Singh, Mahan

Letter to Prime Minister of India by Bapu Surat Singh (Dated Feb. 11, 2015) Text in English @ http://sikhsiyasat.net/2015/02/11/letter-to-prime-minister-of-india-by-surat-singh-who-is-on-fast-unto-death-since-jan-16/ For some reason could not copy the text to post it here.

The Ahmadiya Muslim Jamaat movement started by the teaching of Mirza Gulam Ahmad of Qadian (in District Gurdaspur). At the time of fall of Sikh Raj he was about 12 years of age (in 1849) In his youth he was very much impressed by Guru Nanaks ‘s thought. But at the same time he could not breakaway from Quaran. However that mixing two thoughts was the start of his spiritual journey. Later he claimed that he is the divine reformer who was prophesied / promised by some Muslim fakirs to make Islam universal in character. (similar to Guru Nanak’s thought that of a religion based on universality of God ). Ahmadiya Muslim Jamaat Movement started about the same time when Hindu Arya Smaj movement started in Punjab. It was encouraged by the British. Mirza Gulam Ahmad died in early 1900. ( about 1908 - 1909) The early Ahmadiyas had great respect for Guru Nanak. But they considered him (guru Nanak) a reformer/philosopher. Alama Iqbal ( the famous poet), in his early youth was follower of Ahmadiya movement and a great admirer of Guru Nanak Dev. But later he turned Sunni Muslim and was the one who started the idea of forming Pakistan even before Mr. Jinah did. Mr Jinah took that idea and and moved ahead with that. No their religious movement did not start in 1500s . No their religion was not created at the same time as Guru Nanak ji's s

Text of the letter mentioned in the post by Shastar Singh( Post # 27 above ) Text of the letter written by Bhagat Puran Singh Jee's to the Indian Government renouncing the honour of Padam Shree (the fourth highest civilian award in India, awarded by the government) after the Indian Army’s attack on Darbar Sahib (Golden Temple)- so called the Operation Blue Star) : Source: https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=402989403063059&id=192275487467786 & http://sikhsiyasat.net/2015/02/03/bhagat-puran-singh-jis-letter-renouncing-padam-shree-after-indian-army-attack-on-darbar-sahib/ ************** To, The President of India, Rashtrpati Bhavan, Delhi. Subject: Return of the award of Padam Shree against the in-human army action at Sri Darbar Sahib Sri Amritsar. Shriman ji, Sending the armed forces into Sri Darbar Sahib for military action has already produced countless painful results. As a result of this army action the Sikh world has been deeply hurt. You have seen how painful has been the effect of this army action on the Darshani Deodhi and the building of Sri Akal Takhat. Army has perpetrated acts, which you could not have known. Up to September 9, 1984, I have been investigating what I have heard from the people. I have exercised much restraint and have not rushed to conclusions. I will relate some of the happenings (that I have investigated). 1. Army-men arrested a scripture reader of Sri Darbar Sahib along with his family. The entire family was not given either food or water for the whole day. Rifle butts were administered on the scripture reader’s hands the whole day. Another scripture reader of the shrine was given the same treatment until his hands were swollen. 2. The sangat in Darbar Sahib complex consisting of women, men and children has been fired upon (and killed) as the mosquitoes are wiped out with poisonous spray. 3. The pilgrims who had been arrested in Sri Darbar Sahib and Teja Singh Samundari Hall around 12 noon on Tuesday were given water by the Sikh army-men after thirty hours on Wednesday. The children’s eyes were popping out with thirst and their mothers tried to moist their lips with sweat. When some women asked for water for the children the army-men told them that the children would grow up and kill the army-men so why should they be given water? On Tuesday the small quantity of water that was given to the children had cigarettes thrown into it. They were told that this is the prasad of their Guru. Army-men smoked cigarettes in Teja Singh Samundari Hall and kept on blowing the smoke at the Sikhs. The treatment meted out to the Sikhs in the name of army action has deeply hurt the feelings of the Sikh world. Hands of the young pilgrims, arrested from Darbar Sahib, were tied with their turbans, their hair were untied and used to cover their eyes with. They were forced to kneel down on the hot marble floor and to walk around on their knees. Hands of the boys were tied behind them and they were shot through their foreheads. On the first of June 1984 the CRPF had commenced firing on Sri Darbar Sahib Amritsar. On the first of June before the arrival of the army, the CRPF had killed a scripture reader in attendance upon Guru Granth Sahib and the volume itself was shot at. After it was all over, the Sikh Reference Library and the Sikh Museum were set on fire out of enmity and in pursuance of predetermined action. On June 3, 1984, two Sikhs wearing yellow turbans and kirpans got off at Batala bus stand. They were asked by the army-men to take off their turbans. On their refusal to do so they were both shot dead. Another Nihang was shot at and killed near Gumtala jail because he had refused to surrender his kirpan. One Sikh in proper Sikh dress was standing on the roof of his house in an area of Amritsar called Kittas. Army-men killed him because he was wearing a yellow turban. On the third of July a black turbaned and kirpan-wearing young Sikh of about 25 years of age was walking past the Kitchlew traffic island. The army arrived, handcuffed and arrested him although nothing incriminating was found on his person. When army-men went to arrest the President of the Shiromani Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee Sardar Gurcharan Singh Tohra from Teja Singh Samundari Hall, one of them was smoking a cigarette. When Sardar Tohra asked him not to smoke (in the holy precincts), his reply was, “shut up old-man or I will shoot you dead. Tohra said ‘I am the President of this place’ upon which the army-men became quiet. Temple servants of Sri Darbar Sahib Mukatsar, were made to lie face downwards in the circumambulatory path around the sacred tank and beaten mercilessly. As a result of this one of them died. All those boys who had taken amrit were pulled out of their homes in the villages and were beaten severely. I am compelled to observe that the army has displayed bankruptcy of character and has acted with hearts full of enmity and in a manner indicating that it wanted to wipe out the Sikhs. Young-men from villages have been troubled much after the army action. Apart from the truth depicted above, I have received information about such shameful incidents, to mention which is to violate the cultural norms. After hearing of and seeing such happenings, I reject and return to you the award of Padam Shree conferred upon me. Puran Singh Bhagat

Source: http://ofmi.org/2015/01/india-concludes-66th-republic-day-celebrations-of-a-constitution-its-author-disowned/ India’s 66th Republic Day Celebrated a Constitution (that) Its Author Disowned “I shall be the first person to burn it out,” said US-educated Dalit Dr. B. R. Ambedkar NEW DELHI: Jan. 29, 2015 – When U.S. President Barack Obama joined Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi on Monday to celebrate India’s 66th Republic Day, commemorating the January 26, 1950 adoption of the country’s constitution, neither politician mentioned that, just three years after he chaired the drafting committee that wrote the document, Dr. Bhim Rao Ambedkar publicly rejected it. Dr. Ambedkar, who received his doctorate in economics from New York’s prestigious Columbia University, declared on September 2, 1953 on the floor of Rajya Sabha(India’s upper house of parliament): “People always keep on saying to me, ‘Oh, you are the maker of the Constitution.’ My answer is – I was a hack. What I was asked to do, I did much against my will.” When the Home Minister asserted that Ambedkar himself wrote the document, the Dalit statesman elaborated: “My friends tell me that I made the Constitution. But I am quite prepared to say that I shall be the first person to burn it out. I do not want it. It does not suit anybody.” On September 14, 1953, Ambedkar indicated his disgust with the constitution included the extraordinary power granted by its Article 356 to dissolve state governments and impose direct rule from New Delhi, stating: “To resort to Article 356 in a situation of this sort besmirches the name of the Government that they are using this Article 356 for party purposes. It is a wrong thing which ought not to be done. This is always being done and the people have got a very legitimate ground for suspicion that the Government is manipulating the articles in the Constitution for the purpose of maintaining their own party in office in all parts of India.” Despite Ambedkar decrying the use of India’s constitution to establish single-party rule, he continues to be widely credited as its author. Before leaving India to pay homage to the late autocrat, King Salman of Saudi Arabia, President Obama said in an address at New Delhi’s Siri Fort, “With the tricolor waving above us, we celebrated the strength of your constitution…. Even as we live in a world of terrible inequality, we’re also proud to live in countries where even the grandson of a cook can become President, or even a Dalit can help write a constitution.” Aside from Ambedkar volunteering to “be the first person to burn it out,” the Indian Constitution was a hard swallow for India’s minorities from the outset. When the Constituent Assembly formed in 1946 to create a constitution, the Sikhs of northwestern India sent representatives who publicly denounced the final product just five days before it was accepted. On November 21, 1949, Sikh representative Hukam Singh stated: “Let it not be misunderstood that the Sikh community has agreed to this constitution. I wish to record an emphatic protest here. My community cannot subscribe its assent to this historic document…. There is enough provision in our Constitution… to facilitate the development of administration into a fascist state.” India’s constitution is the world’s longest at over 117,000 words, as contrasted with the shortest, the U.S. Constitution, at just 4,440 words. It contains 448 articles, 12 schedules, and 99 amendments. On average, it has been amended 1.5 times every year, with seven amendments passed in the past decade. “Besides its mind-boggling length, the predominating feature of India’s constitution is that it protects the power of the state instead of the liberty of the people,” says Bhajan Singh, Founding Director of Organization for Minorities of India (OFMI). “This is its chief point of departure from the world’s oldest constitution, that of the United States, which is commonly considered as providing a restraint on the state. As India’s Mulnivasi people struggle to find a way forward, I can only agree with Dr. Ambedkar that it is necessary to first burn out India’s current constitution and replace it with one securing the liberties of the country’s most downtrodden people.” Many members of the Constituent Assembly were disturbed by the constitution’s provision of centralized powers to the Indian State. Voices raised against centralization consistently invoked the possibility that the constitution could give rise to “totalitarianism.” Among those voices was Professor N. G. Ranga, a representative from Madras (now Chennai in the State of Tamil Nadu), who said: “Centralisation, I wish to warn this house, would only lead to Sovietisation and totalitarianism and not democracy.” Ranga’s warning was echoed by other representatives who specifically contested constitutional provisions like Article 352 (permitting New Delhi to declare a national “Emergency” and even suspend elections), Article 356 (permitting New Delhi to dissolve democratically-elected state governments, suspend state elections, and indefinitely institute direct dictatorial control called “President’s Rule”), and Article 365 (requiring states to “comply with, or to give effect to, directions given by the Union”). P. T. Chacko, a representative of Travancore (later the State of Kerala), was especially offended by the requirement that states obey directions from the Central Government, declaring: “Article 365 makes Indian States almost complete vassals.” After a “long struggle for freedom,” Chacko lamented the result: “In the place of the foreign imperialism, we are now having an Indian imperialism.” Assamese representative Muhammad Saadulla shared his concerns, saying: “Article 352 refers to the proclamation of an emergency by the President of the Union. Well this proclamation can be had, according to Article 356, for failure of the constitutional machinery in a Province: according to Article 360, for financial instability, and, according to Article 365, for failure to comply with directions issued by the Union…. This will lead to a conflict often times between the Centre and the Provinces, and instead of breathing an atmosphere of independence, freedom, and liberty, we will be subject to the utmost interference from the Centre.” The constitution recognizes a number of “Fundamental Rights,” particularly in Article 19 (which lists the rights to freedom of speech and expression, to assemble peaceably and without arms, to form associations or unions, to move freely throughout the territory of India, to reside and settle in any part of the territory of India, and to practise any profession, or to carry on any occupation, trade or business), but many in the Constituent Assembly argued the article was self-defeating. For instance, Hukam Singh said: “Practically all the rights in Article 19 are based on one fundamental provision, namely, that the various rights are subject to the existing restrictive law or laws which may be made hereafter.” Every right recognized in the article is provisioned with a clause allowing the state to impose “reasonable restrictions on the exercise of the right.” Thus, Singh concluded: “The Fundamental Rights are worthless as they have so many restrictions and are left at the mercy of the legislature.” Commenting more extensively on the intrinsic undermining of the Fundamental Rights, Madras representative Mahboob Ali Baig compared the Indian Constitution to the German Constitution under which Adolf Hitler rose to power. Noting that the fundamental rights listed in the constitution were systematically “deprived” by each subsequent clause, Baig said: “It is only in the German Constitution that the Fundamental Rights were subject to the provisions of the law that may be made by the legislature. That means that the citizens could enjoy only those rights which the legislature would give them — would permit them to enjoy from time to time. That cuts at the very root of fundamental rights and the Fundamental Rights cease to be fundamental. I dare say, Sir, you know what was the result. Hitler could make his legislature pass any law, put Germans in concentration camps without trial under the provisions of law made by the legislature of Germany. We know what the result was. It was regimentation — that every German should think alike and anybody who differed was sent to concentration camps. Totalitarianism — fascism — was the result.” In his final remarks to the Constituent Assembly, given on November 25, 1949 (the day before passage of the constitution), Dr. Ambedkar warned: “It is quite possible for this new born democracy to retain its form but give place to dictatorship in fact…. If hereafter things go wrong, we will have nobody to blame except ourselves. There is great danger of things going wrong.” Human rights organizations like Ensaaf, an NGO working to “achieve justice for mass state crimes in India,” believe a great deal has gone wrong in India. In a January 26, 2015 article, Ensaaf Co-Director Sukhman Dhami noted: “Whether it’s mass graves in Kashmir, mass cremations in Punjab, razing villages in Chhattisgarh, or rampant torture, India has refused to confront and redress atrocities perpetrated by its security forces.” Meanwhile, 13 of the country’s 29 states currently have active separatist movements, some armed, and calls for democratic plebiscites on self-determination continue to go out from Assam, Kashmir, Nagaland, Punjab, and other states. Since 1950, the world’s “largest democracy” has used Article 356 over 120 times to dissolve democratically-elected governments in 25 of its 29 states and two of its seven territories — most commonly in Manipur (10 times), Uttar Pradesh (9 times), Punjab (8 times), and Bihar (8 times). During her nearly 16 years in office, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi became the most prolific user of the power, imposing President’s Rule on at least 50 occasions in at least 19 different states. The daughter of the country’s first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira demonstrated little appreciation for representative government. In 1977, when the Indian Supreme Court upheld a verdict nullifying her election to parliament based on allegations of electoral fraud, she responded by declaring an “Emergency” under Article 352 and suspending national elections for two years. During the Emergency, Indira implemented a program of compulsory sterilization. Author Robert Zubrin reported: “Demolition squads were sent into slums to bulldoze houses — sometimes whole neighborhoods — so that armed police platoons could drag off their flushed-out occupants to forced-sterilization camps.” Between 1975 and 1977, over 11 million Indians — mostly lower-castes and Muslims — were forcibly sterilized by the state. “By the early 1980s, four million sterilizations were being performed every year on India’s underclasses,” wrote Zubrin. “Everything Indira Gandhi did was constitutional,” says South Asian affairs analyst Pieter Friedrich. “Of course, as Dr. King reminded us, we should never forget that everything Hitler did in Germany was also legal. What sort of democracy allows the government to suspend elections or dissolve elected legislatures? The primary beneficiary of the Indian Constitution has proven to be New Delhi, which profits by concealing its oppression of India’s people behind the obfuscations of the world’s longest constitution. If the constitution permits a dictatorship, then it is truly a constitution of no authority.” Poster's note: The two Sikh representatives did not sign the constitution. They too rejected it and finally walked in protest out of the committee that was writing the constitution . The constitution of India was imposed on Sikhs

According to The Organization for Minorities of India, Obama indulged in "newspeak " Source: http://ofmi.org/2015/01/obama-affirms-indian-constitutions-article-25-over-objections-of-south-asian-americans/ Obama Affirms Indian Constitution’s Article 25 Over Objections of South Asian Americans Article claiming to protect religious liberty permits state regulation of religion, notes US-based rights group NEW DELHI: Jan. 27, 2015 – In his final hours in India, U.S. President Barack Obama called the country a “partner,” saying India should not be “splintered along the lines of religious faith.” “Our freedom of religion is written into our founding documents,” said Obama during his half-hour speech at New Delhi’s Fort Siri. “It’s part of America’s very first amendment. Your Article 25 says that all people are equally entitled to freedom of conscience and the right freely to profess, practice, and propagate religion.” His remarks concluded an unprecedented second state visit by a sitting U.S. president to India. Obama’s administration has overseen an expanding alliance with South Asia’s dominant nation as the United States has softened its stance towards controversial Indian politicians like Prime Minister Narendra Modi. In 2005, Modi was banned by the U.S. State Department from entering the country due to “egregious religious freedom violations,” but the policy was swiftly reversed after his election as India’s chief executive. Although the 25th article of India’s Constitution is frequently credited as enshrining a right to religious freedom, many minorities of Indian origin believe it does exactly the opposite. “The foundational threat to religious liberty in independent India is Article 25,” said Bhajan Singh, Founding Director of US-based Organization for Minorities of India (OFMI). “Article 25 does two things,” said Singh. “First, it permits the state to regulate religion and religious institutions for ‘public order’ and, second, it forces followers of the Sikh, Jain, and Buddhist religions to identify as Hindus even though these three separate faiths are totally distinct. South Asian minorities have very publicly petitioned President Obama to address questionable provisions in the article, but he has failed them by instead affirming it in total.” The article states that Indians may profess, practice, and propagate their religion, but conditions that right by saying it is “subject to public order, morality and health.” Furthermore, the article says the State is not prevented from making any law “regulating or restricting any economic, financial, political or other secular activity which may be associated with religious practice.” Its most disputed clause states that “reference to Hindus shall be construed as including a reference to persons professing the Sikh, Jaina or Buddhist religion.” In anticipation of Obama’s visit to India, the group Sikhs for Justice launched a whitehouse.gov petition to the president asking him to raise the issue of Article 25 with Modi. The petition system, designed to allow Americans to bring concerns to the president’s attention, requires collection of 100,000 signatures in 30 days to prompt a response. Over the month of December 2014, 125,022 people in the U.S. joined their names to the petition asking Obama to question Modi about why India’s Constitution labels Sikhs as “Hindus” while in India. Obama’s office has yet to issue any response, but his affirmation of the article seems likely to unsettle petitioners. “While India’s ruling party demands national criminalization of religious conversion without state permission, and leaders of both major political parties have only advanced in power after instigating pogroms against religious minorities, Obama’s lip service to Article 25 constitutes a dual betrayal of the American and Indian peoples,” remarked South Asia analyst Pieter Friedrich. “Even after over a hundred thousand Americans warned their president that Article 25 destroys religious liberty in India, he responded by publicly embracing the Orwellian article. Obama has accomplished nothing more in India than the perpetuation of newspeak, the political language that calls black as white, tyranny as freedom, and good as evil.” President Obama was joined on his trip to India by four legislators from his Democrat Party — House Democrat leader Nancy Pelosi, New York Congressman Joe Crowley, California Congressman Ami Bera, and Virginia Senator Mark Warner. Bera and Pelosi are both members of the U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee. On January 26, Committee Chairman Ed Royce (R-CA) protested Obama’s choice of “a partisan congressional delegation,” noting that no Republican members of Congress were invited to join the trip. Bera’s 2014 reelection campaign faced protests by his South Asian American constituents based on his refusal to address their concerns about religious freedom violations by the Indian State.

In the above post (#3) Jagsaw Singh mentions “Kiran Bedi will become the Mayor of Delhi-----.” Actually she is the Chief Ministerial Candidate of BJP in the Delhi elections to be held in February 2015. About four of Delhi Gurdwara Management Committee (DGMC) members (Akali Dal Badal party) are also contesting under the BJP ticket. So they are supporting her. Sukhvir Badal has said he will campaign for her and for the DGMC sponsored candidates.

Human Rights -Activist’s Supporters Evicted from Protest Site in New DelhiSource: https://medium.com/@gurmeetkaur/61-days-hungry-for-human-rights-activists-supporters-evicted-from-protest-site-in-new-delhi-afec033cd3f0 61 Days Hungry for Human Rights -Activist’s Supporters Evicted from Protest Site in New Delhiby Gurmeet Kaur As the hospitalized human rights activist, Gurbaksh Singh began his 61st day of hunger to free the unjustly detained prisoners in India, his supporters have taken the protest to New Delhi after being forced out from their 60 day camp in the northern state of Haryana. A few hours after they submitted their paperwork necessary to hold the protest at Jantar Mantar, the official New Delhi venue designated to hold protests and accommodate up to 5000 people, the Delhi Police detained all of (less than a dozen) Gurbaksh Singh’s supporters at a Police Station. After hours of detention they were asked to leave the protest site or face arrests. They were told that they will not be allowed to camp anywhere in New Delhi in the wake of the U.S. President’s scheduled visit to India on Jan 26th. One of the supporters was on the hunger strike for the third day as this happened. Desperate for a venue, the team asked for Sikh organizations throughout the city to help. Late in the night they were invited to move their camp to a local Gurdwara in West Delhi. However, less than 24 hours later they are being asked to leave, now from their new home. The team was told that all Sikh organizations in New Delhi are being pressured to not support them. The team spokesperson Gurpreet Singh questioned, “As a minority in India, we have no rights, not even to a peaceful protest. We have not been allowed to protest at designated protest sites, we have been forced out of our religious places, in all three states, where do we go?” In the meanwhile protests around the world continue. Yesterday, hundreds of Australian activists gathered in front of the Canberra Indian Embassy. Ottawa Sikhs completed day 22 of chain hunger strike outside Indian embassy in solidarity with Gurbaksh Singh and his movement. Support marches throughout the Indian state of Punjab are being carried out every day. Gurbaksh Singh is demanding the release of political prisoners who have been held for many years beyond the completion of their minimum sentences. You can read more about his movement here. (Read about Delhi Police’s advertisement to invite people to protest at Jantar Mantar here.) Please subscribe to get daily updates from this movement: https://medium.com/@gurmeetkaur

I believe one of Niki Haley’s brothers is also a convert to Christianity. Seems like parents may not have explained to them what Sikhi is. However, her father is a committee member of the Gurdwara (May even be the president of Gurdwara).

Source: http://www.tribuneindia.com/2014/20141112/main5.htm SAD aflutter as RSS spreads wings in Punjab Ruchika M Khanna Tribune News Service Chandigarh, November 11 The Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS) is spreading its wings far and wide in Punjab. With the help of its 20-odd front organizations (that owe its origins to the RSS), the right wing organization is aggressively using social welfare as a medium to reach out to people in the state. Much to the chagrin of the ruling SAD and the Congress, which is sitting in Opposition for more than seven years now, the RSS is quietly acting as a foot soldier of its political wing - the BJP. With anti incumbency against the Akali Dal setting in and a divided Congress unable to project itself an alternative, the RSS is quietly steeping on to the political space that is falling vacant. RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat has visited the state four times this year. During his visits, Bhagwat held closed-door meetings with the head of Radha Soami Satsang Dera. Senior BJP leader L K Advani visited the head of Radha Soami Dera at Beas last month, allegedly as a follow up to the meeting between Bhagwat and Gurinder Singh - the Radha Soami Dera head. A senior RSS functionary said the meeting was held only to ensure that the two non-government organisations continued to work for communal harmony and social welfare. Sources say that RSS workers are partnering with smaller deras, especially in the Majha and Doaba regions of the state, and promoting social welfare schemes like post-matric scholarship scheme. This scheme has seen a 100 per cent jump in its enrolment for poor students. RSS leaders say that they are aggressively working in those areas of Punjab which have been worst affected by drug menace, and in the border districts of Punjab where unemployment is rampant. Sources say that the workers have got good response in the areas, which traditionally are Akali bastions. Though the RSS has always been active in Amritsar, Ludhiana, Gurdaspur, Ferozepur, Abohar and Fazilka, the sangh has also infiltrated into smaller towns and districts. The state is divided into six ‘vibhags’ and each ‘vibhag’ is divided into smaller units called ‘nagars’. Sources say the RSS presence in Mohali, Patiala, Fatehgarh Sahib, Barnala, Bathinda and Moga is relatively new and response in these areas was good. While Rashtriya Sikh Sangat – a front organisation of the RSS is being re-activated, the organization is also re-energising Akhil Bhartiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) - student wing and Bhartiya Mazdoor Sangh (labour wing). Social organizations that owe their allegiance to the RSS – Sewa Bharti and Bhartiya Vikas Parishad -- too, are stepping up their social activities to involve more people. As of now, the RSS has 630 shakhas (branches) spread across Punjab. Senior RSS functionaries, on condition of anonymity, told The Tribune that they are opening at least 200 more shakhas, mainly in rural and semi-urban areas. “Of late, there has been great enthusiasm among the people of the state to enroll with the RSS,” said a top leader in the state. He added that the social work done by the RSS and its subsidiaries in Punjab was highly appreciated by people, who were now actively engaged with the RSS through its shakhas and camps organized by it. THey said they had no political ambitions behind the social service. But the inroads being made by the RSS have raised the heckles of their political opponents as well as allies. 7 ‘vibhags’ in Punjab Patiala ‘vibhag, (Chandigarh, Mohali, Patiala, Ropar & Fatehgarh Sahib) Amritsar ‘vibhag’ (Gurdaspur, Batala, Amritsar) Bathinda ‘vibhag’ (Barnala, Bathinda and Mansa) Ludhiana ‘vibhag’ (Malerkotla, Ludhiana, Sangrur & Moga) Ferozepur ‘vibhag’ ( Abohar, Ferozepur, Fazilka) Jalandhar ‘vibhag’ ( Jalandhar rural, Jalandhar urban, Kapurthala & Nawanshahr) Pathankot ‘vibhag’ Saffron surge * RSS has 630 shakhas in Punjab. It plans to add 200 more. * RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat has visited Punjab four times this year. Had visited Mansa in May and Doraha in September. * The right wing organisation using social issues to reach out to people. * This will benefit BJP as it targets Mission 2017. RSS structure * Sangh Chalak - Braj Bhushan Bedi * Prant Karyavaha - Munishwar (also coordinates between BJP and RSS) * Sah Prant Karyavaha -- Amrit Sagar Jain * Sharirik Pramukh - Vinay * Boddhik Pramukh - Vijay Singh * Prant Pracharaks - Vishal and Kishore * Prant Sampark Pramukh - Ram Lal Gupta.

I These videos are from the ENSAAF channel of YouTube . I have posted just the two here. This gives you a glimpse of atrocities committed by the government sponsored mob in Delhi in November 1984, and by the Indian Army during the attack on Harmandar Sahib (Golden Temple) in June 1984 ***** Watch Survivor Interviews, Days after November 1984 ************** A Witness Among the Bodies: Surviving Bluestar ( June 1984)

While there was good response to the “Call for Bandh in Punjab” in some cities like Amritsar, Jallandar, Ludhiana, Phagwara, and few others, but most of the malwa cities like Malot, Patiala, etc response was next to none. Even those who made statements, a day or two ago that they would support it whole heartedly and their photographs appeared in newspapers, were mysteriously absent from the scene and did nothing to support the cause. This is the state of Sikh mind set in Punjab. Who are these people ?– well you will see their pictures often making lofty speeches that they are doing this and that for this and that Sikh cause. They make statements like “ We are standing by you like a solid rock” . But when the time comes for them to show support, they are not seen and the rock suddenly disappears. This the state of commitment of Sikhs in Punjab for Sikh issues.

Historian Ajmer Singh talking about political idiology of sant Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale

Historian talking about Sant Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale. His real contribution and his place in Sikh History

Yes, being "human" is Hukam . But , what is that Hukam? And, what kind of person is that whom Guru Nanak says is "Human"? The whole bani of Sri Guru Granth Sahib is about describing what that Hukam is and what it means to be “Human”. If you start following the Hukam to be “the Human”, you have become a Sikh. So it is not correct to say “become a Human first before becoming a Sikh”. First step to become the “Human” (that Guru Nanak mentions) is also your first step on the path of Sikhi. The path of becoming a truthful human being and path of Sikhi are simultaneous and concurrent. To be “Human” according to the “Hukam” is not pick and choose “what I like and reject what I don’t like” type of thing. It is about following a path of truthful living. Guru Nanak says this almost in the start Japji Sahib “ How to become truthful ?” In answer to this, he says “follow the path of Hukam that is written ( for the Human beings) by the creator. ………. Every thing (every thing created by the creator) is within Hukam. Nothing is outside the realm of Hukam. …..” ( Japji Sahib Pauri 1 and 2 ) In light of other banis from Sri Guru Granth Sahib, the interpretation of the above roughly can be stated as that each specie of life has a path chalked out for it by the creator. It is embedded in nature of things by the creator. As long as a person stays within that path, the person has a good chance of becoming truthful to the nature of that of a human being . If person deviates from that path, he is perhaps following a path that of an other specie - that is, he is following Hukam assigned to other specie . . Being deviant from the path assigned to you, will have its consequence. “ As you sow , so you shall reap ……..” .

Source: http://sikhchic.com/people/he_served_the_sikh_nation_with_passion_dedication_dr_ganga_singh_dhillon He Served The Sikh Nation With Passion & Dedication: Dr Ganga Singh Dhillon Dr HARBANS LAL Sardar Ganga Singh Dhillon left for his timeless journey, as we call it in the Sikh tradition, on September 24, 2014. The cause was injuries resulting from an accidental fall followed by medical complications over a period of several weeks. Although I had known Ganga Singh from his student days in Punjab, where he was an activist for the All India Sikh Students Federation (AISSF), our more active collegiality began in USA. He migrated to Washington, DC a few years after I did. Ganga Singh’s birth place was only 8 miles from the birth place of Guru Nanak -- Nanakana Sahib, now in West Punjab, Pakistan. He finished his school in the Guru Nanak Khalsa High School in Nanakana Sahib before joining The Sikh National College in Lahore. His father, Sardar Kahan singh, was martyred near Nanakana Sahib. Ganga Singh’s life was turbulent but full of chardi kala and full of vigor for what he wanted to accomplish. I remember him continually pestering me to include the issue of the Sikh Shrines in Pakistan in my presidential address at the Annual Conference of AISSF, to which I too subscribed with the same passion. The partition of Punjab and India played havoc with the destiny of the brave Sikh people when the future of Sikh historical places and the footprints of our Gurus in the part of Punjab left behind in newly-created Pakistan was mischievously overlooked in the confused and haphazardly managed exchange of populations. They were erroneously lumped with the rest of the problems of partition. We were assured publicly that the arrangements between the two governments were only provisional and the matter of the Sikh holy places would be resolved to our satisfaction. But Ganga Singh was not going to trust these promises. I cannot forget the wintry day in 1974 when I was driving Ganga Singh from Washington, DC to New York where both of us were scheduled to speak at the Richmond Hill Gurdwara on the formation of The Nankana Sahib Foundation. The idea was to secure free access to our shrines in Pakistan for visits and for the maintenance of the properties. It began to drizzle and the traffic had slowed down. We had a lot of time to spend in the car chalking out programs of the Foundation to secure free access to the historical gurdwaras left behind in Pakistan. Sardar Ganga Singh followed the plans and gathered a delegation of 25 prominent Sikhs from India like Sardar Joginder Singh Mann. Chief Justice Harbans Singh, and Jathedar Man Singh Hambo, as well as a number of others from across the diaspora. They all supported the idea and Ganga Singh officially launched the Nankana Sahib Foundation at the very site of Guru Nanak’s birth place on November 11, 1975. Sardar Ganga Singh, through his political connections, discovered only in 1998 that the Home Ministers of India and Pakistan, Gobind Vallabhai Pant and Sikander Mirza, had secretly signed an agreement in 1955 which declared Sikhism’s birthplace, the Janam Asthaan, and other historical gurdwaras as “evacuee properties” and thus leaving liitle room for negotiation. Our eyes did not believe the smell of the 1955 arrangement, which designated the birth place of Guru Nanak at Nankana, and the birth place of Sikhism at Kartarpur, as ordinary properties. It just did not make sense to us. It again goes to the credit of Ganga Singh along with the leadership of the Foundation to point out to the Pakistani leaders that as long as any Sikh lived anywhere in the world, Guru Nanak’s place of birth could not be considered an evacuee property as Mecca and Medina could not ever be termed or designated evacuee properties as long as any Muslim was alive. These efforts resulted in the historical declaration on the formation of the Pakistan Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (PGPC) by the President of Pakistan in April 1999. The President announced his action as a Vaisakhi gift to the Sikh Nation. Immediately after the formation of PGPC, Sardar Ganga Singh asked me to contact the Foundation supporters to come up with plans to launch efforts to similarly identify and restore sanctity of the historical Sikh shrines in Bangladesh, Burma, China, Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq and other countries. During our struggle to secure free visits and rights to manage our shrines in Pakistan, we also learnt that the Muslim public needed to learn more about the actual history of the Sikh-Muslim relationship so that the Sikhs could form a cordial basis for their interaction with them. Such relations were crucial, especially with regards to the upkeep of their shrines in different countries. Without an understanding between the two communities, the desirable sanctity of the Sikh shrines in Pakistan and in the Middle East could not be maintained. Thus, Sardar Ganga singh marched ahead to form the Lahore Conference on Sikh Muslim Understanding. Towards this goal a joint statement was made at the All Pakistan Ulemas Conference. Then the Foundation honored the Islamic scholars and artists at several public functions to promote networking with them. The man I wish to remember today was wise, full of vigor and the burning desire to promote the Sikh national identity, to preserve Sikh heritage. It will be difficult to fill the void created by his departure. He will be sorely missed. The author is Executive Vice President of Nanakana Sahib Foundation, Washington, DC, USA. September 28, 2014

A Punjab Police Inspector who belonged to Sikh religion marries his good looking female Sikh colleague by having an Anand Karj ceremony. Then after two years, he changes his religion to Islam and also ask her wife to convert to Islam (as dutiful wife she converted to what the husband asked her to do) . So went through “Nikah” (religious ceremony of Islam). Then files for “tilaak” - the divorce according to Islamic Law. ( in Islam man is allowed to have 5 wives and he can divorce any one of them by just saying “I divorce you” 3 times) . ( it seems ovbious that he converted to Islam and asked his wife also to convert, only for the ease of getting divorce or "dump" her). In Muslim community, the only protection for the female is the pressure on the man from their Muslim community to not to do that. However, for the female convert, that support is not there. http://epaper.dailypehredar.com/epaperimages/1992014/1992014-md-hr-12/233345203.JPG

Source: http://sikhsiyasat.net/2014/09/16/rss-targets-punjab-and-the-sikh-predominance/ RSS targets Punjab and the Sikh Predominance September 16, 2014 | By Jaspal Singh Sidhu The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), described by eminent sociologist Ashis Nandy as fountainhead of ‘demonic and seductive Indian religious nationalism’ seems to have put Punjab on its radar. Its chief Mohan Bhagwat finished a five-day ‘training camp’ of RSS at Doraha, near Ludhiana in second week of September (2014) in quick succession to a similar camp at Mansa (south Punjab) organized a few months ago. The Sangh Parivar activists from Punjab, Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Chandigarh attended these camps. Just before the 2014 Lok Sabha polls Mohan Bhagwat had toured Punjab and camped at Malerkotla, a small pocket of Muslim population in the state. Media reports say: senior RSS functionaries from across the country took up schooling for the activists and focused on ‘how to strengthen Sangh Parivar and, thereby, its political front –BJP- in the north bordering Pakistan. An insider spoke about starting of an aggressive membership drive especially in urban areas- with an ultimate goal of mobilizing support for BJP. It is pertinent to note that the presence of the RSS was there in pre-Partitioned Punjab, but it was primarily to counter the Muslim League. During 1947 RSS had a membership exceeding 50,000. Now, the Sangh is using upgraded communication tools, it has established its website. It claims to have roped in 10,000 IT professions in its fold. It has also been using Internet to boost its membership drive, enlisting 2,000 members online every month. The Sangh Parivar seems to be attempting to consolidate Punjabi Hindus behind BJP by weaning them away from Congress and also to make inroads in the Akalis citadel, intending to draw at least 5-10 per cent of rural Sikhs to the fold of Punjab unit of BJP. hus, its unit could become a Hindu-dominated counterpart of the Badals’ Punjabi party having overwhelming Sikh presence. As a strategy, the Badals’ have appointed small-time Hindu leaders as chiefs of its urban units besides a fair inclusion of the Hindu leaders in their party. The BJP resents the Badals’ move as a ‘poaching on its natural allies’. The Akali Dal have become a Punjabi party after the Moga conference in 1996 as the Badals publicly renounced the party’s 70-year-old ideology and practice of its being a party exclusively ‘of and for’ the Sikhs. The BJP is also going in for a ‘-for-tat’ and has secured the entry into the party of an Akali leader PS Gill, a former police chief of Punjab. The Vishwa Hindu Prashad (VHP), another Sangh outfit with its active role in the demolition of the Babri Mosque in 1992, is also eyeing Punjab for drawing some symbolic personalities for its golden jubilee celebrations next year. KPS Gill, symbolizing ‘repressive hand of the India Establishment’, has reportedly agreed to join the celebrations. The Indian Punjab has problematic demography, which, has been one of main causes of what is euphemistically called ‘the Punjab problem’. The Hindus here are still carrying a baggage of ‘memories of loss and exile through violence’ from the days of their migration from west Punjab in 1947. The Sikhs, too were forcibly evicted and suffered heavy loss of life and property while leaving west Punjab. Unlike their Hindus counterparts, the Sikhs anger against the Muslim has subsided to a greater extent. This is not the case with Punjabi Hindus, for whom the Sangh has been keeping the pot boiling against the Muslims. The Sikhs have undergone more tragic period of suppression and pogrom in post-1947 days as free India rulers moved on to build a “majoritarian nation state”. The Sikhs suffered communal and political isolation and experienced Operation Blue Star, November pogrom and a decade long state terrorism in 1980s. This superseded the Partition bloodshed they were subjected to, rendering them to visualize that period as a passing tragic phase of the history. On the other hand, the propensity of ‘self-pityingly portraying themselves as victims’ is still persisting with non-Sikh Punjabi migrants. In post-1947 years they, aligned with Congress rulers, began to perceive the Sikhs as ‘dominating and aggressors’ at par with the Muslims of pre-Partition days. Such of their perception, invariably, make them turn vigorously to ‘Vedic golden age’ taking consolation from an ‘unspecified Vedic time’ and from fascinating stories for bewitching the middle class mind that ‘‘Indians had invented airplanes, dynamite, nuclear weapons, the wheel, zero, and other wonderful things during the Vedic golden time”. The Punjabi society does not need a polarization exercise as initiated by the RSS in other parts of the country as the state is already having a visible Hindu-Sikh divide on social and mental level since the 1980s developments. Now the RSS could arouse and sustain a level of the Punjab Hindus’ antipathy to the Sikh politics to a pitch which was whipped up by Indira Gandhi in 1980s. The non-Sikh Punjabis have already hitched their religious, cultural and economic expressions and aspirations to the ‘Akhand Bharat’ beyond Punjab. This rendered the Sikhs for them as ‘the Other’; so does Punjabi language , Punjabi culture as well as natural resources of Punjab. Virtually, Punjab is not a “home” for them. The religious nationalism becomes more attractive to the Hindu population of Punjab when Mohan Bhagwat asserts ‘India is Hindu nation’ and the Badals choose to keep mum only to register their mild protest through the SGPC when the Sangh reiterates its earlier contention that “the Sikhs are a sect of pan-Hinduism”. The non-Sikh Punjabis are good subjects for lapping up the RSS ideology – “India’s once and future greatness”. The Indian mind is attuned to a ‘feed of myths’ as their religious beliefs emanating from Mahabharata and Ramayana epics depict. The Modi’s myth-laced electioneering should be viewed in this context that promised ‘acche din ayne wale hain’ (goods days are ahead) which brought the BJP into the driving seat of Indian governance. Fixing the Indian mind on the dream of ‘Great Bharat’ also circumvents the ugly ground realities including sustaining of obnoxious caste-system, thereby depriving a vast chunk of socially and economically unprivileged people. As Sushank Kela, an eminent writer on the Indian caste-system says “The RSS and BJP believe, for example, that India is destined to become a great industrial power. So did Nehru, and assorted Indian Marxists. Indeed, it is an article of faith for the burgeoning middle-class (mostly, but not entirely Hindu) that India can, should and will equal China to become a great power, economic and military (thus leaving Japan and South Korea in the dust)”. Back to Punjab political scene: some sort of ‘tug of war’ is going on between the Badals and the BJP. The BJP leaders asserting their equal standing in Punjab and refusing to play second fiddle to the Badals after the Modi rule in New Delhi. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has refused to oblige the Badals demanding ‘special financial package’ for Punjab. Central BJP leaders reportedly snubbed the Badals regarding the decimation of the separate Haryana SGPC committee. The BJP highly resent, the Badals defying BJP, ruling ally and joining the Chautalas in the Haryana ongoing assembly elections. The Badals are undergoing a crucial and sensitive political phase. The Sikh minority’s political space is getting unrepresented with the Akali Dal (Badal) becoming a Punjabi party. The Sikhs are awakening to an unbecoming situation where their religious institutions, grown in strong antipathy to the brahminism, are being controlled by a party which practically subscribes to and endorses the brahminical-RSS brand nationalism. ******************* * Jaspal Singh Sidhu retired as a Special Correspondent with United News of India (UNI) at its New Delhi Headquarters in 2008. Since then, have been working as free-lance journalist and writing on Agriculture, Human rights and political affairs. He can be reached at jaspal.sdh@gmail.com

I was giving the the literal meaning of the words. I was not explaining the theological concept or what happens when someone dies. Quite often the word " Akaal Chalaana " is used instead of (someone) "died" - "passed way"

The Love Trap Unfortunately, most of the cases like the one shown in the video, do not have a happy endings. By the time the girl is abandoned for whatever reason, there are not many Rajwinders left to turn to. Even the parents may not be there to help them out. Women, who converted from other religion may not find much support in the new community either. http://www.sikhnet.com/filmfestival/2014/the-love-trap/

For general information: There are quite a few interfaith marriages in which one of the partners is Sikh. And in many such cases (I would say almost all) they try to have two marriage ceremonies one each for their respective religion. It so happens that Sikh ceremony is conducted first (It perhaps creates the impression in the Sikh community that the supposedly Sikh partner has not converted to the faith of other partner). The wedding ceremony according to the religion of the non Sikh partner is done after the Sikh ceremony. It is at that ceremony the Sikh partner officially converts to the faith of his/her partner. Other religions do not allow marriage ceremony according to their religion take place till the other partner converts (at least on papers) to other’s faith ( to non Sikh faith). That is why the second ceremony is always after the Sikh ceremony. So after the second ceremony, the previously Sikh partner is deemed to have officially adopted the faith of his/her partner. However in quite a few cases the men who were originally of Sikh faith may be able to wiggle their way out of the other religion and keep following most of the Sikh traditions. But it becomes very difficult for women to keep Sikh religious traditions. Islam, in particular, is very harsh on those who accept Islam as religion first, but then at some stage, want to change their religion to other faith or want to follow even some traditions of the other faith. In years gone by (and it may still be happening) any Muslim who changed his/her religion, most likely would have been tried according to Sharia Law and would have been given even the death sentence for abandoning Islam. For women it can also change their status from that of a married woman to that of a slave woman. In that status they can be sold as a commodity and may even be sold for pleasure in brothels. There are some stories of some Sikh British girls who married their Muslim boyfriends and converted to Islam, then had their status degraded to that of a slave - eventually ended up in brothels in Muslim majority countries. ************ In the U-tube video based upon which this thread was started, the following description was also given. Note that the Nikkah ceremony taking place one day after the Sikh ceremony. -------- [[[ “Sameera + Jagan as Muslim and Sikh did just that. On July 8th, they had their Sangeet/Holud where their traditions were carried along with lots of dancing and performances. On July 9th, both Sikh and Nikkah ceremonies took place at respective locations and both the couple and their families took part in them with love and respect”.]]] Ref: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2cQNtBwRbJI *********

Dear sister, you must ,still, be living in a dream world.

Source: http://sikhsiyasat.net/2014/09/02/true-history-could-help-sikhs-knowing-their-present-placing-and-future-in-india/ True History could help Sikhs knowing their present placing and future in India’September 2, 2014 | By Jaspal Singh Sidhu Review of the book “Terror in Punjab - Narrative, Knowledge and Truth” (author: Ram Narayan Kumar) by S. Jaspal Singh Sidhu Former Defense Minister of Japan aptly said: ‘History is too important to be left to newspaper editors’. The media, invariably, glosses over what actually happened on the ground and help the rulers in gradual blunting of the horrible edges of colossal human tragedy and atrocities into something ‘banal’—means a trivial and uninterested matter for the common man. Should the victims be made to forget ‘how they were demonized to justify the state repression on them’? And, a sociologist commenting on ‘Politics from November 1984 to Gujarat 2002 pogroms of Sikh and Muslims’ says : “Evil becomes banal (uninterested being very common) when it acquires an unthinking and systematic character. Evil becomes banal when ordinary people participate in it, build a distance from it and justify it in countless ways. There are no moral conundrums or revulsion. Evil does not even look like evil, it becomes faceless”. For better understanding of such process of banalisation ,the Sikhs should know the recent history to enable them to assessing their present placing and future probabilities in India. Historical studies, however, could be a part of disinformation project for its being a sponsored one or an outpouring of a jaundiced mind (Left historians’ nationalistic perspective tend to overlook repression on the Sikhs)’. The suggestion of eminent historiographer E.H.Carr is worth remembering that one must know credentials and background of the author before reading his/her book. In this context, late Ram Narayan Kumar stands apart and so his book “Terror in Punjab—Narrative, Knowledge and Truth” published in 2009 by Shipra Publications, Delhi. Kumar right from his adolescent years had plunged in grass-root work, public campaigns and defiance of the authority which saw him jailed and tortured during Emergency and put him on path of life-long struggle for human rights. He was found dead at the age of 53 at his Kathmandu flat in 2009. Kumar got interested in the Sikh affairs when he was helping the Sikh victims of November Sikh pogrom in Delhi. Later, he devoted 19 years in Punjab for getting justice for the victimized Sikhs and in documenting the state atrocities on the minority. During that period, he studied the Sikh history, culture and religion and produced four books of an academic excellence. A few points from his analysis of ‘the Sikh affairs vis-a-vis Indian state’ are being reproduced in this article as a tribute to Kumar, a non-Sikh and an outsider to Punjab whose painstaking study vividly exposes the New Delhi’s ‘machination’ in Punjab. I focus on what ‘What is Sikh Dissent?’, a lengthy chapter in his book says: “ The Sikh dissent is essentially grounded in an emotive rejection of India’s historical blunders that have reduced the promise of ‘swaraj’ (self-rule) and struggles of the people in the Indian sub-continent against the British imperialism to the deception and the negation of the promised it has become in the post-colonial period. The Sikh dissent is the negation of this negation and it has, as a project of recovering the denied, failed.” Who is a Sikh and what constitutes the uniqueness of a Sikh IDENTITY? The Sikh a disciple and learner, of ten Gurus, personified by the Guru Granth, (scripture) as recited and revered by the community of initiated Sikhs or ‘Khalsa’ , is neither a HINDU nor a MUSALMAN. The answer is primordial to the Sikh religious traditions. In 1499, Guru Nanak disappeared and reemerged from the river in Punjab and believed to have pronounced—“There is no Hindu, there is no Musalman”. Guru Nanak called for abandoning of denominational identifications of Hindu and Muslims as they spring delusions. His God, as ultimate truth of existence both in creative and transcendental aspects, was free from anthropomorphic attributes. Religious practice Nanak reduced to three simple commandments—Kirt karo, nam japo, vand chhako—work hard, remember God through the Name, and practice sharing. Renouncing of the Hindus rituals as wearing ‘jenaeu’ (sacred thread) by Guru Nanak and later, attaching of ‘guru ka langar’ (common -community kitchen) to the Sikh centers of worship (gurdwaras) and incorporating of hymns of Muslim and Indian mystics born as untouchables in the scripture, being worshiped as ‘living Guru’, were the main reasons why the orthodox Hindus became prejudiced against the new religion from the very beginning. And, there had been strong attempts by the Hindu elements in Punjab to obfuscate the Sikhs’ uniqueness and distinctiveness. The British interests in resurrecting “the glory that was Hindu India” was connected with their requirement to justify the destruction of the Moghal India. The British government commissioned study of Guru Granth Sahib by German Indologist Ernest Trumpp suggested “Sikhism was a kind of pantheism and degenerated Hinduism” which became the basis of the Arya Samaj’ campaign of ‘vilification against the Sikh religion in Punjab’. Singh Sabha movement awoke to the challenge of the Arya Samaj, particularly to the latter’s ‘suddhi’ (purification) campaign aimed at reconverting the poor untouchable Sikhs back to the Hindu fold. As consequent to tensions in Hindu-Sikh relation, after exactly 400 years after Guru Nanak’s first statement Bhai Kahn Singh Nabha, a scholar of Sikh religious resurgence considered it necessary in 1899 to write out a long tract to categorically clarify that ‘ Hum Hindu Nahin’—we (Sikhs) are not Hindus. The rise of Hindu nationalism in the first quarter of 20th century saw worsening of the Hindu-Sikh tensions. The Sikh reformers prevailed upon the manger of the Golden Temple to remove all Hindu idols from temple precincts in 1905. Udasi abbots ( Udasi is Hindu sect) who were siding with new maters, the British, had also restricted the entry of untouchables in the Golden Temple during their decades long control. The ‘gurdwara reform movement became visibly strong in 1919 got freed the Sikh shrines from Udasi abbots and formed SGPC in November 1920. The Sikh leaders were shocked when the Congress leaders, including Gandhi, became hostile as soon as they were able to obtain official recognition of their DISTINCT RELIGIOUS STATUS. Nehru wrote to a friend in April 1924 “Their (the Sikhs) movement is largely a SEPARATIST MOVEMENT, as far as religion concerned, and this has naturally reacted in the social and political sphere”. Soon Gandhi began writing letters to the Sikh leaders, questioning their claim of DISTINCTION, “ I personally do not see any difference between the Sikhism and Hinduism…..It is wrong to make difference between the Hindus and the Sikhs….. The Guru Granth Sahib is full of the teachings of the Vedas. Hinduism is like a mighty ocean, which receives and absorbs all religious truths” ( after a century later– present RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat makes a similar statement towards the end of August 2014) Urban Hindus in Punjab organized on the platform of Hindu Mahasabha in 1926 and opposed the ‘Relief of Indebtedness Bill’ of 1940 which was introduced to free the farmers (rural peasants) from swelling indebtedness which had made them lose away their cultivable lands. The Hindu Mahashaba which was having Lala Lajpat Rai as its top leader, merged in Congress in December 1936 to oppose communal award giving weight-age to Muslim and Sikh minorities in the shape of ‘separate electorates’. Thus, the Congress party in Punjab absorbed the Hindu parochialism and communal stringency, which had previously given sap to the Arya Samaj. Devolution of political power from the Center to the provincial governments was the guiding principles of India’s democratic progress under the British Empire and Cabinet Mission of 1946 had brought a ‘confederation sort of vision’ for free India. The Congress leaders led by Nehru and Patel had acquired a grip over the Sikh politicians. They instructed the Sikh politicians in rejecting the Mission to emasculate the Muslim Federation as suggested by the Mission. Congress leaders also made Akali leaders -Master Tara Singh and Baldev Singh– to raise the demand of ‘Sikh Home Land’ ( a version of now-a-days ‘Khalistan’) to counter Jinnah’s Muslim League’s demand for Pakistan. Congress leaders offered Defense Ministry to Baldev Singh (an elevation for him from his being a minister in Punjab) in the Interim Government in 1946 “on the condition that he would keep the Sikhs rolling on the tacks of Hindu India”. The heavyweight British officers—Pendral Moon and Major Short—known as ‘friends of Punjab’- attempted to persuade the Sikh leaders to break out the Congress stranglehold and explore keeping the unity of Punjab by negotiating terms with the Muslim League. They secretly arranged talks with the Muslim League leaders. But Congress leaders found out and got Baldev Singh to disrupt the negotiations. The Sikhs were the biggest losers of the Partition as they suffered huge casualties besides losing large tracts of fertile land in canal colonies and got in lieu in east Punjab an undeveloped and lesser acreage of land as compared to what they left in west Punjab. The Sikhs lost Guru Nanak’s birth place, Nanakana Sahib and other historical Sikh shrines located across the border in Pakistan. The Sikh leaders were coaxed to accept the Partition (by Congress leaders) on the basis of promise that the “Congress will help them to arrange east Punjab that it may become the CULTURAL HOME to the Sikhs…. as one Sikh leader informed Pendral Moon in June 1947”. After one year, the same Sikh leaders approached Mountbatten (first Governor General of free India) in 1948 to beseech him to prevail upon Nehru and Patel to keep their pledges with the Sikhs. Mountbatten himself was full f foreboding on the future of the Sikhs and penned down in February 1948: “The Sikhs as part of Pakistan would have retained a measure of political identity. But as part of Hindustan, they feared economic absorption by the Hindus; also religious absorption. In short, they feared, probably correctly, virtual extinction as a political force and survival only a rapidly dwindling religious sect of Hinduism”. Master Tara Singh, spearheading the Akali agitation for Punjabi speaking state was the first politician to be arrested under a preventive law in free India. During the 19-year- long period of the Sikh agitation for a Punjabi suba saw denial of mother tongue by a section of Hindu Punjabis and main opposition came from the Congress party and leaders of Arya Samaj with Lala Jagat Narain heading the ‘Maha Punjab Samiti’. Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri conceded Punjabi suba after he had reached an unofficial deal with the Akali leaders that their demand would granted if they help India (on the brink of a war with Pakistan in 1965) in crushing the threat from across the border. Even new Punjab state created in 1966 was denied the due share in river waters, Chandigarh capital and a large expanse of Punjabi speaking areas. Lala Jagat Narian was the star speakers at a Nirankari convention in Amrtisar when seventeen Sikhs marching towards convention were killed in firing (from within the Nirankari camp). And, the Amritsar happening became the cause of fresh troubles in Punjab. Over the period, the Center concentrated economic and political powers in New Delhi. Between 1970-1974, nineteen state governments were subverted (toppled), Emergency was clamped in 1975 and Tamil Nadu government was toppled for not implementing the central directive of censuring the press and to jail the anti-Emergency activists. The critical thinking against such centralization of powers in New Delhi permeates the Anandpur Sahib Resolution drafted by the Akalis and which sought constitutional re-look on center-state relations. Later, the Resolution became the basis of the Akali Dal agitation began in August 1982. Around three lakh Akali workers courted arrest as part of their peaceful ‘satyagraha’ which Gandhi was used to undertake during freedom struggle. Since the Sikh have been harboring an anxiety for maintaining their identity, the Akalis also included in its 45- point charter some religious demands like granting of holy status to Amritsar on the pattern of Hardwar, Kashi and Kurukshetra, relaying of kirtan from Golden Temple on AIR and permission to the Sikhs to wear ‘kirpan on domestic and international flights and enactment of All India Gurdwara Act. It was the year, 1984, when “the Big Brother (New Delhi establishment) threw away the shibboleth of constitutional democracy and embarked on the path of transformation from the secular democratic state into majoritarian tyranny with strong fascist tendencies to deal with smallest religious minority (the Sikhs). I am referring to politics behind the military attack on the Golden Temple of Amritsar, the Sikh Vatican, in June 1984 and again the organized massacre of Sikhs in Delhi and other places following assassination of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi on 31 October 1984.” Indian Establishment portrayed the Sikh struggle as “Pakistan inspired crusade for Khalistan, an independent Sikh State aiming primarily to hurt and enfeeble India”. And it “let loose the reign of terror on the Sikhs and denied them even negotiated settlement what New Delhi has been having while dealing with open champion of secession like the armed Naga groups in the northeast”. “Not a single demand of the Akali Dal charter has been met. The state repression has not only cost several thousand lives but has also successfully eclipsed perceptions of the vanquished (the Sikhs) and the truth what really happened under the hegemonic narratives of the Punjab turmoil. Post-colonial history of India has ended with successful decimation of the Sikh dissent. The Akalis (the Badals) , back in business of politics with all the regular fluctuations of fortune within MAJORITARIAN FRAMEWORK of democracy in India, have become (sensibly) silent on the issues of Sikh dissent that precipitated one of the most brutal and sustained repressions of a numerically insignificant minority by the any government in the world.” “The slogan of Khalistan which has never been raised by the Sikhs of Punjab and has never done good to anyone other than their enemies is again in the air.” *************************** below are poster’s comments ******************************* Ram Naryan Kumar wrote four or five books about the Sikh situation in India. Even more importantly he documented the stories of atrocities on Sikhs by interviewing the victims and some policemen who were willing to talk. This was a large amount of documentation and research that he compiled over 17 or 18 years. This was a very large volume of research manuscriptst, he compiled over those years, about the atrocities committed by both the Army and Police on Sikhs. But almost all of that seems to have lost. Some videos that he made with the help of Austrian television can be seen on U-tube (I think) There are several stories floating around about how a very large volume of research manuscripts that he compiled could have lost. He needed money to publish that large amount of documentation that compiled over those years. So, he asked Sikh leaders to help in publishing. Instead of helping him the leaders wanted him to hand over all the documentation and told him that they will publish it themselves. (For some reason the Sikh leaders did not want that the credit should go to Kumar only). So, finally in frustration, he handed over that research to some Sikh leaders who, he thought would most likely publish it. Where those papers are now and who were those Sikh leader he trusted- that bit of information also is lost with his death. *****************

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An article appeared in the Pehredar, a Punjabi vernacular news paper of August 17, 2014. In the article it claims to have obtained a secret document sent by RSS to its field workers with instructions that it must be destroyed after reading . In this article, the top brass of RSS instructing its cadre to continue and intensify their activities against non Hindu and Dalit minorities, to malign them, to devise schemes to channel wealth and properties of non Hindu minorities in the hands of Hindu majority, to sexually mistreat their women, to continue to distribute poisons and harmful medications which produces mentally and physically retarded children, and to change history to glorify Hindu achievements. There are more such things. Article starts on the bottom half of page 1 of Pehredar and contnues to page 2 of the news paper. Click on the article to enlarge it Source: http://epaper.dailypehredar.com/epapermain.aspx?queryed=9&eddate=8/17/2014

Source:: http://www.countercurrents.org/sidhu230714.htm ‘Gurdwara Act’ Invites Indian State’s Interference In Sikh Religion By Jaspal Singh Sidhu 23 July, 2014 Countercurrents.org The Sikh intelligentsia has rarely raised a finger at a popular narrative that “the Sikhs have earned the Sikh Gurdwara Act of 1925 after numerous sacrifices and a protracted struggle”. Under the Act, a Sikh shrines management body—SGPC—was created which manages Sikh affairs. The SGPC is elected through universal adult suffrage among the Sikhs. Created and sustained by vested interests, the narrative is, often, goes hyperbolic that ‘the SGPC is mini-parliament of the Sikhs’. Theoretical and empirical analysis of the nine-decade long existence and working of the SGPC belies what the narrative has been asserting all along. From theoretical angle, the modern States, particularly those who choose their political governance through the process of universal adult suffrage tend to secularize the religion. And, it is the known fact that the secularization is a historical process that has reduced, even replaced to a larger extent, the social and cultural significance of the religion. Invariably, modern states have attempted to restrict and confine the religious influences within the religious places. Could the Sikh religion escape the secularization impact when the modern Indian state, professing to be a secular one, solely reserves the authority to announce and conduct the election of the SGPC? Could the management body, running the affairs of the Sikh religious community, escape the political stamp of the power-that-be reigning New Delhi? And now, when the RSS-supported Modi regime is at the helms of the Indian state with strong propensity to strengthen Hindu religion based majoritarian nationalism, how far could the Sikh minority religion escape the overwhelmingly assimilation impact of the Sangh Privar? In fact, the creation of the SGPC in 1925 was sheer anachronism and was a shrewd trapping of the Sikhs by the colonial British rulers. The Sikh community was the first to be subjected to the universal adult suffrage for electing its religious body in the sub-continent by the British colonial masters. There prevailed a partial electoral system at that period, which was later gradually converted to a universal one, particularly at the eve of ‘transfer of power’ by the British in the late 1940s. How far, the Gurdwara Act of 1925 and election system for the SGPC helped the British in blunting the edge of the Sikh rebellion is a matter of debate, but it certainly provided a platform for developing an understanding between the Akali Dal and Congress which made the Sikhs to throw their lot with India. Moreover, unlike other important religions --- Islam, Christianity and Hinduism so on --- the Sikh religion, that too a minority religion everywhere, is a singular faith whose religious-affairs-controlling body is elected at the behest of a professedly secular Indian state. Practically, the Indian state has been patronizing the majority’s religious ethos and way of life. Almost all religions of the world have developed some or the other system and process of choosing their religious bodies themselves. Ironically, the Sikhs are oblivious of the fact that they have themselves invited the interference of the OTHERS in their religious affairs and handed over their religious reins to OTHERS, yet they are proud of the present dispensation. Because of this prevailing anomaly and inconsistency, the election to the Sikh religious bodies — SGPC, the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (DSGMC) particularly — is being contested on the pattern of mundane political elections to the assembly or parliament. So, all inducements and corrupt practices of the political system --- ranging from distributing booze to the greasing of palms --- have become the order of the day in the Gurdwara elections. The candidates in these elections are fielded by the political parties and political groupings. The Sikh body thrown up by such non-religious election system, invariably, must be dominated by a political party and political personae. And, such dispensation must have a PLIABLE Jathedar (head of Sikh spiritual affairs) at the Akal Takht to meet political requirements of the politicians . And well-entrenched Sikh shrines bodies would rush to the court for the retention of their control. That is why incidences of corruption prevailing in the SGPC and DSGMC put even a rotten public sector organization to shame. Against the above given background the presently raging political conflict between the Akali Dal ruling Punjab and Congress-controlled government of Haryana over the creation of a separate ‘Sikh management body’ in Haryana should be viewed. The new body, the Haryana Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee ( HSGPC) set up through an enactment of a legislation by the Haryana assembly, has also been named after the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC), headquartered at Golden Temple, Amrtisar which was created by the Sikh Gurdwaras Act of 1925 ( Punjab Act 8 of 1925). The Akali Dal, traditionally controlling the Amritsar-based SGPC since its creation, sees the coming up of the Haryana Sikh body as slicing away its control over Sikh shrines located in Haryana state. It has raised an uproar and giving the issue an emotive tilt saying that “Congress has been attempting to divide the Sikhs … undermining the Sikhs’ collective strength…..it’s an interference in Sikh religious affairs”. Obviously, Punjab’s Akali Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal is attempting to kick up religio-political frenzy among the Sikhs by saying that it was the second attack on the Sikhs after the Army attack on the Golden Temple (Operation Blue Star) in June 1984 and they would launch an agitation (morcha) to get the new Sikh body in Haryana nullified. Badal has been resorting to all sorts of bullying tactics. He forced his ally NDA government at New Delhi to send a missive to the Haryana government suggesting revoking of the ‘controversial legislative act’. He has also dispatched a contingent of SGPC Task Force (armed security guard employees) to retain occupation of main Sikh shrines in Haryana. On other hand, the leaders of 1.5 million Sikh community in Haryana, campaigning for getting due share of the shrine management for more than a decade are hell-bent to retain a new separate body. While both rival Sikh platforms have actively been mobilizing their respective support among the Sikhs — now a global community, the unity-seeking idealists and pacifists are viewing these internecine conflicts as impending threat to ‘brotherly bloodshed’ and, thereby, further weakening of the Sikh minority. But the creation of the new body and attempts to stall it, all are offshoots of electoral politics and vote-bank considerations as rhetoric of both sides that follows. But the question is: how could the internecine conflict be resolved till the present election system to the Sikh religious bodies is in place? How an ordinary Sikh could have the same degree of commitment and faith to the Sikh religion as that of a baptized Sikh (Amritdhari)? Why not the present election system that involves government interference should be changed into a ‘selection system’ allowing truly religious Sikhs to choose ‘ religious people’ (not stark politicians) to run Sikh affairs? All this may be indigestible to the Sikhs overwhelmed by the powerful narrative that ‘the SGPC is a democratic entity’. But it should be kept in mind that ‘religious faith’ and ‘politics sans faith’ are not compatible to each other. And the Sikhs seem to carrying a strong incompatibility and a visible contradiction. The SGPC declares that “Sikhs are a separate nation’ and at the same time it suffers no compunction in allowing supremacy of another NATION --- the Indian nation in conducting its elections. Just ponder over. Jaspal Singh Sidhu retired as Special Correspondent with UNI, New Delhi and since then writing on political and economic affairs. He can be reached at e-mail : jaspal.sdh@gmail.com