The Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) sent about 2 crore emails with a 47-page document titled “‘PM Modi and his government’s special relationship with Sikh” earlier this week.
The booklet lists 13 measures taken by the Modi government for “to support the Sikh community”. The measures listed included the “Kartarpur Sahib corridor”, “tax exemption on langar”, “FCRA registration for Harmandir Sahib”, “justice for 1984 riot victims”.
Whether the Modi government actually deserves credit for these measures is besides the point. The important part here is that such an outreach is being done at a time when Sikhs are at the forefront of the farmers’ protest against Modi government’s new farm laws.
New Low in Centre’s Relations With Sikhs
It won’t be an an exaggeration to say that the Centre’s popularity among Sikhs is at its lowest since over two decades.
Consider these facts:
- Farmers from several states are protesting on Delhi’s borders and over a lakh of them happen to be Sikh.
- Sikh achievers from several fields – from Sahitya Akademi Award winning literary figures to Arjuna Award winning sportspersons, decorated soldiers and prominent scientists – have returned awards given to them by the government.
- The Akal Takht, the highest temporal authority for Sikhs, has condemned the Modi government’s farm laws, slammed the RSS for being “divisive” and even called for a ban on it earlier this year.
- Punjabi singers are composing songs targetting the Modi government, actors have actively joined protests, social media stars are posting videos ridiculing Modi and common Sikhs are also expressing their disaffection.
- Then in the political realm, the one figure who had acted as an important bridge between the Centre add Sikhs since the 1990s – five time chief minister of Punjab Parkash Singh Badal – has returned India’s second highest civilian honour Padma Vibhushan, given to him by the Modi government.
- His party – the Shiromani Akali Dal (Badal) has ended its 23 year old alliance with the BJP. And party chief Sukhbir Badal has now accused the BJP of being the “real Tukde Tukde gang” which is “trying to divide Hindus and Sikhs”.
- Even the BJP-friendly Akali leader Sukhdev Dhindsa has returned his Padma Bhushan award.
Source: Quint
