Continuing its tradition of honouring Sikh historical personalities, the Dal Khalsa held a well-attended convention at village Hariana, 15 kilometres from Hoshiarpur. The occasion was to mark the anniversary of unfurling of Nishan Singh by Sikh warrior Bhai Baghel Singh at Red Fort in 1783.

224 years back, on this day, Baba Baghel Singh unfurled the Khalsa Nishan Sahib at the Red Fort in Delhi and established the rule of the Sikhs there.  Reminiscing that historic occasion, leaders of the Dal Khalsa extolled the military and political qualities of Baghel Singh.  In a paper read out at the occasion, Dal Khalsa mentioned that apart from being a brave warrior, Baghel Singh was a strategist and statesman, which fact was borne by the fact that he was able to out-maneouvre the then Delhi rulers into submission in the battle at Ghanaur, near Patiala in 1778.  As a result of this victory, one lac Mughal forces surrendered before the Khalsa Panth.

Satnam Singh Paonta Sahib, the party President, delivering the keynote address said that the present political leadership in Punjab did not offer any role models and therefore it was the need of the hour to honour Sikh generals of yesteryears.  He said that the Dal Khalsa would continue to honour Sikh stalwarts like Nawab Kapur Singh, Sham Singh Attari and others.  Referring to the appointment of Ramesh Inder Singh as chief secretary Punjab, Paonta Sahib said that on the one hand, images of the destroyed Akal Takht were splashed in the recently Badal Dal publicity campaign to emotionally arouse the Sikhs against the Congress and in a sinister turnaround, this officer who had inked his signature on the final document to launch the attack on Darbar Sahib in June 1984 in his capacity as Deputy Commissioner Amritsar was installed for the coveted post.

Another senior leader, Harcharanjit Singh Dhami told the gathering that there was a lot to learn from the life and achievements of Bhai Baghel Singh.  He apprised the meeting that all the Gurudwaras in Delhi were built under the stewardship of Baghel Singh. He told the audience that the interest of the Sikhs and Punjab was the sole concern of Baghel Singh, while today the present Sikh leadership was blissfully unaware of the deeds and achievements of our heroes and that they had sacrificed all that was dear to the Sikhs for their petty political ends.

Kanwarpal Singh, general secretary of the party said that instead of playing the blame game, the SGPC should do introspection and identify the reasons for the alienation of the Sikh representatives from the state of Haryana. The parochialism of the SGPC and rampant corruption in the handling of funds were the prime reasons for the present stalemate. He appealed to the government of Haryana not to stoke the fires of Sikh emotions by tampering with the basic structure of the Sikh Gurdwara Act, 1925.

A guest speaker Prof. Jagmohan Singh, general secretary of the Shiromani Akali Dal (Amritsar), while speaking on the occasion urged the Sikh youth to follow the ideals of Bhai Baghel Singh.  He also said that since all Punjabis –all political parties – Badal Dal, BJP and Congress as well as the people of Punjab were unanimous about the abolition of Clause 5 of the Punjab Waters Agreement Termination Act, 2004. He further said that any delay in this would tantamount to cheating the electorate of Punjab.

Dr. Manjinder Singh, Gurdeep Singh Kalkat and Ranbir Singh also spoke on the occasion.