Jagtar Singh

Jagtar Singh Despite vociferous opposition from   the media in Delhi, the historical blunder that was   the Radcliffe Line   that divided the land of the Sikhs   on August 15, 1947 would partly be undone when the Kartarpur Sahib corridor gets operationalised on November 9. This is the most significant development with global ramification in this year of 550 th anniversary of Guru Nanak Dev, the founder of the Sikh Faith. Nankana Sahib where Guru Nanak was born and Kartarpur Sahib where he spent his last seventeen years are both in Pakistan. It was at Kartarpur Sahib that he gave practical shape to his socio-economic model of egalitarianism, brotherhood and shared labor.   The Sikhs in their daily prayer have been seeking free access to the shrine in Pakistan. A major section of the media in Delhi persistently opposed the proposal   and attacked it as corridor of terror. Similar reservation had also been expressed by some members of the politic...

Jagtar Singh The results of the four bye-elections in Punjab represent an interesting paradox. With three out of four Assembly seats going to the Congress, Punjab has maintained the same voting pattern that was witnessed both in 2017 Assembly elections and 2019 Lok Sabha elections. The Congress victory is important in the context of the fact that one of these seats was Jalalabad that was claimed by Akali Dal president Sukhbir Singh Badal as his fiefdom. Jalalabad, Phagwara and Mukerian have gone to the Congress while the Akal Dal has bagged Dakha that fell vacant following the resignation by Hardev Singh Phoolka who had won as Aam Aadmi Party candidate. Phagwara was vacated by Som Dutt of the BJP following his election to the Lok Sabha. It is Jalalabad that has delivered unexpected result as the general perception was that being the bastion of Sukhbir, it would be difficult to defeat his nominee. The voters have shattered the perception that the Rai Sikhs play decisive r...

Jagtar Singh The Akal Takht, the supreme religio-political institution of the Sikhs for prayer and politics, has   confronted the design of the Rashtrya Swayamsewak Sangh in Punjab, the next target after Jammu and Kashmir under its homogenisation agenda. Its acting   Jathedar Giani Harpreet Singh attacking this parent organisation of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party at this juncture is multi-dimensional. He yesterday reiterated that this Hindutva organisation is divisive. He is the only leader of a powerful minority institution who has directly confronted this organisation. But then this attack is in consonance with the edict issued from this institution against the RSS and its Sikh front Rashtriya Sikh Sangat in 2004. The Akali Dal was then also in alliance with the BJP whose parent body is RSS. Technicalities might be different but the Akali Dal’s alliance with the BJP violates the very spirit of the 2004 edict. Jathedar Harpreet Singh, the researcher in...

Jagtar Singh The Sikh religio-political discourse is confronted with a thought provoking   situation. The democratic mobilisation to seek justice for sacrilege of Guru Granth Sahib at Bargari and the related cases has ultimately collapsed. The failure of peaceful struggle that rocked the boat of the Shiromani Akali Dal   over the last four years is the inference that can be drawn from the three functions organised yesterday at Bargari and Kotkapura on its 4 th anniversary. The Sikh organisations that had at one time aggressively taken up the cause are now disgustingly divided and hence the failure to share a common platform. The Sikhs refused to respond going by poor participation. Two of these functions were just symbolic. It may be mentioned that the Bir of Guru Granth Sahib was reported missing from Burj Jawahar Singhwala gurdwara on June 1, 2015 and its pages were found scattered in the streets of neighbouring Bargari village on October 12. The police fir...

Making positive contribution to 550 th anniversary of Guru Nanak Jagtar Singh At the time when the celebrations of 550 th anniversary of Guru Nanak are embroiled in unnecessary and petty controversies,   there are people who are making positive contributions. The basic issue is not in which function President Ram Nath Kovind or Prime Minister Narendra Modi would participate but that of spreading the message and teachings of Guru Nanak. Guru Nanak is not a divisive figure as is made out from the cacophony being raised by these political leaders. Guru Nanak symbolises the entire cosmos, not confined to any region, ethnicity, religion, caste or creed. He is timeless who rises above the perception of a worldly Guru. This thought of   universality of Guru Nanak has been focussed in the coffee table book ‘Kal Taran Guru Nanak Aiya….Guru Nanak Devji: Life and Main Gurdwaras” by eminent Sikh scholar Dr. Roop Singh. The message of Guru Nanak has been summarise...