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Ashutosh provocation galore as Sikhs seethe with anger
Police fires on Sikh protesters, one dead, many injured as Akali Dal regime buckles before RSS-BJP
Sach Kanwal Singh

Brave communities like the Sikhs cannot be felled or intimidated by traditional forms of assault, so the machinations of the establishment weave a tangled web. At this juncture of history, the Sikh Quom is caught in this tangled web, and will need more than mere underlining of its resolve and protestations of unity to emerge unscathed.

Punjab has over the last weekend seen bloody clashes between Sikhs and police and a day before that between migrants and police, long drawn curfew in Ludhiana, apathetic face of the state government and highly provocative posture of the BJP. Sunday witnessed a complete Punjab Bandh but the anger still remains palpable. That all this came when an internecine battle was raging within the Sikh Panth, and a former Jathedar of Akal Takht was sought to be held guilty by the established, entrenched clergy, painted a worrying picture for any concerned Sikh.

Throwing all caution to the winds, the Akali Dal-BJP government allowed Noormehlia’s Ashutosh to hold a conclave in Ludhiana on December 5, knowing fully well that he had enraged and deliberately incited Sikhs only a few years ago and had to be banished from Punjab.

Protesting Sikhs in Ludhiana were beaten up and fired upon by police, and the bloody clash left one Darshan Singh Lohara, a young Sikh man, dead and several other Sikh protesters seriously injured.

The Sikh protest was aimed at trying to stop the Divya Jyoti Jagriti Sansthan (DJJS) gathering when police opened fire and lobbed teargas shells on Sikh protesters. This was the second consecutive day of violence as on Friday too, Ludhiana had witnessed clashes and rioting involving migrant labourers.

By Friday evening, nine of Ludhiana’s police stations were under curfew but not before the migrants had shown the ugly face of their organizing capabilities in holding the city to ransom and bringing normal life and even rail traffic to a halt.

If Friday had left dozens of buses, trucks, cars, two-wheelers burnt along the Chandigarh-Ludhiana highway on the outskirts of Ludhiana and all around the Dhandari Kalan area, Saturday was worse.

Police fired into the crowd, killing Darshan Singh and hitting many others. Angry Sikh youth then clashed with police. Soon, the roads were punctuated with burning vehicles. A DSP of the police and some constables seemed to have sustained injuries too, and by evening entire Ludhiana city was under curfew.

Hundreds of Sikh youth had gathered at Gurdwara Shaheedan Chowk, Dholewal inspite of the many barriers put up by the police. Sikh leaders including Sant Samaj’s Harnam Singh Khalsa, Khalsa Action Committee’s Mohkam Singh, Dal Khalsa’s Kanwarpal Singh Bittu, former Akal Takht jathedar Jasbir Singh Rode, Soorat Singh Khalsa, Baba Ranjit Singh Dhadrian wale, Sant Ameer Singh Jawaddi, AISSF(Mehta) chief Paramjit Singh Khalsa, Sant Baljit Singh Daduwal, SGPC member Kanwal Inder Singh Thekedar and Bibi Surinder Kaur Dayal were among those providing leadership.

After minor scuffles between groups of Sikh youth and police, the police tried to stop the crowd from moving towards the venue of Ashutosh’s conclave. At the Samrala chowk, Ludhiana DC Vikas Garg ordered firing that left one dead and more than 15 seriously injured. Darshan Singh Lohara who was killed was 58, and had joined the protest at the call of Baba Dhadrianwala. He has left behind a young daughter of marriageable age, and two sons of 12 and 14 years of age.

But the subtext of the entire protest was provided by a local BJP MLA Harish Bedi who was the organizer of Ashutosh’s conclave and who had insisted despite several warnings to the contrary at organizing the gathering. Sikh organizations had made clear their opposition to the conclave. It was clear that the BJP made Ashutosh’s gathering a question for its prestige and went ahead irrespective of the Sikhs’ strong protests, largely because of the ruling Akali Dal’s propensity to buckle before the RSS lobby.

On Tuesday, Sukhbir Singh Badal tried to read his suo moto statement in Punjab Assembly on the violence but soon Congress and Akali Dal MLAs clashed in the house, manhandled each other as turbans flew and each was guarding his vote bank. There was not a word uttered about Darshan Singh Lohara who was killed in the police firing or about those who were still fighting for life in hospitals.

Also Read:
Rein In Ashutosh. Now!
Ludhiana violence has projected a gory theatre of BJP and Congress          
Dr Amrik Singh, Sacramento

Ludhiana violence on the eve of 17^th anniversary of Babri Masjid’s demolition and 53^rd Death anniversary of Dr. B.R.Ambedkar portends dangerous signals for Punjab. Nothing happens in Punjab that has not a history to it. The state has been a theatre of manipulative politics, intricate designs and provocative rationalities since ancient times. In the last hundred years, it remained a target of a colonial milieu, vivisection, and diversionary techniques. The name of one such policy was “The Great Game” of 1885 that the British had designed to provoke sectarian identities to dissipate anti-colonial venom from the hearts of Punjabis. The British in 1947 left a colonial heritage which new rulers of India followed in letter and spirit.  New masters revised “the Great Game” and named it “Secularism.”  As per its unofficial agenda , non-Hindu religious beliefs  have to be discouraged, destroyed and dismantled to an extent that people accept the  supremacy of Secularism, which experts believe is just a strategic name for Hinduism.

Hardly anyone knew Dayanand Sarswati when he tried his luck in Maharashtra and in his home state , Gujrat. But when he came to Punjab under a special mission to alienate the poor from Sikh religion, he drew everybody’s attention, especially the British. Earlier, nobody listened to his discourses of returning to Vedic glory, but the moment he made controversial comments on Gurbani, he achieved stardom.  He created in Hindu intelligentsia a desire to not only control Punjab, but the whole Indian sub-continent with their racial superiority and intricate designing, scheming and maligning. The dream didn’t appear far-fetched when the English were ready to fulfill their aspirations.

M.K. Gandhi was non-entity when he came back from South Africa. The moment he entered Punjab after the Jallianwallah massacre in 1919, he found an easy route to nationalize his leadership role.  The peaceful protests of Sikhs for freeing Gurdwaras from Hindu-oriented Mahants, inspired him to fashion his non-violence mainly for suppressing Punjabis’ rising patriotism and anti-colonial venom. British highlighted Gandhi’s role for their colonial ends because Punjab seemed to pose a growing threat to them. Gandhi kept delaying freedom until the way for Hindu Nationalism was charted by alienating Muslims, forcing Dr. Ambedkar to enter Poona Pact and defrauding Sikh leadership with a state where they would relish the glow of freedom. The epicenter of three grand frauds was Punjab. Undivided Punjab would hinder Hindu nationalistic goals, therefore, suppress the emerging alliance of Dalits, Muslims and Sikhs. All efforts were directed for provoking violence that led to the partition of India.  

Divya Jyoti Sanghthan’s founder Ashutosh appended Maharaj with his name when he came to Punjab in 1984.  His arrival in the state was under a special mission that related to 1984 attack on Harmandir Sahib. Ashutosh believed Operation Blue star was necessary to stop Pakistan from helping militants. He declared he would not let terrorism again raise its head in Punjab. Although, an elected government at the center and a trained military were in place for meeting any foreign threat, yet Ashutosh assumed the extra-constitutional role of the state to free Punjab of  terrorists. He questioned Sikh traditions that inspired Amritdhari Sikhs to recite Gurbani daily, which according to him, is just parroting to no effect. He considered Sikhism an offshoot of Hinduism. One of his followers projected Guru Gobind Singh seeking blessings of Hindu Gods and the Khalsa created by him as a misconception. The real Khalsa, according to one of his deputies, was a body of Ashutosh’s devotees.

The controversial remarks were brought to the notice of the Akal Takhat. Ashutosh was refrained from creating unnecessary controversies, but his influence reportedly runs in Badal’s family. The state BJP stood behind him even at the cost of the coalition politics. The minority commission had censured Ashutosh for poisoning Punjab’s atmosphere, but could not deter it to abandon provocative speeches in the name of Braham Gyan and to the disparagement of Gurbani.

BJP is of the opinion that every one has right to practice whatever religion one believes in. Therefore, the action of Sikh bodies’ to march towards the venue of the function undermined the freedom of religion. Sikh bodies argue that the BJP didn’t comment on Ashutosh’s interference in the practice of other religions. The freedom as a right only exists so long as it doesn’t undermine freedom of the other. Damdami Taksal Chief Harnam Singh Dhumma blamed the government for misleading Punjabi Hindus and creating an anti-Punjab atmosphere.  

Mohan Rao Bhagwat, chief of radical Hindu organization RSS, selected historical Babri Masjid’s demolition day for his visit to Punjab. On December 6, 2009, he held an RSS camp and a press conference in Chandigarh . He declared that he had no regrets for what happened in Ayodhya on December 6, 1992. He also made it clear that all minorities (Muslims and Christians) are descendants of former Hindu forefathers.  The aim of Hindu raj should be to take them back in its fold.  On December 6, posters of the controversial sect leader displayed all over Ludhiana were said to ridicule Sikhs and create ruckus that might deflect attention from 17^th anniversary of  Babri mosque demolition. The shooting of Darshan Singh is a sad commentary of Akali-BJP alliance in Punjab.

It is an open secret that Ashutosh’s function was organized by Ludhiana Ashok Malhotra Group of Industries at the behest of BJP party. The top leadership’s incarceration in the Librahan Report motivated them to seek the theatrical protection of the controversial religious leader. Raising the bogey of Sikh terrorism and linking it with Pakistan could wash blood from hands of both Congress and BJP.     

The dangerous trends point to apprehensions that the Punjab will burn again. The hatred comes here packaged in the name of peace and non-violence. Mantras of annihilation are chanted to decimate the voices which don't conform to Brahamanical codes. RSS chief has already pronounced that all minorities have their origin in Hinduism. Bhagwat is looking forward to times when minorities will submerge in the ocean of Hinduism. He is fantasizing Mahan Bharat that will include Afghanistan, Kashmir and Tibet as well. If viewed in the background of colonial history nothing has changed even after one hundred years. Science has broken many frontiers of knowledge, but more the development in India, the greater the slide into primitive fantasies. 

When Arya Samaj came to Punjab as part of the “Great Game,” it focused on Amritdhari Sikhs and Guru Granth Sahib. In the beginning years,  Arya Samaj's programs included reading from Guru Granth Sahib . But it was only to denigrate Gurbani in comparison to the purity of eternal Vedas. The founder of Khalsa Akhbar, Bhai Dit Singh objected to Dayanand’s derogatory commentary on Gurbani and challenged him to debate with him about Vedas and Gurbani. It was Bhai Dit Singh’s genius that exposed Swami Dayanand’s imperfect knowledge about planetary revolution. Swami Dayanand kept insisting that the Sun revolves round the earth. The dynamic personality of Bhai Dit Singh had experienced at Dera Gulab Dass Chatthianwala a negative mindset that degraded Gurabani  simply because it had hymns of Saints who owe their origin to Shudra families. Later, he  joined Arya Samaj for there appeared a promise that caste would not be followed. Shuddhi of dalits attracted many followers. When Bhai Sahib saw the proponents of Arya Samaj raging with their superiority and replete with blasphemous words for Gurus and Saints, he vowed to give up that faith forever. He met Bhai Gurmukh Singh and embarked on a mission to inculcate true Sikh spirit through his discourses and writings. Bhai Sahib left the world in 1901, but his influence on Sikh history is tremendous and invaluable.  

Punjab has seen the blood-soaked politics of Congress in the past decades. The militancy can’t be studied by separating it from the culture that created it. Ludhiana violence has shown that BJP is apathetic to interests of Punjab. Sikhs are either with Congress or with BJP. They barter Sikh ideals for the hateful campaign of their political masters. Right-minded Hindus should rise to discourage nexus of politicians and criminals. Guilty politicians’ attempts to hide behind religious sentiments of people should never be allowed to succeed in Punjab. If Punjabis keep their house in order, no foreign threat can vanquish them. The unity of Dalits, Sikhs, Christians, Muslims and Hindus in a new alliance can force BJP, Congress and their allies to shift the Gory Theatre to some other place.  

 

Ashutosh's DJJS has friends in Akali Dal WSN Network  While the tension between the Sikhs and Divya Jyoti Jagriti Sansthaan (DJJS) Nurmahal had been brewing since the last around seven years, the ruling Akali Dal-controlled Sikh clergy and the SGPC, forver eager to summon and excommunicate Sikhs who don’t find favour with Akali leadership, never decided the issue. Former jathedar Joginder Singh Vedanti kept the matter undecided just as present incumbent Gurbachan Singh, who took over in August last year and was quick in summoning former Jathedar Prof Darshan Singh and Haryana SGPC leader J.S.Jhinda, did not take any decision over the issue. The lackadaisical attitude is common to Takht jathedars as well as the SGPC. ON top of it, the DJJS now has the cheek to claim that it had been sending their literature and CDs to Akal Takht and SGPC but no mistake was pointed out. Akali Dal has been successfully trying to sail in two boats: the SGPC opposes the DJJS but the Badals allow Ashutosh to return to Punjab. A complaint against CM Badal’s wife Surinder Kaur for visiting Dera head Ashutosh has been pending. Evidence to this effect was submitted by Harminder Singh Gill, then a leader of Sikh Students Federation and now a Congressman. Some other organizations had also sent representations to Akal Takht Jathedar Vedanti against Bibi Badal. Another senior Akali leader Gurdev Singh Badal had been facing the allegations that his daughter, who happens to be wife of Dharamkot MLA Sital Singh, was a staunch Sansthaan follower. However Gurdev Badal and his son Kewal Singh Badal, junior vice president of SGPC, never cleared the air. While Divya Jyoti Jagriti Sansthaan specifically accused Akali Dal bete noir DSGMC president Paramjit Singh Sarna and Damdami Taksal Chief Harnam Singh Dhuma for fomenting trouble in Ludhiana, it refrained from saying anything about SGPC which vehemently opposed the function and SAD(B) affiliate Sikh Students Federation, led by Paramjit Singh Grewal,  which was among the first players to raise opposition to Ludhiana function of DJJS. Yuva Parivar Sewa Samiti, a frontal organization of the DJJS, President Amar Singh Srivastva, who is among the core leaders of the Sansthaan, blamed Dhumma and Sarna for the trouble in Ludhiana but when asked that SGPC President Avtar Singh Makkar had also opposed their function, Srivastva refused to say anything about him.

 

Bandh in Punjab  Angry Sikh organisations gave a collective call for a Punjab Bandh on Monday as Ludhiana was still reeling under curfew. The shutdown was near total in most urban centres of Punjab though the organizers themselves had exempted road and rail traffic besides essential services from the bandh call. Dal Khalsa demanded tough action against the Ludhiana DC and the police officer who fired at protestors. Most educational, commercial and other establishments remained closed. Several bus services were suspended, trains passed through unaffected. In Jalandhar, the bandh witnessed a Sikh procession in town as the courts, tehsil, and all government offices and private establishments remained closed. In Amritsar, a liquor vend near the bus stand was vandalised, but largely the bandh was peaceful. Khalsa Action Committee convener Bhai Mohkam Singh said Sikh bodies will convene on December 12. In Tarn Taran, protesters thrashed a shopkeeper who refused to down shutter. In Bathinda, the shutdown was near complete as Sikhs took out a protest march from Qila Mubarak to various parts of the town and set fire to effigies of Divya Jyoti Jagran Sansthan sect head. Batala saw a dharna by Sikh protesters at Gandhi Chowk while in Moga, all shops, schools and business establishments  remained closed and effigies of Ashutosh burnt. The response to the bandh was lukewarm in Gurdaspur, Dhariwal and Dinanagar but was complete in Sri Hargobindpur and Ghoman towns.

9 December 2009
 

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