Khalistan Protagonist Simranjit Singh Mann Wins Lok Sabha Election in Punjab
After Mann’s Lok Sabha election victory, the movement of Khalistan is expected to gain momentum in and outside Punjab in order to get justice for people who are being exploited by the traditional political outfits.
By Rakesh Raman
President of Shiromani Akali Dal (Amritsar) Simranjit Singh Mann has won the Sangrur Lok Sabha (Parliament) byelection in Punjab for which the results were declared today (June 26).
Mann, 77, has been persistently raising the issue of a separate sovereign state Khalistan for Sikhs. The demand for Khalistan is believed to be one of the main factors for his election victory.
“I am grateful to our voters of Sangrur for having elected me as your representative in parliament. I will work hard to ameliorate the sufferings of our farmers, farm-labour, traders and everyone in my constituency,” Mann tweeted after winning the election.
In May, he had appealed to the Nordic countries that they should not recommend the Hindu Indian state to become a permanent member of the UN Security Council as it has not honoured the 1948 Resolution of UN Security Council for plebiscite in Kashmir and it has committed genocide of the Sikhs with impunity.
I am grateful to our voters of Sangrur for having elected me as your representative in parliament. I will work hard to ameliorate the sufferings of our farmers, farm-labour, traders and everyone in my constituency.
— Simranjit Singh Mann (@SimranjitSADA) June 26, 2022
Earlier, Mann was elected as the Member of Parliament (MP) from Taran Tarn in 1989 and Sangrur in 1999. He had resigned from Indian Police Service (IPS) in 1984 in protest of Operation Blue Star, a military operation carried out by Indian security forces to remove a militant Sikh leader Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale and his followers from the Golden Temple in Punjab.
Mann claims on his Twitter profile that he is striving for Khalistan, a sovereign state for Sikhs. The Khalistan movement is a Sikh separatist campaign that seeks to create a homeland for Sikhs by establishing a sovereign state, called Khālistān (‘Land of the Khalsa’ or the Land of Purity), in the Punjab region.
After Mann’s Lok Sabha election victory, the movement of Khalistan is expected to gain momentum in and outside Punjab in order to get justice for people who are being exploited by the traditional political outfits.
Today, Punjab is facing extreme political turmoil, unemployment, illiteracy, agricultural downturn, bureaucratic and political corruption, drug addiction, mafia culture, youth exodus, religious fundamentalism, and other evils that have made life miserable for the people of Punjab.
The main political groups including the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Congress, and Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) are full of corrupt politicians who are hell-bent to ruin Punjab.
If Mann – who enjoys tremendous support from the youth in the state – could consolidate his political position, he can hope to save people from the corruption and criminality of traditional political parties and bring renaissance to Punjab.
By Rakesh Raman, who is a national award-winning journalist and social activist. He is the founder of a humanitarian organization RMN Foundation which is working in diverse areas to help the disadvantaged and distressed people in the society.
He has also launched the “Power Play: Lok Sabha Election 2024 in India” editorial section to cover the news, events, and other developments related to the 2024 election.
