|
Sikh MPs protest at calling 1857 uprising as
'First War of Independence'; BJP upset
WSN Network
 New
Delhi: In the presence of the President of India, the
Vice-President, the Prime Minister and Lok Sabha Speaker, and right
in the Central Hall of Indian Parliament, four Sikh MPs got up, led
by Lok Sabha Deputy Speaker Charanjit Singh Atwal, disputing the
nomenclature of 1857 uprising as the first war of Independence and
demanding that the First Anglo-Sikh War of 1845 should be seen as
the first war of independence.
As Indian Parliament convened a joint session on May 10 to mark the
150th anniversary of the 1857 uprising, the four MPs -- Atwal,
Rattan Singh Ajnala, Veerendra Singh Bajwa (both Akali Dal) and
Tarlochan Singh (Independent) -- disputed the date of the beginning
of the war of independence and said it began much earlier to 1857.
The BJP, which has an alliance with the Akali Dal in Punjab, has
taken exception to Atwal's remarks.
"We have objected to the fact that the 1857 uprising has been called
the First War of Indian Independence. That is absolutely wrong. It
is historically wrong and we seem to have forgotten our heroes who
fought the British long before 1857. It is total disrespect for
them," Tarlochan Singh later told the waiting media.
The MPs said the 1845 Anglo-Sikh War, led by Sikh General Sham Singh
Attariwala, should be treated as the First War of Independence,
instead of the revolt of 1857.
Tarlochan Singh, in his article published by the WSN in its Dec 6-
12, 2006 issue, had said. "We should be very clear about the enemy
against whom the war is being waged. For example, the Sikh Misl
specialised in waging guerrilla warfare against scourges from the
West like Nadir Shah or Abdali, who would invade India and take away
Indian women in the thousands, to be sold in the streets of Basra.
And Sikh guerrillas would harass them right up to the Attock (Indus)
to recover as many Indian women as they could and then try to
restore those unfortunate women to their families. Now, what war
were they waging? Evidently, a war of independence!"
The Indian uprising of 1857 was a prolonged period of armed
encounters in different parts of the country against British
colonialists.
The Akali view has not gone down well with the ally BJP which has
maintained that the summer battle triggered by the sepoys’ march
from Meerut to Delhi was indeed the First War of Independence. The
SGPC president Avtar Singh Makkar has backed Atwal's view.
Incidentally, Sham Singh Attariwala remains much ignored even in
Punjab and the regime of Capt Amarinder Singh was the first one to
celebrate the anniversary of Attariwala in any fitting manner.
16 May, 2007
|
Read Also
