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Dal Khalsa takes the sheen off
Outlook's faded reporter
WSN Network
 FREMONT: Dal
Khalsa organization has written to the World Sikh News hailing its
despatch on India's Outlook magazine's reportage of the function to
commemorate the 25th anniversary of Operation Bluestar. The WSN
report titled "Look Out for Outlook: Faded Journalism" was termed by
Dal Khalsa spokesperson as "a befitting reply to the Outlook story
'A faded Star'"
Kanwarpal Singh,
Spokesperson of the Dal Khalsa, in a missive from Amritsar, said his
organisation too had taken strong note of the Outlook reporter's
highly biased comments and had written to the editor-in-chief of the
weekly magazine about "how irresponsibly the reporter of such an
esteemed paper works" and that "her conclusions (were) highly
objectionable and far removed from reality."
Putting the
record straight, Kanwarpal Singh said hundreds of Sikhs committed to
the cause "took part in the spirited procession that went through
the lanes and by-lanes of the holy city", "more than 3,000 Sikhs
took active part in the main function held at Akal Takht on June 6
where leaders or representatives of all Sikh
religio-social-political parties were present". Also, the function
was held under the aegis and leadership of Akal Takht Jathedar, the
highest temporal seat of the Sikhs and the SGPC, the statutory body
entrusted with the management of the historical Sikh shrines in the
region was the organizer. He wondered by what stretch of
imagination, and obviously pretty fertile imagination, did the
Outlook reporter conclude that hardly anyone was associated with the
function.
Kanwarpal did
not mince words in saying that "the present house of the SGPC is the
extension counter of the Shiromani Akali Dal headed by Punjab deputy
chief minister Sukhbir Singh Badal" and thus underlined that
wily-nilly if an interpretation has to be made, it could only be
that the mainstream Akali Dal did participate clearly in the
function.
"We fail to know
the absence of which political mainstream party has made your
reporter glee that she happily concludes so. Is she indicating about
the Congress that was instrumental in the attack or the BJP, which,
according to L K Advani’s biography, forced the Congress to go for
an attack?" Kanwarpal said in tone dripping with sarcasm.
But what was
really significant was the question he posed, and it is not just an
issue that Outlook should confront but the entire Indian media
should mull over. "What else do you think the Sikhs should do on
this day to express their hurt feelings so that the biased media of
the state should “understand” their pain, anguish and concerns?"
Shaming the
Outlook reporter as well its editorial judgment when it came to
processing highly sensitive reportage about anniversary of the
Indian army's attack on the center of Sikhism, Dal Khalsa
spokesperson said, "(Y)our journal has not deemed it fit to
extensively report about the genuine pain and feelings of the Sikhs
they had aired while organizing seminars, holding rallies,
undertaking marches not only to pay homage to Sikh martyrs but also
to condemn the perpetrators of the disastrous attack....It will also
be in the fitness of things to clarify that the Sikh groups
including the Dal Khalsa (marginal groups as your reporter happily
claims) are wedded to the struggle for Khalistan through democratic
and peaceful means but it seems that media including yours doesn’t
feel that the non-violent path is sufficient enough to rightfully
recognize the movement and aspirations of the community. Is your
journal inciting us to change the course of our democratic struggle?
Sometimes, in a certain circumstances, the struggle can also be
waged without guns and bangs."
But would Mr
Mehta get the message which is subtle enough to make sense for even
Editor, his beloved dog?
1
July 2009
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