[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 50 (Tuesday, April 13, 1999)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E621-E622]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




              SIKHS MARCH TO CELEBRATE 300TH BAISAKHI DAY

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. EDOLPHUS TOWNS

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                        Tuesday, April 13, 1999

  Mr. TOWNS. Mr. Speaker, on Saturday, April 10, the Sikhs of the 
United States marched to celebrate the 300th anniversary of the 
initiation of the Khalsa Panth. The march, which was led by Dr. Gurmit 
Singh Aulakh and the Council of Khalistan, was a celebration of all the 
Sikhs in this country. Similar celebrations have been held or are being 
held in other countries. This was a major milestone for the Sikh 
Nation. I congratulate the Khalsa Panth (Sikh Nation) on their 
auspicious 300th Baisakhi Day.
  The Sikhs received congratulations from several of my colleagues 
including our own Minority Whip, and also from the Mayor of Washington, 
DC, Anthony Williams. I note that the Governors of Texas and New Jersey 
have also proclaimed ``the Year of the Khalsa.'' It is good to see such 
bipartisan support for the Sikhs, who are being subjected to brutal 
atrocities and repression in India. Justice Ajit Singh Bains, Chairman 
of the Punjab Human Rights Organization, and General Narinder Singh 
from Punjab, Khalistan, spoke to the event. Their remarks were very 
well received, from what I am told.
  I wish I could have joined my Sikh friends at this march, but I was 
not able to do so. I would like to take this opportunity to 
congratulate them on this important anniversary. I look forward to 
greeting many of them at the upcoming Vaisakhi Day parade in New York.
  This anniversary has attracted worldwide attention. The Washington 
Post and many other important media outlets covered this event. At this 
march, the Sikhs of America raised their voices loudly for freedom.
  The heritage of the Sikh Nation is freedom. They ruled Punjab from 
1765 to 1849. It was noted at the march that the last of the Sikh 
Gurus, Guru Gobind Singh, gave them a sense of national identity 300 
years ago. It was pointed out that every day the Sikhs pray that they 
shall again rule their homeland, Punjab, Khalistan.
  Sikhs are a separate people, both religiously and culturally. They 
are not a part of Hindu India. No Sikh representative has ever signed 
the Indian constitution.
  Many of us in this House, from both parties, have been calling for an 
end to American aid to India until it respects basic human rights and 
for a free and fair vote on the political status of Punjab, as well as 
notes on the status of Kashmir, Nagaland, and all the nations living 
under Indian rule. This auspicious anniversary would be a good time to 
renew that call and renew our efforts to bring freedom, peace, and 
prosperity to all the people of South Asia.
  I insert the Washington Post article in the Record.

               [From the Washington Post, Apr. 11, 1999]

               Sikhs Parade and Pray for Separate Nation

                           (By Caryle Murphy)

       Chanting praises to their greatest guru and walking behind 
     a giant model of their Golden Temple, several thousand Sikhs 
     marched down Constitution Avenue yesterday to celebrate the 
     300th anniversary of their religion's most sacred event, the 
     creation of the first community of Sikh believers.
       Five bearded Sikh priests bearing long daggers and dressed 
     in saffron-hued turbans, led the colorful Khalsa March '99 
     from the Lincoln Memorial to the Capitol. A float carried the 
     Sikh scripture, Granth, which was covered by a silver canopy 
     decorated with flowers.
       The march, which drew many of the Washington area's 7,000 
     Sikhs and others from across the country, was mainly to honor 
     Sikhism.
       ``I came to celebrate our religion and what it's given to 
     humanity,'' said Permeil Dass, 24, of Cleveland, who works in 
     a community computer center.
       ``Our religion is very modern,'' she added, noting that it 
     opposes inequality between human beings, the worship of idols 
     and use of intoxicants.
       But yesterday's day-long event was as much political as 
     religious, with speakers at a pre-parade rally calling for an 
     independent Sikh nation--to be named Khalistan--in the 
     northwest Indian state of Punjab, home of the Sikh religion. 
     The Indian government opposes a separate Sikh state in 
     Punjab.
       ``In the Sikh religion, religion and politics are 
     inseparable,'' said Gurmit Singh Aulakh, head of the 
     District-based Council of Khalistan, one of the groups 
     sponsoring yesterday's event. ``We are aware that without 
     political power no religion can flourish.''
       Among the banners carried in the parade were ones that 
     said, ``To Save Sikhism, Sikhs Want-Khalistan'' and ``A Sikh 
     Nation, On the Move.''
       In an interview, San Diego resident Harinder Singh 
     indicated that nationalism, as much as religious devotion, 
     had brought him to yesterday's event.
       ``This is the least we can do to have some political voice 
     around the world,'' the 36-year-old software engineer said. 
     The message

[[Page E622]]

     he hoped to deliver, he added, was that ``sooner or later 
     [Khalistan] is going to happen.''
       On Friday, the Indian Embassy's Deputy Chief of Mission 
     T.P. Sreenivasan, said celebrations of the Sikh religion are 
     ``something we heartily support.''
       As for political demands voiced at the parade, Sreenivasan 
     added: ``This is a free country. But that is not the purpose 
     of the march.''
       In a 1984 crackdown on Sikh militants, Indian police raided 
     their Golden Temple at Amritsar. In retaliation, Sikh 
     bodyguards killed Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi five 
     months later.
       Yesterday's event, which Aulakh estimated drew 25,000 
     Sikhs, commemorated the day in 1699 when the 10th and 
     greatest Sikh teacher, Guru Gobind Singh, initiated Khalsa 
     Panth, the ``Brotherhood of the Pure.''
       Khalsa Panth is the community of those who commit 
     themselves to the tenets of Sikhism. In creating Khalsa 
     Panth, Gobind broadened authority within the religion and 
     took the final step, Sikhs believe, in the centuries-long 
     establishment of their religion, which began in the 1400s 
     with the first Sikh teacher, Guru Nanak.
       Before yesterday's march, the Sikhs gathered in front of 
     the Lincoln Memorial, where many waved small U.S. flags and 
     saffron-colored flags with the blue Sikh symbol of Khalsa. On 
     state, musicians played Sikh songs on the harmonium and drums 
     called ``tabla.''
       Dressed in long, flowing tunics with matching pantaloons, 
     women wound their way up a red carpet to kneel and kiss their 
     holy scripture, dropping offerings of a dollar or two. Later, 
     all stood in place with hands folded and heads bowed for a 
     communal prayer. Then it was time to march.

     

                          ____________________