Internation Sikh Confederation
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Brief History
1. Having studied The Constitution of similar World Organizations including the World Sikh Council, We came to the considered conclusion that Our's needs to be its own unique one. The words of the noted Sikh thinker and philosopher. Late Prof. Teja Singh, rang a bell in my mind. He said, “The question of having a supreme Panthic Body is most important. It is essential that, for the exercise of corporate authority, they should create for themselves a Central Body. We must dispense with the personal leadership of ONE MAN.”
2. As you know Christianity has the largest following in the world with Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs well below their numbers (Christians 2000 million, Muslims 300million Hindus 900 million and Sikhs just 23 million). Christians have a Hierarchical system. They appoint Bishops worldwide who in turn elect the Pope in a well-accepted and deliberated electoral process. The Pope rules supreme. Other religions too have preachers at various levels but each adopts its own method of selection/ election at various levels. These processes are not as well defined and clearly hierarchical as the Christians. To discuss these in detail is not in the scope of this article. We, as Sikhs, have the holy Guru Granth Sahib passed on to us by our Ten Gurus as our article of faith . The Akal Takht has the history of being the central gathering place for Sikh Leaders and Scholars to meet and discuss problems of the day. Traditionally Gurmattas passed in the hallowed location of the Shri Darbar Sahib were accepted by all and implemented faithfully by the majority. Hence the Akal Takht Sahib is an established sanctimonious entity. However the appointment of the Akal Takht Jathedar Sahib is of recent origin and does not really have any historical or religious sanctity attached to it. Nor has the system of appointing the Akal Takht Jathedar been streamlined to be acceptable to all. We also have independent Takhts with Jathedars at their head.
3. The SGPC which appoints the Akal Takht Jathedar is now a politically involved organization which has pretensions of being autonomous. It has not really followed any Qualitative Requirements (QR) for the appointment of the Akal Takht Jathedar nor other Takht Jatherdars within even its own constituency i.e. Punjab , Haryana and Himachal Pardesh. In fact all Takhts, within and without the SGPC sway, act most autonomously. At times this is rather embarrassing and hard for the learned to accept. It is in this scenario that we put our heads together to formulate our proposed constitution.
Basic Concepts
4. Our envisaged Constitution needs to encompass Indian and Global Sikhs in a very fair and proportionate representation. While we have Sikh societies and population spread widely all over the universe, the major concentration remains in Punjab, Haryana, Delhi and Himachal Pardesh. This Factor cannot really be downplayed. We next need to give adequate representation to Sikh Institutions, Gurdwaras/ Societies as well as a wide section of Sikh scholars and professionals. Here, a word of caution. Infiltration by subversive individuals/ organizations, whose sole aim is to disrupt and create problems must be strictly monitored and ruthlessly curbed. We have suffered too much in history to have this repeated.
5. Thirdly, the envisaged constitution should be accepted by a majority of Sikhs as authority. Decision making process must be so streamlined that it is professional, democratic and meets the current needs of our Sikh Society including youth. This will ensure smooth implementation of Sikh Maryada in its true form.
6. Fourthly this authority should genuinely act as an umbrella to existing Sikh Institutions/ Societies/ Organisations. Since it has global representatives, it can, with authority, represent us in International Affairs. It can tackle any crisis in identity, wearing of turban and kirpan and other similar disputes. Governments concerned will have a one point authority to deal with, and this will prevent bitterness due to long drawn agitations.
7. The fifth basic principle would be to formulate a progressive, modern and truly impartial system of representation. This could be achieved by a scientifically mixed democratic system of selection cum election. An enlightened electorate that is visualized here, will definitely not disappoint us as we envisage a qualitative rather than quantitative electorate.
8. Sixthly we need to streamline decision making. Our constitution needs to institute Advisory Cells manned by Sikh professionals in each important sphere of activity. There is really no dearth of qualified and able individuals in our progressive community. These cells will then deliberately research a problem and arrive at a mature and considered decision which may well be adopted, if necessary with modifications, by selected/ elected elders. In any case the Sikh community has today lost faith in the adhoc issuing of Hukamnamas, most of which have prominently been disobeyed or ignored. Our prestige as a community has surely suffered. This cannot be ignored any more. I would go even further to say that while tackling sensitive and complicated issues let us not hesitate in co-opting experts from other communities, if considered necessary. This will lend vitality to decision making.
9. Finally, as per the teaching of our Gurus, in an organisation such as Our's, Panth should and will reign supreme. No individual must be allowed to garner glory or prominence. Everyone of us is dispensable. Let humbleness be the crowning motto amongst our members. Leadership is certainly required to take decisions and actions---let these be collective ones. We will rotate our leadership and take decisions by consensus. The individual urge for pelf and power must be ruthlessly curbed.
10. To conclude I must confess that constitution making is a very very difficult and thankless task. I admire personalities such as Geroge Washington, William Pitt and our own Dr B.R. Amberdkar who toiled over years to produce brilliant constitutions for their countries. We have also produced a draft constitution which has attracted suggestions from all sections of our community. The totally revised constitution will now be presented to our General Body in the meeting to be held on 9 April 06 in the Shivalik School Auditorium, phase VI, Mohali. Let us finalise it and put it into effect as early as possible, so that the Sikh community can march forward into the Twenty First Century with confidence and hope.
