In the Mahabharata,

Shantanu, the King of Hastinapur, falls for a fisherman's (Dasraj) daughter, named Satyavati.

Being won over by her beauty and grace, he goes to Dasraj for her hand...

//In contemporary times 'Shantanu' is our elders, who fought and attained...

freedom from the Raj.//

Dasraj (The Fisherman) refuses to marry his daughter, on the pretext of Shantanu's chosen heir to the Kingdom,
'Devavrat' as a future king to the throne of Hastinapur,

and his daughter's (Satyavati) sons having no chance to be Kings whatsoever.

He asks Shantanu to not let Devavrat be the King

and make his and Satyavati's future offspring the heir for the throne of Hastinapur.

Shantanu who loves his son too much,
refuses to marry Satyavati although he wants her with all his heart.

This is where Devavrat or I might say, more popularly known 'Bhisma Pitamah' comes in.

On knowing that Shantanu was unable to get what he desires, Satyavati.
Bhishma goes to Dasraj.

//Bhishma Pitama is us,
this generation of Sikhs and Punjabis in general.//

Bhishma offers Dasraj that he marries his daughter to Shantanu and in return he vows to never lay claim to the throne of Hastinapur.

Dasraj still refuses, saying that if he wouldn't
then his offspring surely will do so.

On hearing this 'Bhishma' takes the fierce oath, 'Bhishmna Pratigya'

to not marry and be an Ultimate celibate. A sacrifice.

A sacrifice definitely required at the time.

His sacrifice was the key that unlocked Shantanu's dream of getting Satyavati and it become a reality.

• Who's Bhishma now?
- Us

• Who's Shantanu?
- The immediate lot of Punjabis after independence who were denied a self ruling Punjab.

• Who's Satyavati?
- A pocket of power/ a state /an autonomous territory.

• Who's Dasraj?
- The Indian centralized state.

Given the proportionality of sacrifices Sikhs and Punjabis made in the struggle for Independence , nothing less than how a King would act,
Punjabis (Shantanu) were still denied the promised self governance of the state of Punjab, its self autonomous power.(Satyavati)

Dasraj's ( the Indian state's) fear ?

It didn't actually have fear of us becoming the upcoming holders of of the land, but greed.

Altering the history in Mahabharat,

if we say Dasraj didn't want to let Satyavati go because she worked and caught fishes.

Subsequently, helping her father earn more additionally having complete control over her, thus he didnt want to let her go.
That would be the perfect analogy for the Greed that the State of India had.
Punjab, under the centralized structure of Delhi provided wealth and contol...

directly to Delhi. The father didn't want to let Satyavati (a source of aid and power coming from Punjab) go directly to Shantanu (Punjabis and Sikhs).

And so it happened.

Dasraj refused the right to self governance to Punjabis. Refused the hand of his daughter to her rightious lover.
Furthermore he blamed Shantanu (Sikhs) of raping her.
Being a terrorist.

This is where Bhishma Pitamah Comes in and so do we.

We have to get our elders what they desired.
The dream
/
Satyavati
/
An autonomous self governing Punjab.

The sacrifice is not celibacy this time, although it would help if Punjabis parted ways from their lust of things.

(The constant lust for validation online, lust for seeking fulfillment of personal desires as opposed to larger goals at hand.)
Want to find a cure to all the problems in Punjab.

- Why not go to the root of it?
The inability to operate certain sectors without intervention.

Our sacrifice would be just this,
leaving aside personal grudges and the mental boundaries of imagined realities. Jati, Social Status, identities based on areas/towns and unite as one( Punjabi), pushing through the mist of propoganda to clear way for propagating...

the actual tenets of the Anandpur Sahib Resolution and if that isn't compatible to today's times make a new blueprint for a federal structure of India and making people aware about it.
We have to transcend even Punjab's boundaries this time.
Learning from the mistakes of the past

At that time Punjabis alone brought this up, we were termed terrorists and silenced before we could even speak.
This time, we have to align our thoughts with the wider Indian populace, our brothers and sisters from our sister states. All of whom have a distinct culture and they..

have a right to preserve their cultures as well.
This is where we have to make them aware that a federal structure with self governing provinces is the way forward,
if we have to leave behind British centralized structures that destroy our lands.

That's the only sacrifice.

Transcending identity and the ego that comes with it, if we want Shantanu (Our elders) to realise his dreams of attaining Satyavati (Autonomous self governing state) by a democratic or if required a revolutionary manner.
All together becoming one, fighting to keep being diverse.