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PM launches Maharaja's bicentenary function
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, April 21
Launching the bicentenary celebrations of Maharaja Ranjit Singh's coronation, Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee said here today that India and Pakistan would have to sooner or later live together in peace.

Speaking at a colourful ceremony for the launch of the bicentenary celeberations at Vigyan Bhavan, Mr Vajpayee said that he had gone to Lahore in 1999, with great expectations and stopped, saying “but I would not elaborate any further at this point of time”. He further said that “ultimately we will have to return to the goal of living together in peace howsoever haywire we may go on this path”. “That is the only road before humanity”, he pointed out.

Mr Vajpayee said ,“We will not give up our policy of peaceful coexistence with our neighbours”, and added that India would not work against anyone nor would it like anyone to work against it.

Replying to criticial observations made earlier by noted author Khushwant Singh in his keynote address, the Prime Minister said that “secularism was being misinterpreted”. Secularism meant equal respect and equal treatment of all religions, he pointed out, adding that hate had no religion.

Mr Vajpayee said that great Maharaja Ranjit Singh was secular, as claimed by many speakers, not because he had Muslim generals in his army, but he was secular because he respected and treated all religions equally.

Khushwant Singh, while delivering his keynote address, had said that there was no need for more “mandir and masjids” but of building more Sriharikotas and modern temples of learning.

The noted author, whose book on Maharaja Ranjit Singh “Sher-e-Punjab’s” Hindi translation was released by the Prime Minister, had criticised the Vajpayee government for launching courses on astrology and palmistry in university curriculum.

Referring to many speakers' demand for bringing back ‘Kohinoor’ from the United Kingdom to India, the Prime Minister turned down the demand politely, saying “I will wait for that day when those in possession of the 'Kohinoor' on their own return that to us with words that we have kept it for long”.

Mr Vajpayee agreed with observations of many speakers like Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha and Union Minister of Urban Development Jagmohan that there was an urgent need to introspect as to why such a vast empire like that of Maharaja Ranjit Singh could not last long after his death.

In his short but poignant address, one of the descendants of Maharaja Ranjit Singh’s Foreign Minister Fakir Aijazuddin, who specially came to attend today’s celebrations from Lahore, described Maharaja Ranji Singh as “one who practised even handed secularism”.

Earlier, Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, who chose to speak in Punjabi, thanked the Prime Minister for gifting the replica of Maharaja Ranjit Singh’s throne to Punjab and said that he would take this to his state in a grand manner in the company of his Cabinet colleagues and representatives of all political parties.

Mr Badal thanked the Vajpayee government for treating Punjab and its people with love and affection and said that for the first time, the people of Punjab were getting due recognition by a government in Delhi.

Haryana Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala described Maharaja Ranjit Singh as a great socialist who followed the socialist path of Guru Gobind Singh.

Dr Manmohan Singh, in his short speech, stressed on the need to have a value system in the subcontinent which enabled people to lead a life of self--respect.

Vice-Chairman of the Minorities Commission Tarlochan Singh and Union Minister of Culture and Tourism Ananth Kumar also spoke.

Honrary Secretary-General of Maharja Ranjit Singh Vikramjit Singh Sahney , who conducted the 90-minute-long programme, which began 40 minutes behind schedule owing to the Prime Minister’s late arrival, moved a vote of thanks. He said that celebrations and exhibitions would also be held in Lahore and Britain .

Earlier, it was announced that a panorama of Sikh history on the pattern of the Mahabharat Panorama at Kurukshetra would be built at Amritsar.