Sikh Leaders get the blame for Sikh Political Failures.
It is not leadership or lack of it that is the root cause. Lack of wise and politically savvy leadership is one of the symptoms. 'Lack of Leaders' is an intellectualy lazy and convenient excuse. All Sikhs love this chain of thought that offloads the blame for Sikh Failure.
Most of Sikh's problems are due to their own fault, but they blame others for it. They blame India, they blame 'upper caste' Brahmins, they blame global power politics, and above all they blame their Leaders. There is always someone else to blame, yet majority of Sikhs problems are their own fault.
Sikhs lost 80% of their land in the last 80 years. They have lost political sovereignty, declined economicallly, and become an insignificant minority in their native homeland. Inspite of strategic blunders and major losses, there has been no critical and rigorous evaluation of the root cause. There is blame game and victimhood, but no root cause analysis.
While Sikhs are quick to point out the dark psychology of Chanakya-niti (extreme Machiavellianism) in India's 'upper caste' Brahmins, they are equally quick to dismiss their own equally harmful Narcissism (inflated ego).
Sikh political culture remains charismatic, martial, and casual/informal. One who entertains is accepted by the masses. A Sikh Leader is not one with Statesman qualities but an entertainer. Sikhs are a pleasure centric community (ਸਵਾਦ ਆ ਗਿਆ).
History bears witness to this. At the Strategic Crossroads of History in 1947, Sikhs sent Tara Singh (Tara Chand Malhotra) to negotiate for creation of Sikh State.
Why was a 'stupid and emotional' person elected as President of Sikh Political Party Akali Dal? Why was someone with 'ignorance of history and world Politics' sent to most important negotiation concerning creation of a new country? Not a single Historian dares to explore this. It is perhaps the single most fundamental question in Sikh Political destiny.
The Root Cause of why Sikhs have no Leaders is because Sikhs have no grassroots support or infrastructure or organizational support for leaders and Statesmen. No Sikh will support another Sikh because of deep narcissim and ego (ਹੋਮੇ). Sikhs are deeply suspicious of anyone competent. Every Sikh believes he understands the morally complex world we live in and is magically qualified to solve them. He needs no expert knowledge. Sikhs are anti-intellectuals. Leading people with emotions is admired rather than leading people with intellect and character. Sikhs choose 'stupid and emotional' entertainers with 'ignorance of history and world Politics' as their Leaders. History is witness to this.
"The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge." (Stephen Hawking).
Sikh Leaders today fall into the textbook case of bad Leaders as defined by Henry Kissinger in his book 'Leadership'. Sikh leader today is "either a man who is judged to be good by common self-deception or someone put forward by men who are more likely to desire special favors than the common good". In other words, Sikh Leaders are either entertainers, or manufactured Leaders planted by the Deep State.
Sikh Leaders today are 'Witch Doctors' (Ayn Rand). "The Witch Doctor's brain is a miasma of floating abstractions unrelated to concretes. Both are guided and motivated 'ultimately' not by thoughts, but by feelings and whims. Both cling to their whims as to their only certainty. Both feel secretly inadequate to the task of dealing with existence".
Sikhs do not support those who can help them acquire 'Ideological Power'. At best, Sikhs will support Leaders who give them political and spiritual entertainment.
Nobel Prize on Economics for 2024 was for "importance of societal institutions for a country's [or Nation's] prosperity". Sikhs do not have any benevolent dedicated organizations.
The Solution to lack of Sikh Leadership is clear. Hire the best Sikh intellectuals, bureaucrats, technocrats. Fund them. And invite them to create an organization that you will support. As Steve Jobs said, "It doesn't make sense to hire smart people and tell them what to do; we hire smart people so they can tell us what to do".
Sikhs need organized and funded group of 'New Intellectuals' - Sikhs who are Masters of "reason, individualism, and capitalism... against today's prevalent doctrines of mysticism, altruism, and collectivism."
What kind of organization do we need? Is it thinktanks? Is it Political Action Committee? Malcolm Fairbrother from the Institute of Future Studies asked people in six countries - Sweden, Brazil, India, Italy, Nigeria, and the United States - about the kind of institutes they want. Their response was 'Expert Councils'.
Sikh Leaders will emerge from this organization deciated to its cause with no distractions. Skunk Works, Manhattan Project, Vannevar Bush and NDRC, Lee Kuan Yew Institute of Public Policy, and many others institutions and organizations give us a good template.
Sikhs need to adopt 'Systems thinking'. Build systems for success (organizations, institutions, organized and funded groups, specialized knowledge groups). It is more important than 'motivation'.