The Sikh Story: 1984 - Bbc 1 Documentary & Discussions On The Sikh Channel

[chatanga]

Education goes a long way.

exactly.

this is the problem. if our own people arent educated about it, then what do you expect from non-sikhs?

[GuruManeyoGranth]

The documentary should have been titled, "How I woke up one morning and thought to keep my career afloat I will link my tenuous link with Sikhi with the events of 1984 by doing a documentary by an organisation who love Islam more than any other religion".

Dear Sikh Sangat, why do we need documentaries presented by a lightweight journalists as Sonia Deol, go to Amazon and you will find a whole series of books by well respected heavyweight authors about Sikhs and yes some of the books are very expensive but quality does not come cheap. I have a copy of the original DVD Amu by Shonali Bose who has done more in highlighting the pogroms of 1984 than the SPGC, DSGMC, Akali Dal, etc. etc.

This documentary was made after much lobbying to the BBC by the likes of Sikh Federation and other organisations that Sikhs need to have better representation in mainstream media, to differentiate us from Muslims in the eyes of the general UK population and because we are an active and engaged part of the UK population. Once we get a documentary, if "Amritdhari Sikhs" know the issues, it is up to us to convey those issues in an intelligent way. Clearly the general population doesn't know them and even (as is clear from Sonia Deol) the Punjabi population doesn't know them. Having some sort of documentary highlighting some issues does help to some extent in the education process, though clearly we are all aggrieved that the full extent of our plight was not shown.

If we 'bash' Sonia Deol only with the intent of bashing her, then we will not progress. In itself, there is no harm in bashing provided that we learn from the mistakes and take it upon ourselves to ensure that the next documentary is more representative of the truth. We have to carry on our lobbying efforts to educate the wider world as to what happened to us. This includes speaking respectfully to Sonia Deol so that she knows the strength of feeling and continued injustice faced by Sikhs. Let her know that the documentary was not good enough and she missed many of the real issues.

Another important point is that more youth amongst us are the people to whom the BBC turns to when they want to cover stories/issues facing Sikhs. It was good that Rav Kaur was interviewed, though from a Sikhi perspective, it would have been better if she was permitted by the BBC to convey the injustices faced by Sikhs (as she does so eloquently at the yearly June rally) in the main form of the documentary, rather than the clueless 18-year old selling Sant Jee posters or Indaaaarjit Singh. The Indian Govt lobby has, is and will always seek to portray Sant Jee as the terrorist. We have to take it upon us to make sure that our voice gets heard - we have a long way to go in this regard.

Waheguroo

[BiggChan]

Sonia Deol isn't the issue. Fair enough, it was her journey and her view point but the research was poor....which, unless she values the content of her broadcasts, is not her fault. At the end of the day she's just a presenter. I actually think it would have been better and more credible if a non-Sikh presenter had been used.

Many people are probably just thinking that it was a wasted opportunity to get the true story of what happened across

[KhalsaRaj 89]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00pzc69/1984_A_Sikh_Story/

the link for iplayer it should work... though im not sure about countries outside the uk

[kenshin]

http://www.bbc.co.uk...4_A_Sikh_Story/

the link for iplayer it should work... though im not sure about countries outside the uk

no countries outside u.k can't view it unless they can somehow get a uk proxy address

i personally think the programme was poor, nothing else to it, give me a camcorder and mic and ill do a better job of the 1984 massacres in which innocent sikhs were killed

and i agree with one thing sonia deol said shes a sikh living by bending the rules

[chatanga]

did anybody see the body that was supposed to be Sant Ji, with the right side of his face all mashed up?

Sonia Bhenji forgot to ask brar one vital question : why did the army burn all the dead bodies, without any verification?

[hardeepgill]

The programme was very poor and unbalanced. If they wanted to tackle the '1984' story, then not only are 1978 Massacre and Anandpur Sahib Resolution key but also many events since 1947.

Why haven't they researched in to how Punjab was split in 1966 on linguistic grounds, the Punjab river waters diverted, why Sikhs who compromise 2% of the population of India are subject of over 60% of Indian films and TV serials where they are largely portrayed as criminals or uneducated bumbling idiots who believe in Sikhism when it suits them and the rest of the time in Hinduism. Isn't this part of a conspiracy to turn the larger community against the Sikhs whilst confusing the Sikhs as to their own identity? Fair enough, the programme had to be diluted down for the mainstream but too many key points were omitted for it to be considered an accurate and balanced account. If she's adding Mark Tully's personal views why not counter it with stories of the likes of babies Satnam and Vaheguru kaur?

Even though the families were celebrating Diwali together at the end and everything was hunkey dorey, why didnt the programme mention how the Government up until this day supports every group out there which attack the tenets of Sikhism from the likes of Namdharis and Nirankaris to Jhoota Sauda, Ashutosh etc...

If it was truly her personal journey and not just a programme to boost BBC ratings on a Sunday night, it would have been better if the programme focused on her interaction with victims of the Sikh Holocaust and their lives after Gandhi's assasination. They gave the 18 year old stall kid who wasn't even born at the time way more airtime than H S Phoolka who has and is fighting for the victims of the Holocaust with every breath.

I get the view that Nagra needed a quick idea to work on and Deol was trying to boost her dying career. As far as researcher Jay Sohal is concerned, you need to work alot harder matey especially on your 21 Sikhs project. Don't just sit in your offices today reading these comments thinking you can't please everyone. True you can't, but you could at least produce an accurate programme when you've been given the chance too.

Which also reminds me, if your so cut up about it all Deol, if you havent already done so, it would be nice to donate a little bit of the royalties to the Trilokpuri widows or Mohinder Kaur don't you think?

why the persoal atacks BIGGCHAN ... these guys are jus doin their jobs and sewa to the best of their ability.

rather than complain, maybe the bbc would make more progs if we were actively engaged in developing ideas and helpin them.

[BiggChan]

Well HARDEEPGILL its called a view point. All the information is out there and very easily researchable. That leads to the conclusion they added what they wanted and didnt give the balanced account they promised.

Its disappointing because Sikhs rarely get a mainstream opportunity such as this, so you would expect it to be well researched. Like i say, Sonias just the presenter although you would expect her to have done some research herself. I thought her interviews with Mohinder Kaur and the Trilokpuri widows were good and that's why I say that instead of tackling tricky territory such as pre and post Bluestar, she should have stuck to post Gandhi assasination and the Delhi riots.

[Guest fordcapri]

This is Kuljit Singh. I reluctantly interviewed the two for Sikh channel...I had arrived with understanding that will be doing a q and a with a panel but found myself CONDUCTIng the interview with Sonia and Tommy nagra the exec prod for documentary.

Sonia completely and utterly lied on Sikh channel to sangat. She said the doc had nothing to do with Sant Jarnail Singh ji... but when u look at the factual information supplied in documentary and compare to real facts ... sant ji was shown as a congress puppet. Gursikhs carrying shashters were called militants when know that Sant Sipahi is the aim of a khalsa... there were so many incorrect references to numbers of victims and total disregard to human rights stats and the reports of other journalists. No mention of hindus who joined amritdhari ranks ...

Sonia shows her shallowness in two areas...its acknowledged she is walking on the path...but no mention of diwali reason of celebration for sikhs ; responds to an 18 yr old and questions him in a manner that prob just confused the lad rather than made him understand the question!

pathetic attempt to portray the 84 issue. Have to go work tomorow with prospect of making sant ji look in better light than what was portrayed.

Sant ji's speeches clear the congress puppet argument as well as akali supporter argument.

As for tully's feet touching sant ji's sri sahib. Says it all ...goray cant and prob wont ever get it. Bus incident totally confused and shown wrecklessly as the time when sant jis notes were burnt!

SONIA lied blatantly on sikh channel that the documentary wasnt about sant jarnail singh ji...id estimate nearly third of it was related to sant ji.

positive things was kes issue for bibia...but there are strong bibia who have got more guts than sonia...who was reluctant to even cover her own head in sikh channel studio [because in her own words...she felt uncomfortable.]

i asked if she could reappear on mon nites show but she quickly avoided the question.

when i told her about sant ji's jivan in the studio she looked shocked...she clearly has not done too much research herself.

anyways sikh sangat will prob put her right in the next couple of days.

there were so many facts i noted but i will prob reply to her .

we can complain to bbc through website...write valid reasons. and demand a docum that actually portrays sant ji in the right manner.

Are you simple or something to have a discussion or programme regarding blue star, it would obviously include something on Jarnail Singh.

[MAJHAIL_JATT]

I tried installing that hot shield but it didn't work and the rapidshare link that was posted the servers are overloaded. If anyone can re-upload to a better host, or can post a working proxy from UK that would be great. THank Sangat Ji.