According to a report by PTI, the devotees were stopped after crossing into Pakistan through the Attari–Wagah border. Officials allegedly told them, “You are Hindu, you cannot go with a Sikh jatha.” Amar Chand, one of those turned back along with six family members, said that despite having valid travel documents and clearance from Indian immigration, they were refused entry once inside Pakistan.

As per the Hindustan Times report, the jatha of around 1,900 Sikh pilgrims had crossed into Pakistan on Tuesday to participate in the Parkash Purb festivities. Chand’s family, along with seven others from Lucknow, had joined the group intending to offer prayers at prominent gurdwaras, including Nankana Sahib. However, all 14 were sent back by Pakistani officials soon after entering.

As per the HT report, a Punjab intelligence officer posted at the border confirmed the incident, saying: “Those denied entry are Hindus by faith, originally from Pakistan but settled in India for many years. They held valid Indian passports and had obtained immigration clearance from our side. Once they entered Pakistan, officials there examined their documents and returned them to the BSF.”

Interestingly, other Hindu devotees in the same jatha faced no such problems. Palwinder Singh, head of the pilgrimage department of the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC), which organises the largest pilgrim groups, clarified:

“Nearly 40 Hindus are part of our group this year, and almost all entered Pakistan without any issue. Many Hindu followers of Guru Nanak travel every year for these pilgrimages — they have never been barred on the basis of religion.”

The SGPC jatha will remain in Pakistan until November 13, visiting key Sikh shrines including Gurdwara Panja Sahib (Hasan Abdal), Gurdwara Darbar Sahib (Kartarpur, Narowal), Gurdwara Sacha Sauda (Farooqabad), Gurdwara Dehra Sahib (Lahore), and Gurdwara Rori Sahib (Gujranwala).

Amar Chand recounted that his family had even paid ₹95,000 (Pakistani rupees) for bus tickets after clearing all formalities. “Five officials came and told us to get down from the bus, saying Hindus can’t go with Sikh pilgrims. We were then sent back, and our money was not refunded,” he said. Chand, originally from Pakistan, moved to India in 1999 and obtained Indian citizenship in 2010.

Meanwhile, more than 200 other applicants were stopped at the Indian side of the border as they lacked final approval from the Union Home Ministry.

Earlier, the Indian government had initially decided against sending any jatha to Pakistan this year citing security concerns after Operation Sindoor. However, it later allowed a limited group to proceed under strict conditions.

Under the 1950 Nehru–Liaquat Pact, Sikh pilgrims are permitted to visit Pakistan’s revered shrines on four key occasions each year — Baisakhi, Guru Arjan Dev’s martyrdom day, Maharaja Ranjit Singh’s death anniversary, and Guru Nanak Dev’s birth anniversary.

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At 1:50 AM, early on the morning of August 5, 2019, just hours before Article 370 was abrogated, Ahluwalia went live on Facebook with the following message:

“My friend’s father was lynched and murdered as he stepped out of a Gurudwara during the anti-Sikh pogrom of 1984. My community knows what it is like to be targeted and butchered. Many innocents had suffered then and we resolved that never again would we allow anything like this to happen again,” says Ahluwalia explaining his motivation behind reaching out. “When the attack in Pulwama took place Kashmiris were targeted across India. Then when the communication blackout happened and rumours began flying, I feared the worst. Our community believes in service to mankind and we don’t want anyone to suffer like we did in 1984. I knew social media would help me reach out to the maximum number of people,” he says.

Ahluwalia’s Facebook live video was shared widely and went viral within hours! Shortly afterwards, he started getting frantic calls from people unable to connect with their families. But his greatest fear was something else. “I saw how people were talking about Kashmiri women and girls. The words used were derogatory and offensive, and I feared there was an imminent threat to the wellbeing of such girls everywhere,” says Ahluwalia.

Just then he received a text message from Rukaya Mohiuddin, a coordinator who was working for the DDU-GKY program where 32 Kashmiri girls were undergoing a course to become Multi-purpose Health Workers. The message said, “Please help us, as I am here in Pune with 30 female trainees between 17 to 22 years old with one male and female warden and I am the coordinator, we came here for training cum placement purpose under DDU-GKY programme. All trainees are from under privileged families and are first time outside their home place. They all feel scared and panic want to go home and said want to die with our families.  Please help us. Please arrange their safe passage to their home place (sic).”

Moved by the plight of these young girls, Ahluwali and his team swung into action. They tied up with Sangat, an NGO to generate and collect funds to purchase airline tickets for the girls. “We got generous donations from Sikh community members from as far as Australia, but were still falling short. Then a local donor offered to take care of the balance and used his connections to get us tickets that were fast becoming unaffordable,” recalls Ahluwalia. But there was one hitch. The girls feared what would happen to them en route. So Sikhs United, Sangat and the rest of the team decided that they would never leave the girls unescorted. “We ensured that our team members escorted the girls to the Pune airport. Another team drove down with them to Mumbai from where we were able to arrange tickets. I personally joined the team with my friend Sam and Raukaya ji at New Delhi and flew to Sri Nagar with them. We reached at about 6:30 AM and ensured that the girls who lived in and around Sri Nagar were all dropped home by 12 noon. The second batch arrived in the afternoon and we stayed overnight in Sri Nagar before leaving to drop them home the next day,” he says.

The girls came from Baramulla, Budgam, Shopian and Kupwara and many lived in interior villages, far away from any major cities or towns. “We prioritised their safety and went with each of them and ensured they reached home. In fact at one point we were surrounded by a group of locals who were very suspicious, but when the girls explained to them that we were there to help, they gave us their local boys to escort us and ensure we were not stopped again,” says Ahluwalia. Explaining what brought the team satisfaction from undertaking such a huge task, he says, “The greatest reward was to see the relief on the faces of their parents as they were sick with worry in the absence of any information due to the communication black out. Every single time we reached someone’s home, we found the mothers deep in prayer. There were many tearful reunions.” Some images of the girls being reunited with their families may be viewed here.

Ahluwalia remains humble despite accomplishing such a difficult task. “We are all one in the eyes of God. People of all religions and castes have suffered unspeakable violence and discrimination at different points of time in history and many suffer even today. It is time we all unite; Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs, Dalits and all others. We have to look beyond majority and minority and focus to preserving our humanity,” he signs off.
 
 

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We have all witnessed the humanitarian work done by Sikhs all over the world. From serving langar during floods in India, to feeding the Rohingya refugees, the principle of “Sewa” (service) is the essence of Sikhism. On August 10, 2019, 3 Sikh activists helped raise funds and escort 32 female Kashmiri students from Pune to their homes across Baramullah, Badgam, Shopian, Srinagar and Kupwara districts, when due to restrictions imposed on J&K during the abrogation of Article 370, the students lost touch with their families and wanted to return to them.

 
A sustained helping hand by Sikhs
Earlier this year, after the tragic Pulwama terror attack, angry mobs threatened the safety of Kashmiri students across the country. Sikh volunteers and organizations rose up to protect the Kashmiris, standing guard outside hostels, and helping Kashmiris travel safely back home. Khalsa Aid organized buses to evacuate more than 300 Kashmiri students to Jammu. Local Gurudwaras opened their doors and offered food and shelter to Kashmiris. Social media witnessed hundreds of Kashmiris thanking the Sikhs and offering them free services and hospitality.
 
A tradition of stepping up to protect
Sikhs model this tradition of standing up for all communities after the countless examples of secular and syncretic practices of their Gurus. The most heart-wrenching story is of Guru Teg Bahadur Ji’s sacrifice for Kashmiri Pandits in 1675. Guru Teg Bahadur Ji is the ninth Guru of Sikhs. When the Kashmiri Pandits felt their religion was being threatened under the Mughal rule, a delegation of 500 Kashmiri Pandits approached Guru Teg Bahadur Ji for help and guidance.
 
With words of encouragement and bravery from his then nine-year old son, Guru Gobind Singh Ji (the tenth and last living Guru), Guru Teg Bahadur Ji told the Pandits he would travel to Delhi and take a stand for them. The Guru was arrested and brought to Delhi as a prisoner, he was subjected to torture to convince him to convert, but he refused saying, “For me, there is only one religion – of God – and whosoever belongs to it, be he a Hindu or a Muslim, him I own and he owns me. I neither convert others by force, nor submit to force, to change my faith.”
 
He refused to give up on his stance and defence of not just Sikhs but Kashmiri Pandits as well and was ultimately executed on November 11, 1675. He is honoured with the affectionate title of “Hind-di-Chadar” or the Shield of India because of his exemplary fortitude. In today’s world, scarred by religious fanaticism and intolerance Guru Teg Bahadur ji is truly a hero to be revered and emulated.
 
Why Sikhs serve humanity, not religion
When Sikh volunteers and organizations Khalsa Aid and United Sikhs stepped up to help the Rohingya refugees in 2017, providing emergency relief supplies – clothes, water, food, jaggery and vegetables to the Rohingyas, many people questioned why Sikhs were helping Muslims when they had a history of being persecuted by some Mughal rulers. But once we delve into the history and teachings of the Sikh Gurus, we understand the service spirit of Sikhs is not limited by religious identity, economic differences, caste, or language. As the religious book Guru Granth Sahib says, “Nanak naam chardi kalaa, tere bhaane sarbat da bhalaa” (Nanak, with you name, comes prosperity, and with your blessings, may there be peace for all). The phrase “Sarbat da bhalaa” ends the daily prayer of Sikhs, inspiring them to wish peace and prosperity on every being on earth.
 
The Gurus left Sikhs with a legacy of sacrifice and compassion for everyone, irrespective of religion, and this is a legacy they protect fiercely. This is why Sikh volunteers can be seen helping out during natural disasters, communal tensions, war, or even serving water during summer months to parched commuters.
 
Sikhs in Kashmir
As Indians grapple with the new reality of Jammu & Kashmir, we must remember the Kashmiri Sikhs who have persevered in the valley, living in close proximity with their Muslim neighbours. Despite being subjected to unprecedented violence in in March, 2000, the reason and perpetrators shrouded in mystery, most Kashmiri Sikhs still reside on their ancestral land in Kashmir due to a combination of economic and sentimental factors. As the future of Kashmir unfolds, we pray that the spirit of brotherhood prevails and the Sikh community can continue to live and preach communal harmony. They may be a micro-minority in the area being only 2% of the population, but their concerns and voices are important and should be heard.
 
 
Related articles
— It was Sikhs from Dehradun to Chandigarh who restored Kashmiri’s Faith in Humanity
— Pulwama Aftermath: The Love for Sikh Community
— Malerkotla: A History of Compassion
— Bringing communities together for peaceful coexistence: Know Your Neighbour
— Viral Video : A Muslim spent Rs. 80 lakh for carpeting road connecting Gurdwaras in Pakistan
— Temple Vandalism case: Hindus and Muslims come together, serve food to Shobha Yatra participants
 

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District officials meet residents of violence-hit Badsui village in Kaithal on Sunday. Image Courtesy: The Tribune

Haryana: A land dispute between Hindu’s and Sikh’s in Haryana’s Kaithal Badsui village turned violent which left one person dead and 14 others injured.
 
The authorities formed a “peace committee” on Monday to defuse the tension. Police said the situation has now been brought under control.
 
The clash took place on Friday over the division of land between a gurdwara and a temple located on Shamlat (common) land.
 
Kaithal Senior Superintendent of Police Wasim Akram said the dispute occurred when members of one of the communities began erecting a wall between the temple and the gurdwara on the day of Holi. “Members of the gurdwara objected to it the next day, and a man was killed in the clash that broke out. Some people took shelter in the gurdwara during the clash, after which stone-pelting was reported,” he added.
 
The Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) asked its members from Haryana to probe the incident of attack on Sikhs and a gurdwara in Badsui village of Kaithal district. Gobind Singh Longowal, SGPC chief, condemned the attack and said legal action would be taken against the arsonists. He dubbed the attack as an attempt to muzzle the voice of the minority Sikh community. He said the mob took the law in their hands to resolve a dispute over land division. Longowal said the state government was responsible for safeguarding the lives and property of the minorities. He urged Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar to punish the accused so that such incidents do not reoccur.
 
On condition of anonymity, a villager in a report by Tribune said members of the Jat community came in support of the gurdwara management committee after a section of the temple management allegedly started constructing a boundary wall. “Some villagers have differences over village politics that led to the violent clash leading to one death. A section of the temple management tried to go in for unilateral demarcation and when the gurdwara supporters objected to it, they were attacked by a mob,” he said.
 
The deceased, Shamsher Singh Punia, 54, was cremated amid heavy police deployment. The injured, Sandeep Punia, Partap Singh, Manprit, Devendra Singh, Sarbjit, Karamjit and Ranjit were admitted to Rajendra Hospital, Patiala, whereas two others Baljit and Jagmail Singh were referred to Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER), Chandigarh.
 
Members of the other group, Charan Singh, Amit, Ravinder, Ravi Shankar, Dev Raj, Ajay and Mahinder, were also admitted to the Kaithal civil hospital with injuries.
 
The SP said the Kaithal police have booked 36 people by name and 15 others, including 10 women, under Sections 302 (murder), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 324 (voluntarily causing hurt by dangerous weapons or means) and 148 (rioting, armed with deadly weapon) of the Indian Penal Code. Sixteen people were detained for interrogation.
 
Kaithal DC Priyanka Soni said the situation was under control now. Rajesh Kumar, a resident of the village, said Rs. 5 lakh was allocated to the village under MPLAD funds and the money was being spent on construction of a boundary wall and this led to the clash. Police officials associated with the investigation said that a former sarpanch Om Prakash had instigated some people and he has been arrested.
 

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It was Khalsa Aid, an international aid organisation that had also stepped in for the beleaguered Rohingyas and many local gurdwaras, as also individual Sikhs gave protection, food and shelter to the stranded Kashmiris and helped them reach their homes in Kashmir.Several Kashmiris – those who were stranded as well as journalists and political leaders – expressed their gratitude to the Sikh community for helping them in this difficult time.
 
A cartoon by Greater Kashmir cartoonist Suhail Naqshbandi, which depicted a Sikh offering a helping hand to a drowning Kashmiri, went viral on social media
 

 
This cartoon from Suhail Nakshbandi (editorial cartoonist from Greater Kashmir says it all. He tweeted this, “Sardar means a leader and they lead by example. Hats off to them for being everywhere to help the humanity.” Needless to say it went viral.
 
Kashmiri students in Dehradun were specific targets following the Pulwama terror attack on Thursday, Khalsa Aid International is reaching out to the distressed students and offering them transportation, food and accommodation. Khalsa Aid, the Punjab-based NGO has got in touch with Jammu and Kashmir Students’ Organisation (JKSO) and providing transportation to 250 students waiting to leave for Mohali from Dehradun.
 
“When I saw members of Jammu and Kashmir Students’ Organisation are providing help to students facing threats after Pulwama, I followed up with them. We are giving them transportation, food and accommodation. I saw them hungry and scared,” Amarpreet Singh, managing director, Khalsa Aid International, told News 18.  He adds, “What is their fault… that they are Kashmiris? We will stand by them and help them. About 250 more students are stranded in Dehradun and want to leave for Jammu. We will take care of their travel.” 

Providing Safe Sanctuary 

While some Kashmiri students are huddled up in a housing society, others have found refuge in gurudwaras. The JKSO — a socio-cultural group that has been working for the Kashmiri students since two years ago — has helped 800 students from Dehradun find safe refuge. Some have been sent back to Jammu and some are staying at various places in Mohali.

Singh says the issue is being hijacked by those who don’t know the ground realities of Kashmir. “People with no understanding of what’s happening on ground are playing politics over the issue. Another country is being dragged into our internal matter. At this hour, we are there for those who need help,” he says.

300 Students Expected in Chandigarh

Kashmiri students studying in Dehradun, many of who have been roughed up since the Pulwama attack, are fearing for their lives and fleeing to Chandigarh, where several shelter camps have surfaced. Khwaja Itrat, president, JKSO, said 300 more are joining fellow Kashmiri students in the Chandigarh camp. Those who were assaulted by the Bajrang Dal and VHP members have been sent to Jammu.

“The students are extremely worried for their well-being. After the protests broke out, we helped 800 Kashmiri students from Dehradun and some from Haryana. Today, again, 300 students have joined the camp as things are not safe for them in Uttarakhand,” Itrat said, adding that there are some students like Imtiaz Ahmad Mir — final-year postgraduate student of chemistry at Alpine College in Dehradun — who spent two days to reach Chandigarh — “without food and by using plastic bags for urination.”

One of the students, on the condition of anonymity, shared: “Our college has assured that in 10 to 15 days when things get normal they will call us back. There is no safety for us and the crowd outside the campus has threatened to beat us up. Some of our brothers were beaten up. We will return when we get a call from our college.”

The Saffron Threat 

In Dehradun, the Bajrang Dal convener Vikas Verma continues to issue threats to Kashmiri students, claiming they “engaged in anti-national activities”. He says: “The Kashmiri students are our targets and we want them to leave Uttarakhand. Today, we protested at the medical college near Shimla bypass, making sure those who are still living in area also leave.” 

His declares his message loud and clear: “Dogs are allowed but Kashmiri Muslims are not allowed in this state. Within 48 hours, we want them gone from here.” He adds, “Only when the access to education will get restricted will these people stop pelting stones. The nationalists anywhere in the country should make Kashmiri students leave.”

The attacks on the students come in the wake of a terror attack in Pulwama on February 14 in which more than 40 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel lost their lives.

(With credit and inputs from News 18 and The Quint)
 

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This weekend the Sikhs will be celebrating the 351^st birth anniversary of Guru Gobind Singh.

Image: PTI

The tenth master of the Sikh faith, Guru Gobind Singh was born in Patna, Bihar in 1666. His father Teg Bahadar was the ninth Guru of the Sikh religion that was founded by Guru Nanak to challenge the caste based oppression in Hinduism, ritualism and blind faith besides, the tyranny of the Mughal Empire.

All ten Gurus taught their followers the principles of equality and justice and encouraged them to raise their voice against repression.

Guru Teg Bahadar was executed in 1675 when his son born as Gobind Rai was only nine. Guru Teg Bahadar had laid down his life in defence of the Hindus who were being forced to embrace Islam.

Young Gobind Rai followed him as the next Guru and established the Khalsa – a force of dedicated Sikh warriors who were expected to keep unshorn hair and be ready to fight against injustice.  He raised his army from among the oppressed caste groups who were never allowed to keep weapons or worship by the Hindu priests and rulers. The idea was to not only end caste barriers once and for all, but also to empower those considered as weak and untouchables. From then onwards the Khalsa was directed to use Singh that means lion as a common last name and shun using casteist surnames. Gobind Rai himself came to be known as Guru Gobind Singh with the foundation of the Khalsa in 1699.

This had enraged the caste bigots who saw the Khalsa as direct threat to their supremacy. They started instigated the Mughal Empire against him as a result of which Guru Gobind Singh had to fight both against the Hindu kings and the Mughal rulers. He had to face many hardships because of this. Two of his sons Ajit Singh and Jujhar Singh died in the battlefield, while two of his young sons Zorawar Singh and Fateh Singh were bricked alive after being arrested.

Since Guru Gobind Singh’s fight wasn’t against Islam, many Muslims helped him in his struggle against state violence, while many Hindus sided with the Mughal Empire and one of them had deceived his younger sons and his mother Mata Gujri and got them arrested.  Mata Gujri died in prison after hearing about the execution of her younger grandsons. After all, the Sikh Gurus had a big following in both the communities. While in Bihar, young Gobind Rai was admired by the Hindus and Sikhs alike. In fact, some Muslims helped Guru Gobind Singh in his escape from the dragnet of the Mughal soldiers who wanted to capture him alive. 

Whereas, Guru Gobind Singh’s tumultuous life remained full of difficulties, he had devoted peaceful moments to compile literature and more importantly the Guru Granth Sahib, the holy scripture of the Sikhs that contain hymns of both Hindu and Muslim saints. Some of the saints whose verses were included in the Granth Sahib were treated as untouchables by the Hindu clergy.

He had spent final years of his life in Maharashtra where he discovered a guerrilla fighter Banda Singh Bahadar who was sent to Punjab to reorganize Sikhs and fulfill the uncompleted mission of the Guru. Banda Singh Bahadar established a Sikh kingdom that introduced land reforms. In accordance with the Sikh traditions, this kingdom remained secular in character.

In 1708, Guru Gobind Singh died after succumbing to his injuries sustained in an attack by the mercenaries sent to assassinate him by a Mughal governor who was responsible for the killings of his younger sons. Near the end of his life, he had ordered the Sikhs to follow the Guru Granth Sahib as their guiding light in future and never follow any living guru. 

Guru Gobind Singh’s story will always be relevant in the contemporary world where oppression on religious minorities and those marginalized continues.  It’s a shame that the Hindutva forces that currently rule India and desire to turn it into an exclusionist Hindu theocracy have been trying to appropriate Guru Gobind Singh for their narrow ends. They frequently portray him as a defender of the Hindu religion and an opponent of Muslims which is a complete distortion of the historical facts. So much so, the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS), an ultra-Hindu nationalist body of which the governing Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) is a part continues to misguide the younger generation about Guru Gobind Singh’s participation in the efforts to liberate Ram temple in Ayodhya. It is the same place where at the behest of the BJP, Hindu fanatics had demolished an ancient Babri Mosque in 1992. The BJP claims that the Islamist king Babur had built the mosque after destroying a temple built at the birthplace of Hindu God Lord Ram. If this was not enough, their apologists within the Sikh community tried to misguide their own people by announcing December 25 as the birthday of Guru Gobind Singh keeping in with a conservative Hindu calendar. The Sikhs have by and large rejected this and have vowed to celebrate his birth anniversary on January 5 -a date on which there is a general consensus on the basis of a calendar designed by using scientific method. Although it seems symbolic, yet it reflects an ideological conflict between the RSS and the Sikhs.  Even as the RSS consider Islam and Christianity as foreign religions and Sikhism and Buddhism as part of the Hindu fold, the Sikh and Buddhist activists have always resisted such assimilationist thoughts.  

The Sikh fundamentalists too have deviated from the path shown by Guru Gobind Singh. They have been targeting migratory labourers coming to Punjab from Bihar for their livelihood by insisting that Punjab remains a Sikh dominated state. How can one be so hateful toward people among whom Guru Gobind Singh had spent his childhood? The Sikh leadership also need to look into the mirror and address caste system that is also practiced by many within the Sikh community. On this important occasion, when violence against minorities has grown and there are attempts to divide the Sikhs and the Muslims by the BJP, we need to be vigilant about such divisive politics and defeat the nefarious designs of the Hindutva think tanks. If Guru Gobind Singh were to be born again he would rather fight against the present day government for the very reasons he had established the Khalsa, especially in the light of constant attacks on Dalits.

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Asked once whether he considered himself a Hindu, Gandhiji had replied: “Yes I am, I am also a Muslim, a Christian, a Buddhist, and a Jew.

“Respond to every call that excites your spirit.” wrote Sufi poet Rumi long before the Mahatma. And he also wrote this: “Christian, Jew, Muslim, shaman, Zoroastrian, stone, ground, mountain, river, each has a secret way of being with the mystery, unique and not to be judged”

Now the highly regarded actor Nawazuddin Siddiqui has something similar to say through a video he has posted.

Not through the spoken word but through placards Gurmehar Kaur style, he says he is part Hindu, part Muslim, part Sikh, part Christian, part Buddhist, part every other religion of the world. All in equal parts: 16.66% each. But, he adds, he is 100% an artist.

A powerful, poignant message. A message most likely to be lost on the self-proclaimed cow vigilantes and their political mentors.

Last Dussehra, Siddiqui was reportedly denied the chance to play Maarich in his village Ramleela simply because he is a Muslim.

Siddiqui’s upcoming films include Sridevi-starrer Mom, the dance drama Munna Michael and Nandita Das’s Manto.
 

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Courtesy: Scroll.in

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It was during my posting as a staff reporter with The Tribune in Ferozepore, Punjab in 2001 when a school book came into my hand that asked the Class VIII students – which Sikh Guru had sent armies to Ayodhya to liberate the Ram temple? The answer given in this knowledge book was Guru Gobind Singh.
 
Both the query and the answer, in the guise of information had left me baffled. It was in reference to the tenth master of the Sikhs who had laid the foundation of the Khalsa, a militant force of the Sikhs to fight against repression. The army was raised from among the oppressed communities who were treated as untouchables by the caste Hindus to fight back against both caste system and the aggression of an Islamist government.
 
The problem with the question and the answer was that the information had no real or historical basis. The Sikh scholars and historians rejected it right away saying that it is a distortion of history.
 
This was the time when Akali Dal, a regional party of the Sikhs in Punjab was in power in the state and running the show with the support of Hindu supremacist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Incidentally, the two parties are again in power in Punjab.
 
Under this government, the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS), an ultra Hindu supremacist body had intensified its activities in the state. The BJP is a political arm of the RSS that wants to turn India into a Hindu state. They had started organising camps in villages in Punjab around that time. I still remember that the Sikh participants in these drills were referred to as Keshdharis (the bearers of long hair) by the RSS men.
 
The book with a controversial question and a controversial answer was prescribed in schools run by the RSS which has always claimed that Babar, a Muslim Emperor had demolished the temple that once stood on the birthplace of Lord Ram, a revered Hindu god in Ayodhya and instead built a mosque to humiliate Hindus. Both the RSS and the BJP have always wanted to build a Ram temple at the disputed site. They have already demolished the mosque in 1992 and are now waiting for an opportune time to build a temple.
 
The information about Guru Gobind Singh having sent his armies to Ayodhya for the liberation of Ram Temple is part of this continued propaganda to create mass appeal for the completion of this unfinished agenda. The idea was to attract Sikh support in Punjab where they are in majority. Since the Sikh historians challenged the story, the trick had backfired. One of the towering Sikh priests, professor Manjit Singh has categorically asserted to me, that there was no historical evidence to establish this.    
 
But the story did not end there. The RSS has continuously been trying to rope in the support of Sikhs. Thanks to the Akali Dal, a staunch BJP ally there efforts have paid some dividends. The RSS has been able to make inroads in the minority Sikh community that hardly makes up two percent of the Indian population. The RSS run schools were getting funds from those in power, I gathered first hand from my own independent research during those years. Apart from the support of the Akali Dal-BJP government, the RSS Sikh agenda itself has confused many in the Sikh community for numerous reasons.
 
The main reason behind some Sikhs getting influenced by the RSS is purely ideological. The RSS has always treated Sikhs as part of the Hindu mainstream unlike Muslims and Christians. Their propaganda material reveals that they consider Hindus and Sikhs as part of their dream Hindu nation while Islam and Christianity are foreign religions, and their followers, interlopers. Their ideologue M.S. Golwalkar in his writings described the Sikhs as defenders of Hinduism.   

The RSS literature explicitly claims that the Sikh Gurus had stood for the protection of Hindu nation, which is simply not true. They actually resisted against atrocities from both the Islamist rulers and the orthodox Hindu priests on the poor and marginalised. 

 
The RSS has also formed a Sikh wing called Rashtriya Sikh Sangat that has been distorting history and playing on the fears of gullible section of Sikhs who mistrust Muslims due to lack of understanding of the history. Though Guru Nanak, the founder of Sikhism was born in a Hindu family, he rejected both the caste based oppression in Hinduism and excesses of the Islamist rulers.
 
Yet, the RSS through its Sikh wing has been propagating how Nanak had stood against the persecution of Hindus by Babar. They continue to emphasize that Nanak’s main fight was against Islamists who had invaded the Hindu nation, even as he had laid the foundation of a distinct religion that was different from Hinduism.
 
The RSS literature explicitly claims that the Sikh Gurus had stood for the protection of Hindu nation, which is simply not true. They actually resisted against atrocities from both the Islamist rulers and the orthodox Hindu priests on the poor and marginalised.
 
Some articles published in Sangat Sansar, the publication of Rashtriya Sikh Sangat suggest that Sikh faith was born to protect Hindus from Muslim invaders and conveniently overlook the Gurus’ opposition of caste based oppression.
 
Even if there is a mention of Sikhism’s opposition to casteism, it is negligible. One article reads that Guru Gobind Singh performed the duty of a Kshatriya, a warrior caste which is second to the Brahmins who are top in the caste hierarchy. Indeed, Guru Gobind Singh was born in a Kshatriya caste, but after the formation of the Khalsa he gave up his caste identity.
 
While the villainy of the Islamist rulers who fought with the Gurus is repeatedly highlighted in these articles, the treachery of some Hindus that led to the persecution of Gurus has been underplayed.
 
It is important to know that in their fight for social justice, the Gurus had many Muslims on their side, while some Hindus sided with the Muslim emperors which only displays that this was a fight between an oppressive state by radical thinkers and revolutionaries and wasn’t a Sikh versus Muslim conflict as is being projected by the RSS.
 
Their prejudice towards the Muslims is so blatant that they are even critical of Akbar, a secularist Muslim emperor who was not a tyrant as some others were. In their writings they accuse him of pursuing Islam through soft methods. I recall an argument I had with an RSS leader in Ferozepore over Tipu Sultan, another tolerant Muslim king who had contributed to the freedom movement. He had fought against the British occupation of Southern India. But that leader was not willing to accept it. He continued to malign him as “barbaric”.    

With an aim to convince Sikhs for their support for the cause of Ram Temple, these articles and editorials draw verses from Sikh literature mainly Dasam Granth that refers to Lord Ram.
 
In fact, parts of the text in the book suggest that Sikh Gurus were born in families which have roots in the clans of the descendants of Lord Ram’s sons. Dasam Granth is believed to have been written by Guru Gobind Singh, but many scholars disagree and insist that not the entire text is written by the Guru and contradicts the values of Sikh philosophy.
 
They point out that Guru Gobind Singh had ordered the Sikhs that after him only Guru Granth Sahib, the holy scripture of the Sikhs be followed as a guiding light. They therefore reject any attempt to promote a parallel scripture whose authenticity is also under question. They think that since Guru Gobind Singh’s retinue had many poets some passages in Dasam Granth cannot be attributed to the Guru as it is possible that they might have actually been written by the poets under him.  
 
Clearly by invoking the fight of Babar with Nanak and Guru Gobind Singh’s connection with Lord Ram, the RSS wants the Sikhs to support them in their anti Muslim campaign. Significantly, one of the resolutions passed by Rashtriya Sikh Sangat calls for the construction of a “magnificent” Ram temple in Ayodhya.
 
Giani Puran Singh, the former head of the Akal Takhat, the highest temporal seat of the Sikhs attended a Rashtriya Sikh Sangat camp in 1997. Puran Singh had stirred the controversy by describing Gurus as the descendants of the sons of Lord Ram.
 
Interestingly, the editorials in Sangat Sansar also talk about the message of universal brotherhood preached by Guru Granth Sahib that includes hymns of the Hindu and Muslim saints, including those denounced as untouchables by the caste Hindus, still they repeatedly demonize Muslims and Christians.
 
In one of the editorials, questions have been raised over celebrating Christmas on a day that coincides with the martyrdoms of the two sons of Guru Gobind Singh. The two were executed by the Islamist rulers and were handed over to them by a Hindu informer. There is no mention of the controversial role played by the Hindu informer in getting the young boys arrested. Another editorial tried to raise alarm over Christian missionaries spreading their base in Punjab and converting Sikhs.
 
The double speak of the RSS on the issue of religious minorities can also be gauged from a plain fact that it recognizes the anti Sikh massacre of 1984 as genocide, but remains indifferent towards the massacre of Muslims in 2002 and anti Christian violence of 2008.
 
Thousands of Sikhs were murdered across India in 1984 following the assassination of the then Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi by her Sikh bodyguards. She was murdered for sending troops to the Golden Temple Complex, the holiest shrine of the Sikhs in Amritsar in June that year to flush out handful of armed militants who had fortified the place of worship.
 
The army operation had left many people dead and the buildings inside the complex heavily damaged. Indira Gandhi’s Congress party that claims to be secular was complicit in the mass murders of Sikhs.

If this is not enough, the Rashtriya Sikh Sangat calls upon the Indian government to return the artifacts allegedly taken away by the Indian army during the military invasion on the Golden Temple complex. 
 
In 2002, a similar pogrom was engineered against Muslims by the BJP government in Gujarat after a train bringing Hindu pilgrims from the disputed site of Ayodhya was burnt killing more than 50 passengers.
 
The BJP government had blamed the Muslim fundamentalists for burning the train. It is pertinent to mention that there is no mention of the anti Muslim massacre on the website of the Muslim wing of the RSS.
 
If this is not enough, the Rashtriya Sikh Sangat calls upon the Indian government to return the artifacts allegedly taken away by the Indian army during the military invasion on the Golden Temple complex.
 
It has also been pleading for clemency to Devinderpal Singh Bhullar, a Sikh militant on the death row for his involvement in a bomb blast. Besides, it has been asking for amnesty to former Sikh militants settled abroad so that they could come back home without fear. They have been lobbying for waving the blacklist that bars these Sikhs outside India from visiting their home country.
 
I had a chance to attend a public meeting that was organized by the BJP supporters in Vancouver in 2003 where the former Sikh separatist leaders were also in attendance. The picture of Bhullar whose wife is a Canadian was also at display. The meeting was held to announce the scrapping of the blacklist.
 
The BJP led coalition government was in power at that time and had removed the names of many Sikhs in Canada from the so called blacklist maintained by Indian consulates.  
 
So much so, the Rashtriya Sikh Sangat has been advocating against racial profiling of Sikhs when Sikh militancy was at its peak between mid 1980s to mid 1990s. But such passion has never been displayed for Muslims by the RSS.
 
On the contrary, they have  not only been demonising Muslims, but have been aggressively asking for the execution of men like Afzal Guru and Yakub Memon the two former militants, who were hung at different times to death in spite of campaigning to save their lives by human rights activists.
 
In one of the articles published by Sangat Sansar, there is a story about a Sikh human rights activist Jaswant Singh Khalra who was abducted by the Punjab police and murdered for investigating the cases of forced disappearances during Punjab militancy.
 
The article tries to draw a parallel between the police repression and the repression of Sikhs under Islamist rule. In contrast, the RSS recently accorded a heroic welcome to a senior police officer from Gujarat who had been responsible for the murders of alleged Muslim militants in staged shootouts.          
In 2008, the Hindu extremists had killed over 50 Christians in Orissa following the murder of a Hindu preacher. This was despite the fact that the Maoists had claimed the responsibility of the killing. A Sangat Sansar editorial blames the violence on Christian missionaries and creates fears about their activities in Punjab. 
 
The politics behind the Sikh agenda of RSS can be interpreted in different ways. One interpretation is that it benefits the BJP in Punjab if it remains soft on Sikh issues to ensure long term Akali Dal support. Akali Dal and its followers see BJP as a trusted ally as against Congress which is seen by them as “enemy of the Sikhs”.
 
The other interpretation could be that it helps in improving the image of BJP abroad, where the Sikhs dominate the political landscape both outside and within the South Asian Diaspora. And if the Sikhs are on their side, it becomes easier for the BJP to challenge the world leaders who continue to criticize the current BJP government under Narendra Modi for growing religious intolerance and attacks on minorities in India.  
 
Modi was the Chief Minister of Gujarat when anti Muslim massacre broke out in the state.
Human rights activists and survivours continue to allege his complicity in the violence.
 
For the record, the Sikhs and non Sikhs who are not familiar with the history suffice is to know that the RSS leader M.S. Golwalkar had cast aspersions on the patriotism of Sikhs who were asking for the reorganization of Punjabi speaking state during 1960s. In his book, Bunch of Thoughts, he accused them of playing into the hands of Pakistan by asking for a separate sectarian state under the garb of a linguistic Punjabi speaking province.  
 
Another RSS leader Nanaji Deshmukh had glorified Indira Gandhi and justified the anti Sikh pogrom in his article Moments of Soul Searching and squarely blamed the Sikh leadership for the massacre.
 
The former BJP minister Arun Shourie had written an article tilted, Lessons from the Punjab that was highly critical of the Akali Dal that was only seeking extra rights for Punjab. In this piece, he justified the army invasion of the Golden Temple complex and blamed the devastation entirely on the Sikh leadership.
 
It is widely accepted that the BJP supporters had also participated in the anti Sikh massacre and celebrated the invasion of the Golden Temple. A controversial Sikh leader Prahlad Singh Chandok attended one of the conferences organized by the Rashtriya Sikh Sangat in 1998. Chandok had presented a robe of honour to Jagdish Tytler, a minister in the Congress government. Tytler was involved in the 1984 anti Sikh violence and had to resign after being indicted by a commission of enquiry. 
 
In 1991, ten Sikh pilgrims were murdered by the police in Uttar Pradesh that was under the BJP rule after being branded as terrorists. All these actions contradict a Sangat Sansar article that says that the Sikhs had contributed more to the freedom struggle of India and a passage posted on Rashtriya Sikh Sangat website that blames the Congress government for promoting anti Sikh bias.
 
It’s laughable to read that the famous Sikh joke about their going crazy at 12 o’clock has been attributed to the Congress rule on the Rashtriya Sikh Sangat website, whereas the Prime Minister Narendra Modi once came under criticism for cracking a similar joke about the former Sikh Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

The Sikhs whose daily prayer ends with plea to the god for well being of the entire mankind in particular must be cautious of the bigotry of the RSS and the BJP towards all religious minorities. As the RSS is expected to grow under the current government a grassroots level fight against such force becomes necessary. 

 
The Akali Dal leaders would like everyone to forget this, but the Sikh settlers from Punjab also came under attack in Gujarat when Modi was the Chief Minister of the state and was running for the office of Prime Minister in 2014. The violence was an outcome of the resistance of Sikh settlers against the attempts to acquire their lands.  
 
One can figure out that the RSS Sikh agenda is based on deception and distorted history, and above all aimed at dividing minorities in India for which not only the Sikhs, but everyone needs to be vigilant.
 
The Sikhs whose daily prayer ends with plea to the god for well being of the entire mankind in particular must be cautious of the bigotry of the RSS and the BJP towards all religious minorities. As the RSS is expected to grow under the current government a grassroots level fight against such force becomes necessary.
 
It must be borne in mind that the BJP government in the past and at present has not given up its agenda to rewrite history being taught in public schools. A distorted history written from an ultra Hindu supremacist lens can impair young minds studying at public educational institutions. And that’s why it becomes important to challenge any attempt to take over public spaces by the RSS with a patronage of the state.     
 
Make no mistakes. The RSS is not a friend of the Sikhs. It only needs one minority group on its side for political reasons. If the Congress according to them has been appeasing the Muslim minority all these years, how do they explain their stance on Sikh issues? If it suits them they would not shy attacking the Sikhs as aggressively as they have been attacking other minorities.
 
Their attitude towards Sikhs when they were in conflict with the Indian state during mid 1980s is well documented. Their growing penetration in the Sikh community both in India and Canada needs to be checked.
 
They claim to be respectful towards the message of universal brotherhood of Guru Granth Sahib, but hate Muslims and the Christians to the core. For them Guru Granth Sahib represents Akhand Bharat, a unified India and Khalsa is the army of Bharat Mata or Mother India.
 
This kind of framing should alarm those who are concerned over the recent attacks on any voice of dissent by the RSS supporters in India. These voices are being frequently muzzled as “anti national.” It has become important for all the minorities, the oppressed communities and the real secularists to come together and join hands against the RSS.
 
Often they disguise themselves as supporters of Hindu Sikh unity, but the question to ask them is why they don’t promote the unity of all communities in India if they really care for a strong Indian union? The basis of their whole philosophy of dividing people is actually much more seditious, but since they are running the current government with remote control nobody is questioning them. The most illustrative example of how the communities, including minorities are being pitted against each other by the RSS is my interview with a Delhi-based Akali Dal leader Avtar Singh Hit, who had participated in the Ram Temple campaign.
 
On being confronted about this, he replied that some Muslim supporters of Congress also participated in the anti Sikh pogrom of 1984.
 
This is exactly the challenge before us that how theocratic forces play on our fears for “others” and how we need to fail them in achieving their ulterior motives through such nefarious designs.
 
How does it matter if some Muslims were part of the mobs used to kill Sikhs? It was not a Hindu-Sikh or for that matter Muslim-Sikh violence, it was a state sponsored carnage where Sikhs were victims and some good non Sikhs tried to help them.
 
As part of his defence, Tytler – who was involved in the massacre claims that he was born in a Sikh family. Does this mean anything? Whether it was 1984 or 2002, the state needs to be blamed for mass murders of the members of the minority communities.
 
At least learn from the Sikh gurus who never violated the rights of the Muslims in their fight against Islamist Empire and rather stood for the rights of the Hindus even as they were opposed to Hindu rituals and religious practices. The bottom line is that to save humanity we need to fight against divisive forces that are inimical to people’s unity.  
 

The post Divide & Rule: RSS’ Ruse to Drive a Wedge between Sikhs & Muslims appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Hardeep Nijjar

Hardeep Singh Nijjar is a Surrey resident, who was recently accused by the Indian intelligence of running a terrorist training camp in Mission in BC. The story was widely reported in the Indian press and subsequently picked up by the Canadian media. Based on inputs from Indian intelligence, Indian newspapers reported that Nijjar is a supporter of Khalistan, a separate Sikh homeland to be carved out of the northern Indian state of Punjab and is wanted in connection with a bomb blast that left six people dead, there, in 2007.

Nijjar’s photograph and information also appeared on the Interpol list of most wanted.  Nijjar has not only denied these allegations, but has also written a letter to the Canadian Prime Minister seeking his intervention. An advocacy group Sikhs For Justice has taken up his case and has described these charges as baseless. Most importantly, Canadian officials have also rebuffed the reports of a terror camp in BC.

The whole episode has once again brought into focus the 2007 bombing incident. The bomb blast had rocked a packed cinema hall in Ludhiana, Punjab on October 14, 2007 killing six innocent people. More than two dozen people got injured in the crime. The Punjab police, had, back then claimed that this could be the handiwork of either Sikh of Islamic extremists. To be precise, they had looked into the possibility of this being the handiwork of either a pro Khalistan Babbar Khalsa group or the Harkat-ul-Jehad-al-Islami.

It is pertinent to mention that a significant number of those watch who had gone to watch a Bhojpuri film at the Shingar cinema, when the blasts went off, were Muslims . And the occasion was the Eid festival. Fearing sectarian backlash police had beefed up security in the city, especially in the Muslim dominated areas, according to a report that was published by The Tribune. 

One can see that it was Muslims who were the potential targets. At least two among the dead who were instantly identified had Muslim names – Naushad and Shahub-ud-din. (Four of the six dead in the Shingar bomb blast who were instantly identified as Naushad, Narinder, Hiral Lal and Shahub-ud-din).

(Among those reported missing, who had in all probability gone to watch the movie, were 10 youths from Meharban village, who were working in Bhandari Hosiery, had gone to watch the movie but they did not come back. The missing youths include Mushtaq (22), Rasheed (24), Mehroz (18), Feroze (24), Afzal(24), Ahmed (24), Nauroze (21) and Jaool (21), all from Meharban and Azam (24) from Ganesh Nagar and Basheer (31) from Basti Jodhewal. Others reported missing were Ram Prakash, Rakesh, Kallu, Manzar had also gone to watch the Bhojpuri movie.)

It seems that most of these people were migratory labourers from Uttar Pradesh. The cinema hall was screening a Bhojpuri film, Janam Janam Ka Saath at that time. Bhojpuri is a dialect widely spoken in Uttar Pradesh.

The blast had happened 72 hours after a similar attack in Ajmer, Rajasthan on a Muslim shrine on October 11. That blast had left three people dead and 17 injured.

Though in both cases, the prime targets were the followers of Islam, the Indian authorities had started looking into the possibility of these attacks originating from Islamic republic of Pakistan. The two countries have always had hostile relations and have fought two major wars. Indian intelligence has time and again accused the Pakistani spy agency, ISI (Inter-Services Intelligence) of sponsoring subversive activities from across the border. Pakistan is also often blamed for giving refuge to both Islamic and Sikh extremists.

To the embarrassment of the Indian government, it was later revealed, through investigations, that the Ajmer blast was carried out by those seeking to turn India into a Hindu theocracy and that Muslim extremists were wrongly blamed. Thanks to an honest investigation conducted by some professionally upright police officers, the Hindu supremacists involved in the Ajmer blast and other explosions targeting Muslims across India were identified and arrested.

Nevertheless, with regards to the cinema blast case of Ludhiana, the scope of the investigation was never enlarged enough to even include, or examine the possibility of Hindu supremacists as potential suspects. This may be partly because the Hindu supremacist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is a partner in the Punjab government or partly due to the prejudices within the Indian police which has always seen extremists from the minority communities as suspects in such incidents.  After all, Punjab has witnessed a decade long Sikh militancy from mid 1980s to mid-1990s.

The fundamental question is whether the police investigation in Ludhiana cinema blast was on the right track or not. If the acquittal of three Sikh men in the case is any indication, one thing is definite that the police theory was flawed and weak. The police had charged four Sikh men for the incident. Out of these four, one had died while being in jail, while all the remaining three were acquitted by the court in December 2014. The court ruled that the prosecution had failed to prove its case.

This is not to suggest that the Sikh or the Muslim extremists have never been involved in terrorist activities. They have been targeting Hindus one way or the other, but in this particular case the targets were mainly Muslims and the day picked was an auspicious day for the Muslim community. So why would Jehadi extremists target their own compatriots and why for that matter did Sikh separatists, who according to Indian intelligence are being patronised by Pakistan target Muslims?

For the record, the Babbar Khalsa had not only denied its involvement in the incident, but had also condemned it. No group had actually claimed responsibility for the attack. So why were only Sikh and Muslim extremist groups seen as potential suspects? Why were Hindu extremists not even considered as suspects?

The year 2007 witnessed a series of attacks on Muslims across India. These include the bombing of Samjhauta Rail express that runs between India and Pakistan. The train was bombed in February 2007 killing dozens of people, mostly Pakistani Muslims. Now, when investigations have well nigh established that the Hindu extremists were involved in these attacks, and the police theory in Ludhiana blast case has been proven wrong, it would be most appropriate to reexamine the whole episode from all angles, including the involvement of ultra-Hindu nationalists that should be considered.

Unfortunately, under the present, BJP government this may not happen but the pressure must be built. For those really concerned about terrorism and religious extremism, they must shed their selective approach towards the problem. It’s a shame that the voices which have been very vocal against Sikh and Islamic extremism in the name of national unity and security are now silent over the existence of Hindu extremism and the legitimacy it is getting under the present BJP government.

No outrage has been displayed by these self-styled patriots over the reports of Hindu extremists charged for terrorism getting bail and a back door amnesty under the current government. If the law is same for everyone, why have the police and intelligence never been cognizant of the involvement of Hindu extremists in committing acts of terror? Why have their groups have never been banned or included in the list of declared terror groups? Why, for that matter, do they never get killed in staged police shootouts which has been a common occurrence in instances where Sikh and Muslim extremists have been involved in armed struggles?  

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