Difference Khalsa Spirit Makes: Delhi 1984

[Akaal Purakh Di Fauj]

WAHEGURU JI KA KHALSA WAHEGURU JI KI FATEH

By Balpreet Singh

Delhi 1984 is not only a tragic chapter in Sikh history due to the thousands of Sikhs who were butchered, but also because it was one of the first times Sikhs weren't able to defend themselves and in large numbers even cut their hair to save their lives. This happened to some extent in 1947 but the 1984 riots saw it on a mass scale. Why? Because Sikhs have abandoned their Khalsa traditions and roots. If we were Guru's Khalsa, Delhi 1984 might have been a shaheedee saakaa still, but it would not have been a shameful one.

Delhi 1984 however also highlighted the difference it makes if a Khalsa is attacked and s/he has a kirpaan [and most importantly Khalsa spirit]. Here is one example of where Sikhs had no kirpaan vs. ones where they did:

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1) Trilokpuri; A woman told of her terrifying experiences. She and her husband had come to Rajasthan in 1947 where for a better future they decided to move to Delhi. It was here that their hope, an 18 year old son was tortured to death on Nov 1. The crowd was composed of some locals of the Block and some outsiders and they were led by the Block President. The Block President was identifying Sikh homes and inciting the mob to loot and burn property and kill the Sikhs....All the women were put in a room. Some tried to escape but were caught at the water pump and gang-raped. Their screams for help echoed against deaf ears. The goons told each other to pick their woman of choice. All the Sikh women were disrobed...even this middle aged woman was attacked by 10 individuals..after the attack the mob ordered the disrobed women out and in that state they all ran to save their lives. Some merciful neighbours gave them clothing and refuge in their homes. ("Terror in Delhi" quoted in HuDee(n) Hundaaiyaa ik Khoonee Dahaakaa by Baljeet Singh Khalsa, p.9)

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And if the Sikhs had kirpans and shaster:

2) One individual took his family to the Gurdvara after hearing of the assassination of Indira Gandhi. He saw other Sikh families had gathered there as well. Leaving women and children behind, the men got on top of the roof where 200 yards away they saw a mob forming at the local Congress (I) offices. This mob had come at 8.30AM on November 1st by truck.

Then, this mob moved towards the Gurdvara and began to throw rocks at the Sikhs on the roof. The Sikhs took the bricks they had accumulated and threw them back at the mob. When the bricks were finished, the mob's confidence grew and they moved forward. They torched one store which was rented out by the Gurdvara.

The Sikhs, 12 in number, took all the kirpaans in the Gurdvara and came out into the open. With this little show of strength, the mob ran back. When the police arrived at 3.30PM, the fire had been estinguished...200 Sikhs from surrounding areas had come into the Gurdvara...and the Gurdvara was saved from being burnt.("Terror in Delhi" quoted in HuDee(n) Hundaaiyaa ik Khoonee Dahaakaa by Baljeet Singh Khalsa, p.10)

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3) (Taken from naamnet vol. 1).

Bhai S. Singh jee, a sevadar from Gurdrawa Nanaksar, told me this saakhi:

"It was during the anti-sikh riots. I was at that time living in Gurudrawa Nanaksar in Haryana. There were 7 other sewadars in the gurudrawa. Trouble started brewing early in the morning. We noticed about 50 young men gathering outside a few hundred metres away from the gurudrawa sahib. We didn't really pay too much attention to them.

By noon, the group had turned into a rowdy crowd of about 300. We became quite concerned at that point. Our telephone wires had been cut, so there really was not much we could do. But we were still in chardi kala.

At about 3 pm, a truck driven by a Singh was driving by the crowd when the crowd attacked it. The Singh gave up the truck and ran to the gurudrawa. Some gundas overtook him and injured him but he, being a strong man, managed to escape. Still, he was quite bloody when he came in. That increased our number to 9. The number outside had increased to about 500 by evening. They were very loud and obnoxious by now.

We tried to ignore them and began our evening diwan at 6 pm. But as the darkness approached, the rabble become more and more bold. In fact, soon they started stoning the gurdrawa. We stopped the evening programme and placed all the Guru Granth Sahib jees in the safest place possible.

At 7.30 pm it was very dark and the rabble became so bold that they put fire to the gurdrawa's gate. It hit us then how serious the situation was. We soon would be killed!

Our jathedar gathered us and said, "Khalsa jee, the Khalsa has faced worse situations then this. The Khalsa has gone through two holocasts but the Khalsa lives and will live in freedom forever! Khalsa jee, the Khalsa has never given up and will never give up. The enemy stands outside. There are 500 hundred, we are 9 but remember Guru Gobind Singh jee has made each of us equivalent to sava-lakh (125,000)! Khalsa jee, get prepared to fight!"

He said this with so much josh and bir ras that our body hair stood on their ends. Even though I had been seriously ill for the past 3 months, I too was ready to fight. The jathedar then told us that we must make two groups. The first group of five will go out first and fight the enemy. The the rest (4) can go later. Everybody agreed. Jathedar Sahib then chose 4 other pyares. I was not chosen, most probably due to my illness.

The five put on the uniform of the Khalsa. Then the jathedar sahib did ardas to Guru Gobind Singh jee saying, "Pita jee, dear father,, we are coming to your land. Please prepare for us!"

Then five then took out their kirpans and with BOLE SO NEHAAL! SAT SRI AKAL! BOLE SO NEHAAL! SAT SRI AKAL! filling the air, came out the face the enemy. You will not believe what happened then. Seeing 5 Khalsa in the uniform of Guru Gobind Singh jee, the rabble of 500 ran away

It was as if 5 lions were chasing 500 hyenas away!

One of the Singhs managed to cut off a running man’s ear. The Khalsa's victory was sweet."

waheguru waheguru waheguru waheguru...

Just as an epilogue, some police officers had the gall to come a few days later to investigate the ear injury!!!! But this was so ridiculous and the Singhs were in such high spiritsthat the police had to leave without even a bribe.

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4) A well known Doctor who was a member of the Hindu extremist group "Hindu Surukhiyaa Samatee" or "Hindu Defence Force" was taking part in a demonstration to protest the arrest of Pavan Kumar, a Hindu fanatic. The Hindus took out a procession in Ludhiana and were yelling slogans in Pavan Kumar's favour. When their spirits were up a bit, they began to forcefully yell "Pavan Kumar Zindabad" and "Bhindraanvala Murdaabaad". They got near Gill Chownk and near the Sikhs' iron stores. When the Sikhs heard these slogans, they came roaring out with their kirpaans. Someone had yet to say "Sat Sree Akaal" in response to the "Bolay So Nihaal" when all of the Hindu brothers' "Defence Force" ran away. The Doctor was most farsighted and jumped in a rickshaw. When asked "Where to?" he replied "Anywhere! Just go!" (Baljeet Singh, 9)

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Khalsa jee, let us return to our heritage and become the lions the Gurus made us. This is only possible by taking up full rehit, shastars and BaNa. In such a state, just by seeing a tyaar-bar-tyaar Khalsa the enemy will flee in terror.

WAHEGURU JI KA KHALSA WAHEGURU JI KI FATEH

[SSB]

waheguroo

[Mehtab Singh]

Vaheguru!