Chandigarh: The Indian Army attack on the Darbar Sahib was an outcome of the nation building project switched into operation since the British rulers quit the Indian sub-continent, said known Sikh historian Ajmer Singh.
Speaking at the release of the book, ‘Sant Bhinderanwale de Ru-h-bru, June 84 di Pattarkari’, authored in Punjabi by senior journalist Jaspal Singh Sidhu here at Kisan Bhawan, Ajmer Singh said practice showed that shaping a nation-state on the European model, necessitated the demolishing of distinct identities, cultures, languages and other diversities to be replaced by a homogenous dispensation, which better suited to unitary type- central governance.
The Sikhs came into a direct conflict with the Indian state as they insisted on retaining their distinct identity as well their separate political entity as a ‘nation’, he added.