NEW YORK – A delegation of Sikh-Americans has requested Prime Minister Narendra Modi to remove the hurdles faced by them while applying for visas or renewal of passports, particularly by those who had applied for political asylum in 1980s.
“The NRI Sikh community feels alienated as Indian Embassies refuse them visas or do not renew their passports depriving them to visit their families and take care of their investment in India because they applied for political asylums during the turbulent times in Punjab,” a 29-member delegation of the Sikh-American community said in a memorandum to the Prime Minister yesterday.
“We are hopeful that the Prime Minister would consider our request,” said Jasdip Jesse Singh, who led the delegation.
The hour-long meeting discussed various other issues faced by the Sikh community.
“It was a historical visit as NRI Sikh delegation met any visiting PM from India after decades. Modi has renewed faith and hope in the NRI Sikh community that there issues as mentioned in the memorandum will be resolved,” Singh said.
The memorandum states that NRI Sikhs are still being punished for applying for political asylum in order to legalize their status three decades ago.
“We request you to address the pressing issue in near future so that NRI Sikhs can also feel welcome in the process of building a new powerful India under your leadership,” the memorandum said. The Sikh-American community also raised the issue of 1984 massacre of Sikhs and the Sikh farmers in Gujarat.
The delegation congratulated the Prime Minister on the formation of the new Government, and the initiatives taken by the new Government.
The Prime Minister recalled the sacrifices made by the Sikh community for India. He also spoke about the “Make in India” initiative launched by him this week.
Some members of the delegation expressed concern over the spread of drug abuse among youth in Punjab. The Prime Minister shared their concern and said the Government would study the issue carefully and attempt to work out a solution.
cultu�l Te��t is capitalist greed which has pushed the planet close to destruction.
Capitalism has eroded all of our institutions which evolved over thousands of years. Capitalism has attacked the most fundamental social institution, the family. For all practical purposes, family has disintegrated. Capitalism has done that by weakening human relations. It has made people so self-centered and selfish that they become incapable of having any meaningful relation. Capitalism has primarily attacked the most fundamental human relation, that is, between a man and a woman. Under the false pretext of liberation of women, it has incited women against men. This creates discord and disharmony in society.
Selfishness, greed, aggression and vengeance come from the lower centers. The higher centers give us contentment, patience, tolerance and harmony. Capitalism promotes the never-ending quest for profit, which is a sophisticated euphemism for greed. This leads to over-use and exploitation of resources: using resources more than the capacity of nature to replenish them. For example, we are now using the planet’s resources more than 120% of its capability to replenish them. This brings capitalism into direct confrontation with nature. Nature is based upon principles of balance and harmony. By going against the principles of nature, capitalism promotes disharmony, discord, imbalance, anarchy and chaos. Therefore, development under capitalism proves only to be a prelude to destruction.
Guru Nanak, the founder of the Sikh religion, raised the fundamental question in his Bani Jap (Japji Sahib), “How can we achieve truthful living and how can we break the wall of falsehood around us?” He provides the answer, “by living in harmony with natural law (Hukam) and divine will (Raza).” Again, he demarcates the right way from the wrong way by telling us that the right way is to live in harmony with natural law, and the wrong way to live is under the influence of ego (Homay).
The philosophy of capitalism is based upon promoting your ego. As opposed to capitalist philosophy of pitting women against men, the Sikh philosophy sees men and women as complementary to each other and who together comprise one complete unit. Therefore, without each other, they are incomplete. By strengthening the most fundamental human relation, Sikh philosophy strengthens all human relations and brings harmony and stability in society.
The lower centers push toward duality, discord, restlessness, and un- fulfillment. The approach of capitalism is to incite the lower centers. Sri Guru Granth Sahib advocates striving to move from lower centers to higher centers. The higher centers bring feelings of completeness, contentment, tranquility, peace, and harmony. The ultimate and highest state a human being can achieve is called Sahij, or the fourth state. This is the state of equipoise or perfectly balanced and harmonious state where there is complete freedom from duality, discord, and disturbance. This is also called Parmanand (Supreme bliss). This is a stage of perfect oneness: when you feel that you are in complete harmony with nature or totality. One’s purpose of life should be to strive to achieve this stage by completely eradicating duality and ego.
Capitalism, on the other hand, constantly incites your ego, which pushes you to duality. You feel separated from totality and nature. You can never experience contentment, peace, harmony, or true pleasure in this stage. You only get temporary satisfaction, which leads to more dissatisfaction. This phenomenon is comparable to a mirage: true happiness, satisfaction, and contentment keep moving away from you while you think that you are moving closer to them. Capitalism never allows one to fulfill the real purpose of life; you are doomed to live in an illusion. This tragedy is the real axis of evil.
Dr. Sawraj Singh, MD F.I.C.S. is the Chairman of the Washington State Network for Human Rights and Chairman of the Central Washington Coalition for Social Justice. He can be reached at [email protected].
