The Experience
of Khalsa Tehrik
Maharaja Ranjit Singh (1780-1839) was a great Sikh Raja whose rule extended over a large area. The geographical reach of the Sikh Empire under Ranjit Singh included all lands north of the Sutlej river, and south of the high valleys in the north western Himalayas. The major towns in the Empire included Srinagar, Attock, Peshawar, Bannu, Rawalpindi, Jammu, Gujrat, Sialkot, Kangra, Amritsar, Lahore and Multan.
The Khalsa movement was initiated during the British period by the Sikhs, its goal being to restore the political glory of Maharaja Ranjit Singh. After the division of the country, its sphere became limited. But in 1979, it was revived in the form of the Khalistan national movement. Subsequently, the Sikh intellectuals felt that the Khalsa movement was proving counter-productive and that it was not going to yield any positive result. Ultimately, a new thinking emerged among the intellectuals of the Sikh community. They developed the same thinking in their community which I have called re-planning. That is, the period of Maharaja Ranjit Singh should be regarded only as a page in history and they should re-plan their actions in line with the changed circumstances.
These Sikh intellectuals told their community that after India’s independence (1947), the Sikh community had made great progress in India. Although they comprised just 2 percent of the Indian population, in practice they controlled 20 percent of the economy of the country. With this realization, Sardar Jagjit Singh Chauhan (died 2007), the leader of the Khalsa movement became unpopular in his own community. With this new mindset the Sikh community started re-planning and now Punjab is one of the wealthiest states of India.
This example of the Sikh community could be applied to Palestine and Kashmir. If the Muslims of Palestine and Kashmir were to learn lessons from this example and engage in re-planning for their national struggle, then without doubt they could create a new history in both these lands.
There are extraordinary opportunities for progress which are lying unavailed of because of unrealistic thinking. If the Muslims of Palestine and Kashmir were to learn the secret of re-planning, then without doubt they could carve out a great future for themselves.
In present times, not only in Kashmir and Palestine, but all over the world, the Muslims harbor negative thinking, holding others to be the oppressors and themselves the oppressed. Due to this mindset, positive thinking has not had a chance to develop. They can only think of their past glory and are totally unaware of the opportunities in the present. They know the culture of complaint, but they are not aware of such planning as is based on reality. Their thinking is based on the complaints that they harbor against their supposed oppressors, and due to this, they supposedly feel that they are the oppressed. If the Muslims of the present times were to banish this negative thinking, they would discover that the present age is totally in their favour.
Today’s age is wholly changed, but the Muslims are still living in the past. In practice, they are prisoners of history; this is the real problem of the Muslims. A new age can begin only when this negative mindset is changed.
Dr. Abdul Jalil Faridi of Lucknow (1913-1974) was the founding President of the Muslim majlis-e mushawerat. He published a daily Urdu newspaper ‘Qaid’. In one of its articles, he wrote that Muslim journalism was protestant journalism. These words are applicable to the entire journalism of the Muslims of modern times. Indian Muslims will have to bring into existence creative journalism instead of protest journalism, and only then will they be able to create a new age today. They are not going to achieve anything by complaint and protest.
