The following open letter was penned by Aam Aadmi Party leader Sukhpal Singh Khaira to the Punjab Congress President Capt. Amarinder Singh. Khaira has invited Capt. Amarinder Singh to an open debate over the much controversial issue of the Punjab Termination of Waters Agreement Act, 2004, that is currently pending in the Supreme Court of India. If nullified, Punjab would have to start work on the Satluj-Yamuna Link Canal, which will provide more waters to Haryana and other neighboring states.
The water issue will remain a key point of debate in the upcoming 2017 elections as Punjab is facing tremendous shortage of water itself. The open letter also explains the controversy behind the issue and is a must read for anyone wanting to gain insight over what the 2004 termination agreement means.
The open letter by Khaira has been translated by Sikh24 and is being shared for the benefit of our readers –
I challenge Captain Amarinder Singh to an open debate over the controversial issue of the Satluj-Yamuna Link Canal because the root cause of this issue was former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, and not Sri Arvind Kejriwal.
It is a fact that Indira Gandhi unconstitutionally allotted 75 % of Punjab’s water (11.7 out of 15.85 MAF) to non-riparian states like Haryana, Rajasthan and Delhi in 1976 by misusing sections 28 and 80 of the Reorganization of Punjab Act of 1966. In 1978, the Shiromani Akali Dal led Punjab government filed a petition against this this allotment before the constitutional bench of the Supreme Court. But later in the 1980’s, due to the emergency and Congress’s victory in Punjab, the Punjab government was pressured by Prime Minister Indira Gandhi to take back the petition.
It was the former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi who inaugurated the SYL-Canal at village Kapoori of district Ropar. The people of Punjab opposed the construction of the SYL-Canal by organizing a morcha known as the ‘Kapoori Morcha’. Later, this morcha became the Akali Dal led Dharam Yudh Morcha. In fact, Indira Gandhi’s illegal, unconstitutional and biased approach in constructing the SYL-Canal created violence and lawlessness in Punjab. The Akali Dal also didn’t seriously try to sort out the sensitive issue of the SYL-Canal and used the issue as a political tool to fool the masses of Punjab.
There is no doubt that the Punjab Termination of Agreements Act of 2004 facilitated by Captain Amarinder Singh’s government stopped the SYL-Canal’s construction for the time being but it’s also true that the Congress Party is the root cause of Punjab’s water problem. The Punjab Termination of Agreements Act of 2004 is not approved of by the President of India and is currently under consideration by the five membered constitutional bench of the Supreme Court.
I hereby challenge PPCC’s head Captain Amarinder Singh to clarify the role of Indira Gandhi in the dispute over Punjab’s water instead of asking Sri Arvind Kejriwal to clarify his stance. I want to know if Captain Amarinder Singh can get Smt. Sonia Gandhi, Sri Rahul Gandhi and the congress unit of Haryana to promise to stop the construction of the SYL-Canal.
I hereby clarify that AAP is committed to defend the waters of Punjab and will not let the construction of the SYL-Canal be completed.
Sukhpal Singh Khehra
Former MLA, Bholath
I never subscribe to any of the things told by you.
I believe in our philosophy of
Sarbatt that Bhalla.
http://punjabnewsexpress.com/punjab/news/aap-asks-amarinder-to-clarify-stand-on-welcoming-indira-gandhi-for-syl-canal-foundation-47472.aspx
https://www.facebook.com/balbir.singh.355
AAP are trying to Resurrect the 1980-1990
“Bhindranwale -Indira Punjab” .
The joint Photo of Kejriwale – Bhindranwale are all points in that direction.
The only answer to water woes is Reunification of Punjab like before 1966 which will bring us in consonance with our philosophy of
“NANAK NAM CHADI KAL TERE BANE SARBAT THA BHALLA”
Bhindranwala-Indra Punjab? Whats that even supposed to mean? I love how ignorant people like you just generalize the issues without actually having real knowledge. Those events took place because the state of India was constantly being oppressive towards Sikhs, which is no surprise since Sikhs have been colonized into India.
The Empire has controlled Punjab through its 4 ministries
1) the Ministry of Peace deals with war and defence.
2) the Ministry of Plenty deals with economic affairs (rationing and starvation).
3) the Ministry of Love deals with law and order (torture and brainwashing).
4) the Ministry of Truth deals with news, entertainment, education and art (propaganda).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nineteen_Eighty-Four
It has acted through the various front like the Nation states .
We need to have Multiple infinite number Punjab’s all over the Galaxies and Universe to not be controlled or Colonized by any Nation or power.
We are all
“BORN FREE”
Don’t mind ‘Harinder’ – he is our resident RSS Agent Provocateur who thinks the crude Santo Banto caricatures of Sikhs are what we are really like. By trolling this Sikh website with his drip drip anti Sikh sentiments he thinks he can persuade Sikhs to be meek and submissive to abuses and injustices because such a policy has worked for thousands of years on the poor Dalits his Hinduvta goons are determined to keep under their heel.
I know it is difficult to tolerate the anti Sikh falsehoods RSS Harinder continuously peddles on this site but we do also get to hear the truth of his views (and by extension those which are held by his Hinduvta compatriots) and also the sneaky methods that are being used to undermine Sikhi religiously and historically. For example looking back at his posts over the past few months we have learned from ‘Harinder’
1) He will not post under his real name but will use a Sikh sounding non de plume in order to ingratiate himself and pass off his views as being those of a Sikh with a different but because he is posing as a Sikh (although cannot name the Gurus let alone their Gurmat) equally ‘valid’ assessment of Sikh values, theology and history.
2) He does not believe that Sikhs should wear their dastaars and have uncut hair as those are readily identifiable visual aspects of the Sikh silhouette which he wishes to eliminate from public life.
3) He thinks Sikh role models should include porn stars like Sunny Leone and mass murderers like KPS Gill.
4) He says he believes in democracy but what he really means he believes in it if it guarantees and legitimises the people he wants in power which tend to be the Badals even though it is has been pointed out to him that the Badal clan have engaged in undemocratic practices such as monopolising public services and hotels through patronage of their official positions. He also calls Badal King of Punjab and urges ‘him to do whatever he likes’ – both contrary to democratic principle.
5) He does not want Sikhs to have justice for the genocidal pogroms carried out against them in 1984 but rather wants them to just accept it (and even throws in notions that we deserved it because of his bogeyman Bhindranwale) and move on through ‘resurrection’ which effectively means emigration to other parts of the world. He has callously called a Karol Bagh survivor who rebuked him on this as just being someone suffering from ‘post- traumatic stress’.
6) He does not believe in the spiritual authority of the Panj Pyare or even in the need for Khalsa baptism. He thinks anybody can call themselves Khalsa (no need to be baptised or bear the five kakkars in his estimation) and any institution can call itself Khalsa regardless of whether it practises Sikh principles.
7) He does not believe in Sri Guru Hargobind’s principle of Miri Piri and thinks that can just be dispensed with because ‘we are moving with the times’. What he really means is that principle of tying the spiritual to the temporal world is very awkward for him and his kind who wish religion to be nothing more than a pick and mix pot pouri that will give a veneer of religiosity and respectability whilst he indulges in his vices
8) He says Guru Granth Sahib Ji is just a holy book with about as much spiritual authority as the Ramayana (which he thinks is a real historical event) and therefore sacrilege of the saroops is really no big deal and Sikhs should not get ‘provoked / worked up’ by such sacrileges.
9)He thinks Punjab should continue to give most of its river water away to non-riparian states then seeing that there is a universal convention against such a policy argues that Punjab should be conjoined with Haryana, Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh into a so-called Greater Punjab (even the name he is not sure about though) where there is no need for Sikhs to rule over either their state or religious internal affairs or cling to Punjabi language and by extension the Gurmukhi in which the Bani of Guru Granth Sahib is written.
10) He believes the State both Punjab and Central have the right – contrary to the Indian constitution – to interfere and legislate in internal Sikh religious affairs so in his conjoined super state we could have the BJP in charge of Darbar Sahib and the Akal Takht!
11) He thinks Sikhs should just submit to law no matter if the law is unjust and leads to them being arrested, tortured, imprisoned or killed. He refuses to explain how India came into being without the breaking of such legal jurisprudence under Moghul and British rule which was legitimately accepted
12) He thinks extra judicial kidnapping, rape, torture and murder of Sikhs in the past is acceptable because it ‘brought peace to the Punjab’ (his words).
13) He believes that Punjab Police Officers who have committed such extra judicial abuses and atrocities should not be charged but rather just write their version of events in books and make videos to put on Youtube. Sikhs however in his estimation who wear turbans and beards are extremists and should be treated as criminals regardless of whether there is any evidence against them and should be locked up in prison. Making a speech at the Sarbat Khalsa for him is an act of sedition and chasing Sikhs in Portugal granted political asylum for fear of being tortured is more worthwhile than arresting police officers who shoot dead Sikhs protesting beadbi of Guru Granth Sahib in their own homeland.
14) He rejects and rewrites Sikh history regularly refusing to accept that Sikhs were raising their grievances immediately upon the formation of India in 1947 culminating in the Anandpur Sahib resolutions and then the organised murder of Sikhs in 1978 in Amritsar.
15) He refuses to accept that Indians have committed abuses and atrocities against Sikhs except as mere helpless pawns directed by existential foreign Empires and refuses to accept Indians have formulated draconian and illegal laws of their own (TADA et al) to repress their own population. This means he gives a clean chit to any Indian who commits abuses and atrocities against Sikhs particularly if they were in uniform such Gurmeet Pinky.
16) He loves space travel, time travel and urges Sikhs to just forget about all the abuses, indignities and atrocities committed against them and think about emigrating from India. Not sure when he tells us all to go into space to create Punjab out there whether he means without the necessary life support as I suspect if you were wearing a turban and beard he’d cut the oxygen and rations.
17) He is a supporter of the RSS even though that is a terrorist orqanisation and is involved in violence towards other religious minorities (burning Churches, instigating a ghar wapsi programme to force Dalits to return to Hindu fold from Christianity etc).
Did I miss any out ‘Harinder’? Look at that I am actually defending your right to speak your horrible sectarian and antithetical mind whereas you would have me locked up if not tortured to death for speaking mine.