New Parliament building stands on ground of Gurdwara Sahib:Simranjit Mann

May 28, 2023 - PatialaPolitics

New Parliament building stands on ground of Gurdwara Sahib:Simranjit Mann

Construction of the new parliament building on Sikh Gurdwara Sahib land. Simranjit Singh Mann, Member of Parliament.

 

New Delhi, 28th May, ( ) About 40 years from 1984 a new building of the Indian Parliament is to be inaugurated on 28th May 2023. About 40 years from today the duly elected parliamentary government and the opposition chose to launch Operation Bluestar, which resulted in the destruction of Sri Akal Takht Sahib and the killing of devotees including women and children by the Indian Army, followed by Operation Woodrose, which launched the extra judicial targeting and killing of Sikhs by the Indian state. Ironically Parliament is located on the land owned by Bhai Lakhi Shah Banjara in whose house the body of Guru Teg Bahadur Sahib was cremated and in whose fields the current Parliament in village Raisina is erected. The same house and land of Bhai Lakhi Shah Banjara were liberated by the Sikhs under Sardar Bhagel Singh, who erected Gurdwara Rakabganj Sahib at the site of Bhai Lakhi Shah Banjara’s house and included his fields in the property of Gurdwara Rakabganj Sahib to mark the wrongful killing of Guru Teg Bahadur Sahib who stood for human and religious rights. The new parliamentary building is clearly located on the land illegally taken from Gurdwara Rakabganj Sahib constructed by Sardar Bhagel Singh.

 

The parliamentary building is also the site of genocide of the Sikhs which unfolded in 1984 in Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Bengal and other parts of India. Its epicentre was located in the capital of India, New Delhi and even at the door steps of parliament, led by The Parliamentarian Kamal Nath, and condoned by the parliamentary government of Rajiv Gandhi. This Parliament shut down all government forces responsible for law and order and emergency functions in order to eliminate Sikhs.

 

This Parliament, exercising the executive and legislative functions of government has been unwilling and hence unable to provide justice and equity to minorities and has instead imposed majoritarian religious conversion upon Sikhs in its very constitution by defining Sikhs to be Hindus under Article 25. Even though Sri Guru Granth Sahib on Ang No. 1136 states:

ਭੈਰਉ ਮਹਲਾ 5

ਨਾ ਹਮ ਹਿੰਦੂ ਨ ਮੁਸਲਮਾਨ ॥ ਅਲਹ ਰਾਮ ਕੇ ਪਿੰਡੁ ਪਰਾਨ

ਹਜ ਕਾਬੈ ਜਾਉ ਨ ਤੀਰਥ ਪੂਜਾ ॥ ਏਕੋ ਸੇਵੀ ਅਵਰੁ ਨ ਦੂਜਾ ॥

ਪੂਜਾ ਕਰਉ ਨ ਨਿਵਾਜ ਗੁਜਾਰਉ ॥ ਏਕ ਨਿਰੰਕਾਰ ਲੇ ਰਿਦੈ ਨਮਸਕਾਰਉ ॥

 

ਵਰਤ ਨ ਰਹਉ ਨ ਮਹ ਰਮਦਾਨਾ ॥ ਤਿਸੁ ਸੇਵੀ ਜੋ ਰਖੈ ਨਿਦਾਨਾ ॥

ਏਕੁ ਗੁਸਾਈ ਅਲਹੁ ਮੇਰਾ ॥ ਹਿੰਦੂ ਤੁਰਕ ਦੁਹਾਂ ਨੇਬੇਰਾ ॥—1136

 

It is tragic to realise that where the executive and legislature have been complicit in the genocide of the Sikhs the judiciary has provided no relief.

 

India lauds it self as a birth place of democracy, the new parliamentary building is thus a celebration of democracy. This democracy in India did not start in ancient times since the code of Manu disenfranchised most of humanity through his definition of Shudra and other castes. Any Panchayati system so derived cannot be said to have been democratic in any modern sense. It is only with the advent of the Sikh Gurdwara Act, 1925 that universal franchise was introduced to this land. The vicious majoritarian thinking of the Parliament of India has reduced this democratic functioning of the house of Guru Nanak to rule by un-elected yes men controlled by Parliament. Even though the statutory term requirement, for both democratic houses, is five years. Post 1947 the SGPC (Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee) elections have been held only 8 times, where as the Indian Parliament is ready to enter its new premises for the 18th time next year. The delayed election of the SGPC allows Parliament to pick and choose elected members as per its convenience, instead of the elected SGPC house reflecting the will of the Sikh Sangat. This is the most vicious fratricide of democratic functioning of a community that liberated the very land on which the new parliament sits.

 

The Sikh religion passing through the nine Gur Gaddi’s was converted into the Khalsa by the tenth Guru, Guru Gobind Singh Maharaj. Guru Gobind Singh Maharaj tried to establish a moral humanitarian state, Khalistan, in Anandpur Sahib and its adjacent areas. Sacrificing himself and his entire family in this enterprise. Khalistan was later established by Baba Banda Singh Bahadur and later by Maharaja Ranjit Singh. In a further slight and suppression of a minority history this parliamentary house has banned the utterance of the historic Khalistan in its chambers, while everyday we hear the chants of ‘Hindu, Hindi, Hindustan.’ None of which are mentioned as the name of the state, as per the constitution of India.

 

The new house has enlarged its chambers to accommodate new members to be included through the new delimitation of India. Due to the genocide, suppression and targeting of Sikhs for conversion to Hinduism, the Sikh Nation will have reduced representation in this new house. This is a forcible reduction of our representative power, envisioned in this new house of democracy. In the last seventy six years we have seen the constant erosion of federal rights whereby Punjab’s territory, river waters, language have been over ridden by centralizing lust, of Parliament, for our just rights and properties.

 

Being a border state we have always been thrust into war against our neighbours simply because there is a deep rooted hatred for Islam in the majority community.

 

This has led to loss of economic growth and trade which are soft measures to build peace and prosperity. In fact all wars and incursions can be correlated to pending national elections and a poorly performing parliamentary government unable to serve its populations peace time requirements, instead of which they have chosen to serve jingoistic majoritarian rhetoric and war, in an age of nuclear weapons which irrespective of the nation deploying them will lead to the full an final destruction of the Sikh homeland of Punjab.

 

The Sikh religion traces its lineage back to Sheikh Baba Farid ji in the twelfth century who chose to espouse the name of the almighty in the local Punjabi, thus making the almighty approachable to the local Punjabi population, thus breaking the stranglehold of Sanskrit and Arabic. Bhagat Ravidass Maharaj broke the stranglehold of caste and moved Sikhi away from Manu’s Manava Dharma Shastra. It is troubling to see that this new Parliament has chosen to ignore the President of India, in whose name all laws are enacted, at the inauguration of the new Parliament. It is even more troubling to see that the inauguration will be done by a Prime Minister who is responsible for the genocide of his own subjects in Gujarat. It is contrary to the spirit of Bhagat Ravidass that a President who is from Manu’s shudra classification is ignored and a mass murderer who behaves like the religious bigot that ordered the decapitation of Guru Tegh Bahadur Sahib is inaugurating the Parliament building. That too on land that was owned by Bhai Lakhi Shah Banjara and liberated for the construction of Gurdwara Rakabganj Sahib by Bhai Bhagel Singh.

 

In summation it is our position that the new parliamentary building stands on ground owned by Bhai Lakhi Shah Banjara of Raisina, and liberated by Sardar Bhagel Singh for the purposes of constructing Gurdwara Rakabganj Sahib and should be returned to the Sikhs. Rather than Parliament demanding new digs, it should reflect on its humanitarian record and correct its gross violations of human and minority rights. We also wish for the Parliament to recognise the forty years that have passed without justice for the genocide of the Sikhs and declare 2024 as a remembrance year of the Genocide of the Sikhs. In no circumstances should someone responsible for the mass murder of innocent civilians inaugurate this new Parliament.

 

(Simranjit Singh Mann),

Member of Parliament,

President,

Shiromani Akali Dal (Amritsar).