Op/Ed: Response to Vandalism of Gandhi Statue, Leicester UK

Vandalised statue of Gandhi in Leicester.
Vandalised statue of Gandhi in Leicester.

The recent vandalizing of a statue of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi in Leicester, although an isolated incident, may be seen as a reflection of the growing discontent amongst British Sikhs who have been pressing democratic governments for justice regarding the 1984 Sikh massacre for 30 years, only to discover that British military advice was given to India before the systematic Blue Star attack on Darbar Harmandir Sahib (the Golden Temple).

The statue was vandalized on the lead up to the annual London rally in commemoration of the 1984 massacre, marking the passing of 30 years since the systematic attack, and 30 years without justice for the killing and torture of thousands of innocent Sikhs.

While the Sikh community have openly condemned the act of vandalism and discouraged youth from expressing their discontent through such channels, some Indian sources have prioritized and inflated the story, inferring that Sikh sentiments are hurt over the vandalism of the statue of ‘Bapu’ (father) Mohandas Gandhi.

It must, therefore, be clarified that the sentiments of many mainstream Sikhs regarding Gandhi do not coincide with those of patriotic Indians who sentimentally consider Gandhi their ‘Bapu’.

Sikh discontent with the Indian government is not wholly separate from their discontent with Gandhi.  Throughout his lifetime, Gandhi expressed an array of anti-Sikh views which deeply hurt Sikh sentiments. Attacking Sikh articles of faith and mocking those who wore them, he openly branded them unnecessary and implied that Sikhs should give up the Khalsa Panth. This, coupled with his encouragement of the abandonment of Gurmukhi and other parts of the Sikh religion, were seen as attempts to get Sikhs to ‘reabsorb’ themselves into Hinduism.

While Sikhs insisted that Sikhism is to be considered a distinct faith in its own right, it was clear that Gandhi saw Sikhs as Hindus, and he insisted that they be referred to as such. This failure to recognize Sikhs as a distinct people is also pertinent in India’s treatment of the religious minority and in the Indian constitution, and Singh’s (2005) ‘Hindu Bias in India’s ‘Secular’ Constitution: probing flaws in the instruments of governance‘ further elaborates on the failure of a ‘democratic’ country in recognizing the distinctive independence of non-Hindus.

One should also consider that the assassination of Mohandas Gandhi by a Hindu did not incur the vengeful wrath of fellow Hindus, and did not lead to a series of reprisal massacres against Hindus in India.  On the other hand, the assassination of Indira Gandhi by her Sikh bodyguards following Blue Star saw mobs of Hindus adamant on killing Sikhs, prominent public figures declaring ‘blood for blood,’ governmental figures taking part in the atrocities and interventionist authorities remaining silent.

Understandably, then, Sikhs do not feel a sense of patriotism towards a country whose open persecution of religious minorities leads not to convictions but to impunity. The feeling of betrayal of the Sikhs is perhaps further deepened by memories of Gandhi’s unfulfilled promises, which were methods to appease the Sikhs and persuade them to join the side of Hindu India. Such promises included that of Khalistan, a promise quickly broken after independence. Further, Gandhi made a promise which was shattered by the barbarianism of the Indian government during and after the 1984 massacres,

I venture to suggest that the non-violence creed of the Congress is the surest guarantee of its good faith and our Sikhs friends have no reason to fear betrayal at its hands.

I don’t attempt to justify the vandalism of a statue, and Sikhs such as Lord Indarjit Singh have openly and firmly declared such vandalism as wrong. I do, however, hope to clarify Sikh views in relation to Gandhi and the Indian state; the two are, to an extent, interconnected.

4 COMMENTS

  1. Dude what the hell is up with this site?
    First of all, Hindus hate Gandhi, we wanted that old man dead – he supported the killings of Hindus by extremists and said ‘peace’ is the way
    When Hindus retaliated during the partition in Calcutta, Bengal, Gandhi went up to the Hindus and told them to stop, even though the Hindus were protecting their own people.

    We hate Gandhi, those retards who love Gandhi are the upmost retards I’ve ever seen.

    And stop generalising all Hindus & Indians, we all do not HATE Sikhs and do NOT want the persecution of them. 99.99% of us don’t!

    We don’t hate Sikhs.

    And also, why not talk of the persecution faced during partition, why are you ONLY against Hindus, who clearly are not your problem? What happened to the oath of protecting the motherland, what happened to ‘freeing India from foreign rule (you know what I mean)’?

    Why are you looking for war against Hindus & Indians?

    I understand that the 1984 tragedy was disgusting, and on that, I’m 100% on the Sikh side. I wish that all suspects get arrested or shot on site, but why go against your OWN country that you swore you would protect?

    • Sanatan vidya is is alright, however these nakli Hindus are boa constrictors who have devoured all the indigenous religions of India Buddhism , Jainism and now trying to grip Sikhism, they even have maligned all Adi- sanatan holy Scriptures for their own selfish reasons. There is no word as Hindu in Vedas, Purana, Upanishads etc. Hindus were created my Greek, Islamic and Brits. The word Hindu is actually an arabic word. Thus the nakli Hindusism is a foreign religion came with Aryans just like Islam and Xanintiy. Earlier Sanatani Holy Sages, Buddha, Mahavira and Sikh Gurus were all fed up with the evil practices and tried to take out innocent people out of the evil shadows of Hindus. However these nakli Hindus like turds in the toilet keep on coming back and reign havoc on Innocent Indians.

  2. Just wanted to clarify one point: Gandhi’s assassination did indeed lead to anti-Brahmin riots in Maharashtra in 1948.

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