The Punjab Rural Development & Panchyats and Housing & Urban Development Minister Tript Rajinder Singh Bajwa today slammed the Narendra Modi government and the Sangh Parivar for trying to drag the country back by 70 years and Pakistanise plural India’s delicate social fabric by thrusting hegemonisation.Speaking at the function to commemorate the towering Panthic leader Jathedar Gurcharan Singh Tohra organized by the Sikh Education Society here, Bajwa said the politics that has been unleashed by the BJP and its parent body Sangh Parivar since the formation of the Modi government posed the most serious threat to the very idea of India.In this context, he recalled the socio-political philosophy of Jathedar Tohra who had a deep insight into plurality of India and was the one Akali leader who was clear that the country could be kept united only by respecting and accommodating the diversity that characterize this vast country.Bajwa said the philosophy practiced by Jathedar Tohra has become all the more relevant today at the time when India faces threat to its very survival from the policies and politics unleashed by the Sangh Parivar.He called upon the teaching community to create awareness among the students about diversity and plurality of India that is under threat of hegemonisation.
He said Jathedar Tohra was the only kind of Panthic leader who inherited 9 acre of land and left behind just nine acres. Here was a leader who commanded the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee for a record 27 years.In her key-note addressed, eminent historian Dr Indu Banga dwelt at length on the life and philosophy of Tohta who, she said, was a leader who symbolized total commitment to Panth after Master Tara Singh. He subscribed to the politics associated with Sikh identity and favoured judicious balance between religion and politics.“As and intellectual and an ideologue, he took a larger view of the Akalis that linked their past, present and future. He visualized the progress of the Sikh community through the preservation of Sikh tradition and protection of Sikh intere4sts. He preferred issue-based politics “, she said.Tohra’s longtime protégé Karnail Singh Panjoli and Congress MLA from Patti Harminder Singh Gill talked about their association with Tohra who had groomed them in politics.Giving examples, they recalled as to how Tohra was a leader with total commitment to Panth as against those who traded in politics for self-gains.The SES honoured social activist Nanak Singh Nishter and DR Kuldip Singh Dhir on the occasion.SES President Gurdev Singh and Secretary Jasmer Singh Bala also spoke on the occasion.