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www.sirdarkapursingh.org
A Personal
Tribute to a man whose writings charted the course of my life and
learning.
Jagmohan Singh
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I write this
Open Letter to a man who was neglected and ignored during his
lifetime, a man whose parallel the Sikh nation has not produced
and a man who ensured that no one would take him for granted,
come what may.
The excellence of Sikhism was learned by me through the writings
of Sirdar Kapur Singh Ji. I have ventured to put up a website
which will essentially be a repository of his works, so that the
Young Khalsa –so dear to the towering personality, can enrich
their lives in a similar manner as I did.
I have consciously and deliberately chosen the extension .org,
for he was a living institution and more. His scintillating
personality influenced many young men and the struggle for Sikh
Homeland was inspired by his speeches and his autobiography –Sachi
Sakhi. |
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 Most
Respected Sirdar Kapur Singh Ji
Waheguru Ji Ka
Khalsa
Waheguru Ji Ki
Fateh!
As you dwell at
the Lotus feet of Waheguru, I take the liberty of writing this
letter to you to acknowledge the impact you have had on my life and
learning.
During my trip
to
Chandigarh in 1978, through the good offices of All India Sikh
Students Federation stalwart Bhan Singh, I was able to have a
meeting with you. As I sat on the rickshaw to reach your house, Bhan
Singh told me, “When you go to meet an elderly member of one’s
family, you must take something along, take some fruit.” As I was
told that sometimes you get annoyed at misdemeanour, I still
remember taking some fruit and quietly placing it on a side table.
I invited you to
come to
Bombay to deliver a lecture to Sikh youth there and you readily
agreed. It is sad that due to sudden change in examination
schedules and the stupidity of the Sikh leadership in
Bombay,
your trip could not materialize.
I also remember
that I ventured to seek your permission to change the title of your
speech delivered in 1974 in
Canada from
Stupid Sikhs to Sikhs and Sikhism and you agreed.
 As I fondly
recall these moments spent with you, I regret being unable to
publish the original draft of “They Massacre Sikhs” – the White
Paper, which you had penned for publication by the SGPC and which
the SGPC fudged under government pressure. Captain Bhag Singh of the
Sikh Review took the lead and published it before I could do. I
deeply regret that the original sent by you in your hand to me could
not be preserved as I had to face the wrath of the state in the late
eighties.
As a tiny
section of the Sikh community celebrates your 100th Birth
anniversary, I cannot help but note that like in your life time,
even now the firmly entrenched Akalis, who dominate the political
spectrum of
Punjab, continue
to ignore you and your work. As none of them made any serious
attempt to study your life and your vast reservoir of knowledge and
work, they still fear you. In fact, they fear everyone, who is a man
or woman of letters. Like the typical Indian political class, they
too are a class whose sole aim, at all times, and through all means
is to keep the general populace nincompoops, so that they can
perpetuate their rule. When they set up new universities and other
institutions, they do not ponder to think of naming them in your
memory.
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Every time I would sit to write something, these words read in
your writings would ring in my years, “the aim of the Hindu
leader is to ensure that a Sikh’s highest ambition is to become
the chauffeur of his imported car”, “All young Sikhs must learn
English if they have to keep pace with the current political
idiom of the world”, “the best contribution that the Akali
leaders can deliver unto the Sikhs is to vanish from the scene”,
“Sikh young men and women should learn Arabic and Persian to
keep a tab on Semitic thought development” and “whatever you do
in life, do it thoroughly”. |
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Like
in your times, the Sikhs continue to be in a bad shape. The
scenario, the status and landscape of the Sikh polity has not
changed much. All the fears that you expressed and which impacted
my life, still linger.
I have read,
Stupid Sikhs, perhaps more than 200 times. Every time I read it, I
salute you. I have read the Theo-political Status of the
Golden Temple
also many a time. Every time I ponder over it, I admire with awe the
depth of your knowledge and wisdom gained through a mastery of
thirteen languages, Semitic literature and Western literature and
political thought.
Who killed Guru
Tegh Bahadur? and Sikhism and Politics are treatises that are
classic examples of how to rebut ill-placed logic from within the
community and from those who do not see eye to eye with the Sikhs.
The booklet Some documents on the demand for Sikh homeland enabled
me to have a clear understanding of the definition and need of a
suis generis sovereign area.
I had to sit
with a dictionary and a thesaurus to understand the contents of
Parasharprasna. Each page enlivened my life and my understanding of
the Sikh political thought. Your parliamentary speeches afforded me
the opportunity to learn how to debate.
When destiny
brought me from
Bombay to
Punjab, I once again read the tracts, the booklets and books written
by you. I remember the thrill when I was told that the
Guru
Nanak Dev
University had published the edited version of Prasharprasna. I
traveled to Amritsar to get a copy and as they offered a fifty
percent discount, I bought two copies –one to be given to a friend
who wanted to know about you and about Sikhism too.
Captured into
the vortex of politics, I was able to deliver my writings as a
contribution to the Shiromani Akali Dal (Amritsar)
during my tenure as general secretary of the party for nearly two
decades. All documents that the party submitted over the years bear
the stamp of your work as everytime I was asked to write something,
I would read your works. I drew largely on your work, sometimes
through copious quotations and sometime through a summary in my own
words of the religio-political concept of Sikhism and politics so
ably delivered by you.
My journey of
life contains the wisdom of your work, the spirit of engagement
inspired by the revolutionary poems of Gajinder Singh, the religious
indoctrination of Principal Satbir Singh, Prof. Dalip Singh and
Kewal Singh – who guided me like a child, the piety of Prof. Puran
Singh through his works and the historical sense of Simranjit Singh
Mann who provided me the canvass to express my thoughts. Each of
you was convinced that everything that a Sikh does in his personal,
social or political life should have the bottom line -“in the best
the interests of the Sikh nation.”
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Today too, the backbone of our Sikh leaders is missing. We
desperately need another Kapur Singh. I would say that for a
nation always in search of new heroes, it would be better to
rediscover you. |
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Every time I
would sit to write something, these words read in your writings
would ring in my years, “the aim of the Hindu leader is to ensure
that a Sikh’s highest ambition is to become the chauffeur of his
imported car”, “All young Sikhs must learn English if they have to
keep pace with the current political idiom of the world”, “the best
contribution that the Akali leaders can deliver unto the Sikhs is to
vanish from the scene”, Sikh young men and women should learn Arabic
and Persian to keep a tab on Semitic thought development and
“whatever you do in life, do it thoroughly”.
My friend Ravi
Nair says that Indians lack the basic sense of eye for detail. I can
safely say that your writings, your references to Sanskrit, Arabic,
Persian and Pali records, not only left me dumbfounded but also
ensured that I do not give Ravi Nair an excuse to say the same to
me.
I still cannot
fathom that you knew from beginning to end, the entire Buddhist
Granth of Dhampad by heart. Your ability to do so has not been
matched by monks and other Buddhist religious leaders.
Bhai Sahib,
celebrations are joyous occasions and I would like them to remain
so. Your legacy cannot remain the domain of a few. The legacy of
your work has to spill over from books and booklets to the
consciousness of the Young Khalsa, so that he too gets inspired in
the same and even more determined way that I was.
Your expositions
of the Sikh theo-political thought has had no parallel so far and
for everyone keen to keep the Sikh national flag flying high, your
works should be compulsory reading. I think that a two year course
in Kapur Singh Studies must be a pre-requisite for any new entrant
to Sikh politics.
I have no
hesitation in placing you on the same pedestal as Sant Jarnail Singh
Bhindranwale as I see both of you as Sikh heroes, who did not
compromise and were true to word and deed.
I hope that the
website,
www.sirdarkapursingh.org, set in your honour would
become a forum, a precursor of a bigger institute or university or a
School or Foundation of Sikh Political Thought, which someone would
want to, set up in future. I am happy that from this centennial
birthday onwards, I will constantly engage with you on the website
and the blogs to be set up soon.
As I go through
this trip down memory lane, I think that you were the Socrates of
Sikhism. Like Socrates, you too were forced to drink the poison
through negligence and disregard at the hands of the Akalis, but
like him, you too chose to be frank, fearless and forceful and
remained steadfast and uncompromising.
Today too, the
backbone of our Sikh leaders is missing. We desperately need another
Kapur Singh. I would say that for a nation always in search of new
heroes, it would be better to rediscover you.
Waheguru Ji Ka
Khalsa, Waheguru Ji Ki Fateh.
Jagmohan Singh
Jagmohan Singh
is the editor of World Sikh News. He has had a long stint in the religio-political domain of the Sikhs. He may be contacted at
jsbigideas@gmail.com
4
March 2009
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