As Modi meets Sikhs, they share their hopes, expectations

Prime Minister Narendra Modi met with Sikh community leaders from the United States and Canada, hearing their views and sharing vision with them.

Before the meeting, Jasdip Singh, president of the South Asian Democratic Caucus, told IANS: "There is a big hope for change in India with this new administration."

He said he wanted to talk to Modi about the continuing trauma of the 1984 anti-Sikh riots and ask him to take bold steps to heal it.

Though it is almost 30 years since the riots in which about 8,000 Sikhs were killed, the perpetrators are still free, and "justice has not been delivered," he said. "We want Modiji to take bold steps to resolve those issues."

An issue troubling Sikhs abroad is the plight of those who had sought asylum abroad in the 1980s and 1990s "because the situation was so bad in Punjab and today cannot go back" since they received asylum. He said Modi should intervene and resolve the problem.

Harbhajan Ajrawat, a former President of the Maryland State Medical Society, said: "I feel very strongly about medicine because I also represent the American Association of Physicians of Indian Origin and he is supporting us to the hilt. We will be able to have trauma centers there, infectious disease (hospitals)" because of Modi's backing.

Explaining his support for Modi, Ajrawat said that after the "dynasty" ended, "freedom came to India for the first time in May 2014 when he took over. He is the representative of everybody in India.'

"He came from the lowest possible position to the highest. He is the best for everyone...financial, manufacturing. India is going to be at the forefront under his leadership."