. ‘Though no direct links of the village’s with the Ramayana could be established, centuries-old material was found. There is some land which, as per records, is still in the name of Luv-Kush — sons of Lord Ram.’ The villagers were hoping to be honored at the Ram Mandir consecration but were not invited for the program, nor was the village mentioned. Meanwhile, a bumper crop of kinnows this season has resulted in a drop in its price which has upset the farmers as they are not even able to recover their investment. After suggesting kinnows be distributed to school children as part of midday meals, they are now asking the government to arrange the fruit to be sent to Ayodhya as part of langar for the Ram Mandir (temple) visitors. (SDW Vol. 2 Issue 3, Story 5). The union government is running special trains from Panjab to Ayodhya in February so people can visit the Ram Mandir. On 22 Jan, Panjab was upbeat. The cities were spruced-up, streets illuminated, and Jai Shree Ram saffron flags went up on stalls and 

several buildings.

On 16 Jan, Gurpatwant Singh Pannun of Sikhs for Justice (SFJ) threatened to assassinate Panjab CM Bhagwant Mann and Director General Police Gaurav Yadav on Republic Day – 26 Jan.  Pannun issued the threat in a video message where he also challenged PM Narendra Modi to participate in the Republic Day function without security cover. He allegedly said, ‘I dare Modi, if you are a popular leader, come to Delhi on Republic Day without security. The SFJ will raise the Khalistani flag and avenge the killing of Shaheed Nijjar.’ Pannun also asked gangsters not to allow CM Mann to unfurl the Indian tricolor in Ludhiana on Republic Day. He said that Mann was a ‘butcher like Beant Singh,’ the former chief minister who was killed in a bomb attack. Pannun said Panjab’s youth were being branded as gangsters and killed in fake encounters. He asked the youth to get in touch with him and register themselves as voters for a referendum on Khalistan on 26 Jan. The next day, CM Mann said such threats are an outcome of their zero-tolerance policy against anti-Panjab forces and that efforts are on to bring back criminals involved in anti-national activities from safe havens abroad to punish them. The statement shows how the AAP government and the Center are aligned in their approach towards Panjab. In a repeat of earlier such instances, Delhi Police found pro-Khalistan graffiti on a wall in West Delhi's Uttam Nagar. Like earlier, a First Information Report (FIR) has been filed but there seems to be no effort to investigate the matter.

The Jammu and Kashmir High Court, in response to a petition, has clarified that having the surname ‘Singh’ or ‘Kaur/Kour’ is not required in order to be recognized as a Sikh. It must be noted many Kashmiri Sikh women spell their name as Kour, instead of Kaur. The petition challenged the District Gurudwara Prabandhak Committee elections in Akhnoor. The petitioner contested the election results, citing concerns that non-Sikhs were added to the electoral roll based on the absence of Singh or Kour in their surnames. The petitioner, dissatisfied with the statutory appellate authority’s decision, sought relief from the High Court. He argued that the absence of Singh or Kour in the name violated the Jammu and Kashmir Sikh Gurudwara and Religious Endowment Rules, 1975, defining a Sikh by belief in the ten Gurus, Guru Granth Sahib, and keeping Kesh (long hair). Justice Wasim Sadiq Nargal observed, ‘The contention of the petitioner is contrary to the definition laid down in the Act which is not acceptable and the same cannot be sustainable in the eyes of law. There are many people, who do not have Singh or Kour as their surnames, but still they are recognized as Sikh, as they preach the Sikh religion.’ The Akal Takht and SGPC have objected to the ruling. In separate statements, both said the Sikh identity was not subject to worldly courts but was based on conduct blessed by the Gurus. The decision creates opportunities for external interference in Sikh institutions and decision-making processes.

On 18 Jan, Panjab CM Bhagwant Mann met envoys of eight countries and urged them to invest in the state in sectors such as agriculture, education, and sports. Mann met the ambassadors and high commissioners of Australia, the United Kingdom, Brazil, Spain, Malaysia and the Netherlands, among others, in New Delhi and discussed areas of mutual interest to help promote investment in the state. The CM showcased Panjab as a land of opportunities, describing the state as having complete communal harmony, peace and amity, which are mainly responsible for overall development and prosperity in the state. The CM said, ‘The investments that will come in will help turn Panjab into a global hub of investment and help restore its original glory. The day is not far away when Panjab will emerge as the industrial hub of the country.’ Mann was meeting these envoys locally while Panjab skipped the biggest forum for such exchanges – the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland held from 15-19 Jan. Other states like Maharashtra and Telangana inked major deals at the Forum. The CM’s message to the envoys is deeply ironic. If Panjab is so peaceful, why does news of police encounters of gangsters and other crimes dominate the daily headlines? Why do the police indulge in Cordon and Search Operations every second month and file thousands of drugs-related FIRs? Why does the Center and its media carry on labeling Sikhs as Khalistanis and anti-nationals?

In the first test of the INDIA grouping of opposition parties against the BJP, AAP and INC decided to contest the Chandigarh union territory mayoral polls together. AAP is contesting for the post of mayor and the INC for senior deputy mayor and deputy mayor. The polls were slated for 18 Jan. However, on 16 Jan, when the INC councilor sought to withdraw his nomination, the presiding officer Anil Masih and the Municipal Commission Secretary Gurinder Sodhi both fell ill. Interestingly, both the officers claimed to be suffering from the same issue – backache. Chandigarh’s Deputy Commissioner Vinay Pratap Singh has now announced the elections will take place on 6 Feb. A statement from the Commissioner's office read: ‘This decision follows a thorough assessment of the security and law and order situation by the Senior Superintendent of Police, Chandigarh.’ AAP and INC see BJP’s hand in deferring the polls, blaming otherwise peaceful Chandigarh’s law and order situation. AAP's Raghav Chadha said the INDIA bloc had 20 of the 36 votes in its favor and accused the BJP of being a sore loser. Questioning why elections have to be deferred if the BJP is losing, he said, ‘BJP is like a disgruntled child who, upon being called out in gully cricket, takes away the bat and declares an end to the game.’ Kuldeep Kumar, an elected AAP council and mayoral candidate for the INDIA alliance filed a petition in the Punjab and Haryana High Court. The Court has ordered rescheduling the polls between 23 Jan and 26 Jan. (SDW Vol. 2 Issue 3. Story 3).

Canadian Immigration Minister Marc Miller recently said the number of study permits Canada issued to Indian students fell sharply late last year after India ejected Canadian diplomats who would have processed the permits. Additionally, fewer Indian students applied due to the diplomatic dispute between India and Canada over Hardeep Singh Nijjar’s murder. Indians have formed the largest group of international students in Canada in recent years, with more than 41% or 225,835 of all permits going to them in 2022. Over half of these students are from Panjab. The Sikh population in Canada has doubled in the last two decades. In the third quarter last year, Canada issued 108,940 visas, but after geopolitical tensions began in the fourth quarter, issued only 14,910 visas – a drop of 86%. Miller believes the number of study permits to Indians is unlikely to rebound soon. In another interview, Miller said the Canadian government is considering a cap on the number of international students. He expressed concern about the current volume of around 900,000 international students. Miller argued that this is a conversation the federal government will need to have with provincial wings ‘to make sure that the provinces that have not been doing their jobs actually rein in those numbers on a pure volume basis.’ He continued, ‘It’s really a system that has gotten out of control.’ According to Immigration Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC), 62,410 foreign students became permanent residents of Canada in 2023. (SDW Vol. 1 Issue 14, Story 4)

On 14 Jan, Rahul Gandhi embarked on an East-to-West Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra (India Unity & Justice March) from violence-hit Manipur. He is undertaking this two-month-long march on a customized bus. The march will traverse through 100 Lok Sabha segments and the party believes it will prove to be as transformative as Gandhi’s earlier cross-country march in 2022. He will be covering 6,700 kilometers in 67 days across 15 states. Last time, one of the main reasons for the march was that mainstream media had stopped covering the INC. The popularity of the earlier march forced the media to cover the party’s activities. This time it will be interesting to watch how the media behaves as the Ram Mandir consecration has launched the BJP’s campaign for 2024 general elections. As the yatra commenced, Sikh leaders from BJP targeted the INC over the 1984 genocide. Chairperson of the National Commission for Minorities (NCM) Iqbal Singh Lalpura said, after the PM Modi-led government came to power, files related to compensation and delivering justice to the victims have started moving fast. ‘While the special investigation team (SIT) is doing the job of bringing justice to the families of the victims, we will give them compensation which they truly deserve.’ Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said, ‘I want to ask Rahul Gandhi if he has contemplated justice for the victims of our community who suffered in 1984. Has he visited and offered apologies to the affected people?’

For the first time in Panjab in this winter season, on 15 Jan the temperature went below zero degrees Celsius. While schools have reopened in Panjab, most parts of North India continue to reel under chilling cold wave conditions with dense fog lowering visibility and disrupting rail and air traffic in the national capital. Every day for the past few weeks, scores of flights are canceled and trains are delayed or canceled. Extreme cold conditions and lack of sunlight also affect crops. Though wheat is standing in Panjab’s fields, there is risk of yellow rust disease. India has a huge expectation from the crop because according to the Food Corporation of India (FCI) and state agencies, the godowns were down to 163.5 lakh tonnes (lt) of the cereal as of 1 Jan. The current levels are higher than the minimum buffer level of 138 lt, required to cover three months of the operational requirement of 108 lt as well an additional 30 lt required in case of any procurement shortfall. The Union government has banned the export of wheat and has banned wholesalers and big chain retailers from holding more than 1,000 tonnes of wheat, and also selling grain from FCI’s stocks in the open market. Still, a lot of it depends on the size of the harvest of the wheat crop at March-end, ahead of Lok Sabha elections. This season, in Panjab, the area under wheat is 34.80 lakh hectare. All over northern states, it is 336.96 lakh hectares (lh), up from last year’s 335.67 lh and the normal five-year average of 307.32 lh.

As is the tradition, this year the Maghi Mela was marked on 14 Jan, a day before Makar Sankranti. Maghi Mela has been commemorated in the city of Sri Muktsar Sahib in Panjab for centuries in memory of the 40 Sikh warriors who were killed fighting the Mughals in the Battle of Khidrana in 1705. It was after this battle that Khidrana was named Muktsar, or the pool of liberation; the 40 warriors were liberated for recommitting to fight against the oppressive empire. Over the years, political conferences became the main attraction in this mela, and often set the political tone for the state with SAD, INC, and AAP all putting up big tents and ferrying people for their rallies. Since 2018, however, there have been attempts to reduce the number of conferences and de-politicize the festival. That has worked and now the political affairs are nominal. Along with the mela, unions also organize a big animal fair, especially with horses. A lot of people trade in animals at the fair, but this year the Panjab government hesitated to approve the inclusion of horses. This was due to fear of Glanders disease, which does not have a known cure and spreads very quickly among horses. It is fatal. However, after district wise testing, barring horses from Hoshiarpur district whose health was doubtful, the Panjab government allowed for the horse fair at Maghi Mela in Muktsar from January 9 to 16. In spite of the bitter cold, there was a huge turnout at the mela.