It is disgusting to see hoodlums vandalize the statue of Raja Ranjeet Singh in the Royal Palace next to his grave. Ranjeet was a son of Punjab, a true legend and an undisputable ruler of the area in the early 1990s. He not only singlehandedly crushed all foreign invaders and their heirs, English and Afghan put together, but also kept them off the far edges of Punjab of that time. The damage that this dastardly attack has made is not limited only to his statue. At this time, Indian Punjab is the engine of the farmers’ movement against repressive Modi regime in India.
The protesters have swarmed New Delhi, where they have set up camps, braving harsh weather. Steamy speeches are being delivered in cold days of Delhi denouncing Modi and praising our Prime Minister Imran Khan, who has a considerate view for Sikhs all along.
In the first days of his government, Khan relaxed travel restrictions on Sikhs coming to Nankana Saheb, Hassan Abdal and other cities housing their sacred places. He himself went to all these places on different occasions and made sure that that they are run on modern lines. Sikh diaspora, a very strong one, in the Europe and Canada and the US is all praises for him. This is a big strategic achievement for Pakistan. Against the background of these developments, it is quite an unmindful act to attack statue of this legend. Alarm bells rang last year when a couple of street-boys vandalised this statue.
It was imperative for the Punjab government to put in place impeccable security after that incident. But it seemed that the Punjab police are more concerned about the color of their uniform more than anything else.
Khushwant Singh, in his Maharaja of Punjab, wrote that after getting hold of Koh-e-Noor, Ranjeet was willing to give it away in charity in his last days. Zubair Qureshi has so prudently translated this book into Urdu so that Pakistani children can read it.
You can disagree with Ranjeet on many counts, but this is not the way to express your disagreement. History of Punjab and Punjabis should be taught in schools so that our children are able to know that all the good rulers were not Arabic, Persian or English speakers. *
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