By Pramod Kumar
The 1984 anti-Sikh riots all over the country as an aftermath of assassination of the then Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi, left all the countrymen stunned and shocked. It forced the intellectuals to take immediate corrective steps to prevent divisions in the society. As was discovered later, the main reason behind the riots was lack of communication. People forgot that Hindus and Sikhs shared a common heritage and culturally and socially both were one. In its effort to spread this message, the Rashtriya Sikh Sangat was constituted on November 23, 1986, and since the date of its existence, it has been propagating the teachings of Gurbani, the common values, heritage and way of life to all Sikhs and Hindus.
The last words in the daily prayer of every Sikh are Gurunanak naam charadi kala, tere bahane sarabat da bhala, by which they pray for the well-being of all human beings. The Rashtriya Sikh Sangat has been working to bring this samskar into practice. It has also launched a ?social assimilation? programme to remove the schism that developed between the Hindus and Sikhs after the 1984 riots and organises programmes to educate people for removing misconceptions and fear that have arisen since then.
The Sikh Sangat has its units in 600 cities of 18 states of the country. At present these units are mostly in the cities and a move is afoot to spread its reach to villages too. In Punjab and Rajasthan it has its units in villages also.
People forgot that Hindus and Sikhs shared a common heritage and culturally and socially both were one. In its effort to spread this message, the Rashtriya Sikh Sangat was constituted on November 23, 1986, and since the date of its existence, it has been propagating the teachings of Gurbani, the common values, heritage and way of life to all Sikhs and Hindus.
The Sikh Sangat organises camps at different places to inculcate religious values among the younger generation and apprise them of the rich cultural heritage of the country. The Sangat was the first organisation in Punjab to raise the voice against abuse of alcohol and drugs in 1988. Since family life of many had of late become disturbed in Punjab as a result of widespread consumption of alcohol and drugs, the affected family members were only too happy to respond to any corrective measures taken in this regard. The Sangat also organises camps for imparting religious teachings, particularly the teachings of Shri Guru Granth Sahib.
This is the fourth centenary year of the Shri Guru Granth Sahib. ?We had planned five major yatras from different places of the country to propagate the message of Gurbani. The yatras were to culminate at Amritsar on August 31. But, unfortunately, there are people who love to place hurdles in the way of those who really want to do something. It is these persons who persuaded the Akal Takht that this yatra was to propagate the activities of the RSS, which, they alleged, was offering lip sympathy to Sikhs so as to be able to infiltrate into the Sikh community. The fact is that nobody can ban the religious activity of anyone. Our Constitution has provided us the independence to practise any religion. The society will ask them some day as to what they are doing. Anyway, we respect the Akal Takht and have discontinued the yatra,? said Shri Gurucharan Singh Gill, president of the Rashtriya Sikh Sangat, while talking to Organiser.
Sikhs in their daily prayer pray for well-being of all human beings. The Rashtriya Sikh Sangat has been working to bring this samskar into practice. It has also launched a ?social assimilation? programme to remove the schism that developed between the Hindus and Sikhs.
The Sikh Sangat had successfully organised the Sant yatra in 1999 during the tri-centenary year of the Khalsa Panth. The 24-day yatra began from Patna Sahib and concluded at Anandpur Sahib with over 300 Sikh saints from different parts of the country participating in it.
The Sikh Sangat also runs several service projects. In Jaipur it has launched a project for imparting training to unemployed women. Soon it is going to set up a Viklang Vridh Dham in Bharatpur. The Dham would provide boarding and lodging facilities to the handicapped and the aged, who have been abandoned by their families. The economically underprivileged too will be imparted training in the project to enable them to become self-sufficient.
