Prime Minister of India - Open Letter
Prime Minister, Sikh Sacred Memory Cannot Be Made to Answer to the Nation
Prime Minister,
For Sikhs, no office in India stands above Shabad Guru Granth Sahib Ji.
You may commemorate the Sahibzade. You may not rename their shahadat, quote Gurbani, and then make both serve the nation’s story about itself. That is not honour. It is reframing.
What I mean is simple: the state is teaching children that the Sahibzade’s story is first a story about India and national character, and only secondarily, if at all, a story about Gurmat.
A people do not lose a sacred story only when they forget it.
They can also lose it when they are taught to remember it in someone else’s words.
That is what is happening here.
This is now a pattern
In November 2022, at the 553rd Prakash Utsav of Guru Nanak Dev Ji, the official PIB release quoted you saying that the direction received from Gurbani is also a vision of developed India, and linked the Gurus’ teachings with Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat. One month later, at the first official Veer Bal Diwas, the official speech said Guru Gobind Singh Ji’s firm resolution was “Nation First” and called that tradition “a great inspiration for us.” From the beginning, then, Sikh memory was not simply being honoured. It was being placed inside a nation-first frame.
In December 2023, the matter became more serious. In the official Veer Bal Diwas speech, you directly quoted Bhagat Kabir Ji’s shabad on the true sooraa. But in the same official frame, Veer Bal Diwas was described as a symbol of the resolve to protect “Bhartiyata,” as a national tribute, and as part of a wider programme to inform and educate citizens, especially children, through this state-sponsored remembrance. That means the issue is no longer that Gurbani is being ignored. The issue is that Gurbani is being quoted and then placed inside a national frame that teaches the listener to hear even deen — righteousness, truth, what must not be surrendered under any power — through the nation.
Words like “Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat” and “Bhartiyata” are not neutral administrative labels. They belong to a wider official vocabulary about national identity, cultural unity, and citizen formation — and this letter objects to Sikh sacred memory being placed inside that vocabulary.
In December 2024, the same reframing continued more openly. The official PMO release said Veer Baal Diwas teaches that nothing is greater than the country and its interests, that every child and youth living for the country is a “Veer Balak,” and that the Sahibzade’s sacrifice belongs inside democracy, unity, and the country’s progress. That is not neutral remembrance. It is the state assigning Sikh martyrdom a civic function.
In November 2025, at the 350th Shaheedi Diwas of Sri Guru Tegh Bahadur Ji, the pattern widened again in the clearest possible language. The official PMO speech declared: “The tradition of our Gurus is the foundation of our nation’s character, our culture, and our core spirit.” It said that the government had established Sikh celebrations “as national celebrations as well,” and described major Gurpurabs as “festivals of Bharat’s unity and integrity.” It said Sikh history and the teachings of the Gurus had been made part of the national curriculum. It then invoked Guru Sahib’s teaching that one should neither frighten anyone nor live in fear of anyone — and immediately said that this fearlessness strengthens “society and the nation,” that India both speaks of brotherhood and protects its borders, and that Operation Sindoor is “the biggest example of this.” That is not tribute. It is Gurbani being actively turned into national-character, national-celebration, national-curriculum, and national-security language — all in a single speech.
In December 2025, the Veer Baal Diwas frame widened again to all four Sahibzade. They were described as the pride of India, their struggle as a battle between the “fundamental values of India” and religious fanaticism, and the observance itself as a platform for nurturing “courageous and talented youth.” Again, the centre moved — from shahadat in Gurmat to youth formation for the state.
This is why the issue is serious. Sikh memory is not being attacked openly. It is being absorbed by praise.
The Gurus are publicly honoured. Gurbani is respectfully quoted. The Sahibzade are solemnly celebrated. And then, slowly, all three are taught to answer to the nation’s categories. That is a quieter substitution than open attack — and, for that reason, a more dangerous one.
Here is what this costs in plain terms.
When a child in a state school first learns the story of the Sahibzade as a lesson in national bravery, youth formation, and India’s identity, that child does not receive the story without an interpretation. The child receives it with the state’s interpretation already built in. The space where Gurmat meaning should sit — shahadat, deen, standing firm in the Guru’s will under coercion — is filled first, and filled with something else. By the time that child later encounters the Sikh categories, those categories have to displace something already present, rather than being the natural and first home of the story. The state is not leaving a blank that Sikhs can later fill. It is filling the space first — through classrooms, public events, official competitions, speeches, and curricula — year after year. This is what absorption by praise means in practice. It does not announce itself. It works through repetition, through the gradual replacement of Sikh language with language the state finds more useful, until a generation grows up knowing the story in the state’s version of it — and having no memory that it was ever told any other way.
Sikh institutions told you this already
In December 2022, the SGPC publicly asked that the day be called Sahibzade Shahadat Diwas, not Veer Bal Diwas, saying the existing name was not in keeping with the spirit of Sikh history and principles, and that a committee of Sikh scholars formed under the order of Sri Akal Takht Sahib had recommended the same correction.
In December 2023, the SGPC objected to children physically portraying the Sahibzade in school plays under Veer Bal Diwas events, calling such portrayals against Sikh principles, customs, traditions, and values. The concern was not that children should not know the story. The concern was that sacred memory was being turned into costume, performance, and spectacle.
In December 2025, reporting on the acting Jathedar of Sri Akal Takht Sahib stated that Sikh MPs were urged to press the Centre to rename the day Sahibzade Shahadat Diwas, and that Sikh sentiment had already been formally conveyed to the government.
The Panth did not stay silent. You were told.
What Shabad Guru Granth Sahib Ji actually centres
A Sikh reply cannot begin in government language. It must begin in the Guru’s own.
Gurmukhi
ੴ ਸਤਿ ਨਾਮੁ ਕਰਤਾ ਪੁਰਖੁ ਨਿਰਭਉ ਨਿਰਵੈਰੁ
ਅਕਾਲ ਮੂਰਤਿ ਅਜੂਨੀ ਸੈਭੰ ਗੁਰ ਪ੍ਰਸਾਦਿ ॥
English Roman
ik-oNkaar sat naam kartaa purakh nirbha-o nirvair
akaal moorat ajoonee saibhaN gur parsaad.
Plain sense: The One is fearless and without enmity, realized by the Guru’s grace.
Ang 1.
And where is the Guru found?
Gurmukhi
ਸਬਦੁ ਗੁਰੂ ਸੁਰਤਿ ਧੁਨਿ ਚੇਲਾ ॥
English Roman
sabad guroo surat Dhun chaylaa.
Plain sense: Shabad is Guru. The disciple is the consciousness that becomes attuned to Shabad.
Ang 943.
Shabad Guru Granth Sahib Ji leaves no room for confusion:
Gurmukhi
ਬਾਣੀ ਗੁਰੂ ਗੁਰੂ ਹੈ ਬਾਣੀ ਵਿਚਿ ਬਾਣੀ ਅੰਮ੍ਰਿਤੁ ਸਾਰੇ ॥
ਗੁਰੁ ਬਾਣੀ ਕਹੈ ਸੇਵਕੁ ਜਨੁ ਮਾਨੈ ਪਰਤਖਿ ਗੁਰੂ ਨਿਸਤਾਰੇ ॥੫॥
English Roman
banee guroo guroo hai banee vich banee amrit saaray.
gur banee kahai sayvak jan maanai partakh guroo nistaaray. ||5||
Plain sense: Bani is Guru, and Guru is Bani. Within Bani is the life-giving nectar. The sevak’s task is to maanai — to accept and live it.
Ang 982.
Now come to the shabad you yourself quoted in 2023:
Gurmukhi
ਸਲੋਕ ਕਬੀਰ ॥
ਗਗਨ ਦਮਾਮਾ ਬਾਜਿਓ ਪਰਿਓ ਨੀਸਾਨੈ ਘਾਉ ॥
ਖੇਤੁ ਜੁ ਮਾਂਡਿਓ ਸੂਰਮਾ ਅਬ ਜੂਝਨ ਕੋ ਦਾਉ ॥੧॥
ਸੂਰਾ ਸੋ ਪਹਿਚਾਨੀਐ ਜੁ ਲਰੈ ਦੀਨ ਕੇ ਹੇਤ ॥
ਪੁਰਜਾ ਪੁਰਜਾ ਕਟਿ ਮਰੈ ਕਬਹੂ ਨ ਛਾਡੈ ਖੇਤੁ ॥੨॥੨॥
English Roman
salok kabeer.
gagan damaamaa baaji-o pari-o neesaanai ghaa-o.
khayt jo maaNdi-o soormaa ab joojhan ko daa-o. ||1||
sooraa so pahichaanee-ai jo larai deen kay hayt.
purjaa purjaa kat marai kabhoo na chhaadai khayt. ||2||2||
Plain sense: The true sooraa is recognised by this: they stand and struggle for deen. Even if cut piece by piece, they do not leave the field.
Ang 1105.
Prime Minister, this is the point. Gurbani defines the true warrior through deen. Your official speech placed that shabad inside Bhartiyata, patriotic pedagogy, and state-led youth formation. Deen is not the nation. Sikhs do not accept that substitution.
And the Sikh measure of courage is not merely public bravery. It is spiritual wisdom:
Gurmukhi
ਭੈ ਕਾਹੂ ਕਉ ਦੇਤ ਨਹਿ ਨਹਿ ਭੈ ਮਾਨਤ ਆਨ ॥
ਕਹੁ ਨਾਨਕ ਸੁਨਿ ਰੇ ਮਨਾ ਗਿਆਨੀ ਤਾਹਿ ਬਖਾਨਿ ॥੧੬॥
English Roman
bhai kaahoo ka-o dayt neh neh bhai maanat aan.
kaho naanak sun ray manaa gi-aanee taahi bakhaan. ||16||
Plain sense: The spiritually mature person does not frighten anyone, and does not live in fear of anyone. Shabad calls such a person giaanee — spiritually wise.
Ang 1427.
This is the Sikh test of courage. Not youth branding. Not state usefulness. Not patriotic packaging. Courage in Sikhi is inseparable from conscience, wisdom, and refusal both to oppress and to bow before oppression. When the November 2025 speech invoked this shabad and then cited Operation Sindoor as its living example, it did not honour the Guru’s teaching. It recruited it.
What must stop now
Stop renaming shahadat into language that shifts the centre of the story.
Stop quoting Gurbani and then making it answer to developed India, Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat, national interest, border rhetoric, or state-managed youth formation.
Stop turning the Sahibzade into curriculum material, public competitions, role-play, motivational branding, and a national child-award platform while calling this neutral remembrance. The official record itself shows that this is how the day is being built and taught.
And stop acting as if Sikh objection is minor, late, or confused. It was raised early, raised clearly, and raised again.
Rename the day. Call it what Sikh institutions have already asked you to call it: Sahibzade Shahadat Diwas. That is the first and simplest correction. Everything else depends on whether you are willing to do that.
The Sikh reply
Sikhs do not need panic. Sikhs need precision.
Use the right language in your homes, your gurdwaras, your schools, your writing, and your WhatsApp groups: Chaar Sahibzade, Mata Gujri Ji, shahadat, Shaheedi Saptah. When someone forwards state language, answer calmly with Sikh language. When someone quotes Gurbani inside a state frame, put Gurbani back in its own home. Meaning is not lost only in parliaments and official programmes. It is also lost one repeated phrase at a time.
Prime Minister, a Sikh does not write this in anger. A Sikh writes this in Nirbhau. We will not flatter power into silence, and we will not surrender meaning through gratitude for public recognition. The Sahibzade do not belong to the state’s imagination. Gurbani does not belong to the nation’s public-relations language. Both belong first where Sikhs have always kept them: under the Guru, in the Panth, in Gurmat.
That is the correction.
Verify block
Gurbani locations used in this letter
Ang 1:
ੴ ਸਤਿ ਨਾਮੁ ਕਰਤਾ ਪੁਰਖੁ ਨਿਰਭਉ ਨਿਰਵੈਰੁ...— https://sggsonline.com/guru-granth-sahib-page-1/Ang 943:
ਸਬਦੁ ਗੁਰੂ ਸੁਰਤਿ ਧੁਨਿ ਚੇਲਾ ॥— https://sggsonline.com/guru-granth-sahib-page-943/Ang 982:
ਬਾਣੀ ਗੁਰੂ ਗੁਰੂ ਹੈ ਬਾਣੀ...through...ਪਰਤਖਿ ਗੁਰੂ ਨਿਸਤਾਰੇ ॥੫॥— https://sggsonline.com/guru-granth-sahib-page-982/Ang 1105:
ਸਲੋਕ ਕਬੀਰ ॥ ਗਗਨ ਦਮਾਮਾ...through...ਕਬਹੂ ਨ ਛਾਡੈ ਖੇਤੁ ॥੨॥੨॥— https://sggsonline.com/guru-granth-sahib-page-1105/Ang 1427:
ਭੈ ਕਾਹੂ ਕਉ ਦੇਤ ਨਹਿ...through...ਗਿਆਨੀ ਤਾਹਿ ਬਖਾਨਿ ॥੧੬॥— https://sggsonline.com/guru-granth-sahib-page-1427/
Cross-check instruction:
Open each Ang on two independent Gurbani databases and confirm the Gurmukhi matches line by line, including the closing markers. If any reader spots a mismatch in Gurmukhi, English Roman, Ang reference, or plain-sense rendering, it should be corrected publicly with a dated correction note.
Source note
Most government-related claims below trace to official PIB or PMO primary sources. Sikh institutional objections are cited to SGPC statements, and the December 2025 Akal Takht intervention is cited to reported coverage where a direct public primary text is not available.
2022 Guru Nanak Dev Ji speech — “Direction that we received from Gurbani is tradition, faith as well as vision of developed India” and the Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat link.
https://www.pib.gov.in/PressReleaseIframePage.aspx?PRID=1874377
2022 first Veer Bal Diwas speech — “Nation First” as Guru Gobind Singh Ji’s firm resolution; “a great inspiration for us.”
https://www.pib.gov.in/PressReleseDetailm.aspx?PRID=1886689
2023 Veer Bal Diwas speech (summary release) — official PIB release using “Bhartiyata” and describing the programme as informing and educating citizens.
https://www.pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=1990383
2023 Veer Bal Diwas speech (English rendering) — official PIB English rendering including the direct quotation of Kabir Ji’s shabad.
https://www.pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=1990397
2024 Veer Baal Diwas speech — “Nothing is greater than the country and its interests”; “every child and youth living for the country is a Veer Balak.”
https://www.pmindia.gov.in/en/news_updates/pm-participates-in-veer-baal-diwas-programme-in-new-delhi/
2025 Guru Tegh Bahadur Ji speech — “The tradition of our Gurus is the foundation of our nation’s character”; Sikh celebrations established “as national celebrations as well”; Sikh history and teachings in the national curriculum; the ਭੈ ਕਾਹੂ... teaching invoked and then linked to society, the nation, borders, and Operation Sindoor.
https://www.pmindia.gov.in/en/news_updates/pms-address-during-350th-shaheedi-diwas-of-sri-guru-tegh-bahadur-ji-in-kurukshetra/
2025 Veer Baal Diwas speech — Sahibzade described as “the pride of India”; their struggle framed as a battle between “the fundamental values of India” and religious fanaticism; the day described as a platform for nurturing “courageous and talented youth.”
https://www.pmindia.gov.in/en/news_updates/pms-address-during-veer-baal-diwas-programme-in-delhi/
SGPC December 2022 — formal demand for Sahibzade Shahadat Diwas; Akal Takht scholar committee recommendation.
https://sgpc.net/government-of-india-should-mark-martyrdom-day-of-sahibzadas-as-sahibzade-shahadat-diwas-harjinder-singh-dhami/
SGPC December 2023 — objection to school role-play and physical portrayal of the Sahibzade.
https://sgpc.net/playing-role-of-sahibzadas-in-events-under-veer-bal-diwas-is-against-sikh-traditions-harjinder-singh-dhami/
Akal Takht December 2025 — acting Jathedar’s reported letter to Sikh MPs urging the Centre to rename the day.
https://www.theweek.in/wire-updates/national/2025/12/08/des92-pb-jathedar-letter.html
— Gurjit Singh Sandhu (PanthSeva)