Reckless politics by earlier governments created conditions that bred an insurgency movement but Sikhs have always saluted the Tiranga
Healthy politics is all about disagreements (irrespective of the fact that every ruling dispensation would suggest otherwise), and so it should always be. Dissent and disagreement with a government and its perceived policies is not the same as rebelling against the nation. History is instructive that often dissent against the government can be the highest form of patriotism e.g., dissent against Emergency in 1975. However, something is sacrosanct and beyond the realm of either political usurpation or conversely destruction. These are the foundational ‘Ideas of India’ as enshrined in the holy book of the land i.e., the Constitution and the defined symbols within, the most sacred of them being the national flag, Tiranga or Tricolour.
Recent images of a Khalistani supporter attempting to pull down the Tiranga at the Indian High Commission in London, were simply deplorable beyond words. The shameful act militated against the inert sense of patriotism that ought to beset all Indians, irrespective of their partisan loyalties, personal identities, and disaffections. That it came from a member of a community that has given more blood and lives to protect the integrity, sovereignty, and dignity of India since time immemorial, made it even more hurtful and unbelievable.
Contrast this recent image with that of the valourous Sikh warriors (8 Sikh Regiment - the irrepressible ‘Chardhikala’ battalion) who battled their way to the top of Tiger Hill in the Kargil War. These fierce Khalsa warriors with unmatched josh and daredevilry reached atop the Tiger Hill and flew the Tiranga – the price to pay for flying that Tiranga was one officer, four junior commissioned officers and 30 jawans of 8 Sikh who went down fighting and charging with a war cry that sent shivers down the spine of the enemies, ‘Bole So Nihal Sat Sri Akal’! To defend their commitment to the flag, their forefathers had refused to surrender and came down fighting to the last man in earlier battles like Saragarhi. There is no surprise the latter day Sikh Regiment (along with Sikh Light Infantry) has continued to be one of the most decorated regiments of the Indian Army due to its fiery traditions. 1st Battalion of the Sikh Regiment, later the 4th Mechanised Regiment, is considered the Commonwealth's most decorated battalion with 245 pre-independence and 82 post-independence gallantry awards. Martial Sikhs need no certificate of patriotism. Those who seek to besmirch its fine history written in blood and sacrifice, don’t behoove or represent the community’s unflinching standards and ethos for eons!
Sikhs may be about 1.7% of the national population but they are almost 20% of the recipients of the highest gallantry award i.e., Param Vir Chakra (with the National Emblem of India in the centre, surrounded by four copies of the Vajra). These men willingly put themselves in the line of fire to defend the Tiranga. They are Lance Naik Karam Singh, Subedar Joginder Singh, Flying Officer Nirmal Jit Singh Sekhon and Hony Capt Major Bana Singh.
Beyond soldering, farming is the mainstay of the Sikh community and they have had many socio-economic concerns with various dispensations since independence (like any region or ethnicity). Reckless politics by earlier governments created conditions that bred an insurgency movement, but that didn’t imply that every Sikh who had a genuine grievance against the government wanted to secede or become a Khalistani (as is instinctively and thoughtlessly attributed today). At the height of militancy in 1987, then Naib Subedar Bana Singh of 8th JAKLI had led an impossible assault and wrested control of an almost impregnable peak in Siachen Glacier. Such is the cloth from which the Sikh community is cut – societal and political differences aside, a nation first and foremost, always!
Like many proud Veterans who had guarded the nation with their lives and were later participating in the Farmers Protest a few years back, little did they know that they would be abused as Khalistanis, ‘anti-nationals’ by people who would never come remotely close to making the sacrifices that these men and women had made, and even by some among them, who were misguided and truly condemnable. Larger citizenry did not differentiate (unlike in the 80's) and the dispensation encouraged the wrongful narrative that a Khalistani flag had replaced the Tiranga at Red Fort – it hadn’t replaced the Tiranga and the flag hoisted on the said pole was the sacred Nishan Sahib and not the Khalistani flag. But politics of disparagement ensued and wrongfully diminished a patriotic community, as truth may not have been able to generate the much-needed polarisation!
As a result, the PVC awardee Hony Capt Bana Singh voiced his disapproval of the Agnipath scheme and even walked with an opposition leader on his Bharat Jodo Yatra - the logic of the proud Indians - "This is our country, and we have to address what issues there are". He rightfully delinked his right to dissent from any suggestions of disagreeing with the ‘Idea of India'. Instead, he owned and sought to protect the ‘India’, which he was proud of by dissenting. Today all his tweets are signed off by emoticons of a folded hand and the Tiranga! The person who sought to remove the Tiranga from the building in London could never claim to represent the clan of defenders of the nation and its Tiranga. This is i.e., the most patriotic, gallant and noblest Sikhs.
(The writer, a military veteran, is a former Lt Governor of Andaman & Nicobar Islands and Puducherry. The views expressed are personal)
