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Such A Sauda !! : cultists on the war path
By Ajmer
Singh
BATHINDA: Caught in a cleftstick of a CBI murder case and a
thinly-veiled political alliance with the Congress in
Punjab, the
self-styled 'Sant' Gurmit Ram Rahim had a trump card up his sleeve.
A thought that had not occured to anyone ever since 1699. Last
Saturday, he appeared in public, dressed in robes akin to the
popular photographs of tenth Sikh Guru, Guru Gobind Singh, prepared
a sort of 'amrit' in a huge vessel, and asked his followers to
follow a largely copy-cat code of conduct.
Worse, he inserted a huge front page advertisement in
newspapers, complete with a photograph of himself preparing the
so-called 'Jaame-Insa''. The ad appeared on Sunday. On Monday,
Punjab
exploded in rage, and in Bathinda, the followers of the Sacha Sauda
sect ran amok, beating up Sikh protesters. Sikh organisations sought
to burn effigies of Gurmit Ram Rahim, which triggered his
supporters' anger.
On Tuesday, the rage spread, and the cult showed its power,
with riotous mobs ruling Bathinda as police squirmed and state
government was left witless. The heady violent concoction of caste,
religion and politics swept across large swathes of Punjab, singing
in its wake the ctities, towns and villages of Bathinda, Amritsar,
Jalandhar and Ludhiana. Scenes of bloody splurge made it to media
front pages, TV channels lingered in angry dera women armed with
sticks and officials went into a huddle. None of course was in the
field where blood-thirsty dera men burned police vehicles,
ambulances, fire brigade vehicles and attacked journalists and
Sikhs.
Later in the day it had spilled over to
Jammu and parts of
Rajasthan. Just as this edition of the WSN was going to the press,
the state ordered closure of schools in Bathinda and Patiala for
three days, there was curfew like situation in many areas of
Bathinda, clashes had taken place in Tripri and Anardana area of
Patiala, sword-carrying Sikh youths were having a tiff with the
Amritsar SSP and Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal was
blaming the Congress for the entire saga. "It is the Congress and
its government at the Centre which is responsible for vitiating the
atmosphere," Badal said. In Haji Rattan Gurdwara of Bathinda, senior
Sant Samaj representatives had gathered and were very angry but
Jathedar Balwant Singh Nandgarh was able to coax them into peace and
wait for Thursday, May 17, direction from Damdama Sahib conclave.
The violent clashes, that first erupted in Bathinda before
flaring up in Amritsar, Mansa, Moga, Ludhiana, Sangrur, Jammu and
Sriganganagar, revived dark memories of the Sikh-Nirankari clashes
of 1978 and sent the Akali-BJP government barely three months old
into spasms of anxiety.
As TV footage and pictures of policemen cowering under Dera
attack surfaced, there were charges that the administration, which
had sensed trouble on Saturday itself, had been struck by inertia.
With politicians busy in the blame game, Bathinda sank in fear and
panic. Residents ran for cover as lathi and sword-wielding Dera men
and women attacked both policemen and members of various Sikh
groups. Outnumbered and unarmed the cops, who were directed by
higher-ups not to use force ‘‘at any cost’’ hid themselves and
begged for mercy instead.
After ransacking the circuit house and burning an anti-riot
van, a splinter group headed towards Liberty Chowk where they
severely beat up police sub-inspector Gulzar Singh and set his jeep
on fire. As the police made feeble attempts to contain the mob, they
came under direct attack from the agitators. In Sriganganagar, the
border town between
Punjab and
Rajasthan, some Sikh groups and SAD(B) leaders made an attempt to
burn the effigy of Rahim Singh, plunging the town in tension. Police
resorted to lathi-charge which left about two dozen persons injured.
Section 144 of CrPC was clamped in many parts of the town to stop
the gathering of more than four persons. By evening there was heavy
police presence at all gurdwaras.
It was no different in
Patiala, Jalandhar
and Ludhiana where angry fighters were seen brandishing naked swords
and menacingly marching through the streets.
Jathedars call Maha
Sikh Sammelan on May 17
Overtaken by sudden shock of the pace of events, the top Sikh
clergy has called a Maha Sikh Sammelan, a sort of 'Sarbat Khalsa',
on Thursday at Takht Damdama Sahib in Talwandi Sabo, Bathinda. On
Tuesday, the clergy had issued an appeal to Sikhs to be prepared for
any sacrifice while thwarting anti-Sikh and anti-Panthic elements.
Giani Joginder Singh Vedanti, jathedar of the Akal Takht, announced
the Sammelan to chalk out their future course of action. ‘‘We know
well how to tackle those demeaning our gurus,’’ he said angrily.
The
Punjab government seemed to be caught in a bind as the situation
worsened all over the state. Representatives of 11 Sikh
organisations led by Baba Harnam Singh Khalsa (Dhumma), head of
Damdami Taksal, met CM Badal and served an ultimatum to Punjab,
Haryana and the Union government to bring the situation under
control by May 18. ‘‘Or else, we would take the situation in our own
hands,’’ he warned.
Clergy
may face this
A
number of Sikh organisations including Shiromani Akali Dal (Amritsar),
Damdami Taksal and others, apart from the Sant Samaj, are likely to
ask the Sikh clergy to clearly spell out the demand for arrest of
Gurmit Ram Rahim, a ban on his entry into Punjab, a public apology
from the self-styled 'Sant' and a social boycott of the dera head.
Sources said Bhai Daljit Singh 'Bittu' has been active in the
last three days trying to solidify a joint approach on the issue. If
these organisations are not satisfied with the outcome of the Maha
Sikh Sammelan, then they will call their own meeting on May 18.
Displaying rare sagacity, Bhai Daljit Singh has also proposed
a complete ban on burning any kind of effigies etc, saying this was
a non-serious form of protest and effigy-burning has no place in
Sikhism.
12 September 2007
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