OP/ED: After Sarbat Khalsa, Now What?

Over half a million Sikhs gathered at historic Baba Naudh Singh Gurduara today. Who knows how many more Sikhs watched and followed the proceedings via TV, live streaming and social media. Something that many of us thought would never occur in our lives just actually happened. 13 Resolutions passed (for the full text please see:  Official Resolutions from Sarbat Khalsa 2015). So where do we go from here. Well first, let’s look at Sarbat Khalsa 2015.

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The Good:

  1. This Sarbat Khalsa’s legitimacy was being called into question long before it began; that has only intensified now. Was this a perfect Sarbat Khalsa? No, far from it but we must keep in mind too that hundreds of thousands of Kaurs and Singhs came to Chabba Pind despite government persecution and harassment. A half million Sikhs travelled from across South Asia and beyond to come to Baba Naudh Singh Gurduara which is remarkable considering our circumstances and the timeline we were working with. One day, a true, representative Sarbat Khalsa with representation of all Panthik regional groups and organizations will occur but this was an incredibly inspiring start. This may not have been perfect or ideal, but it was a true gathering of the Sikh Nation.
  2. The Resolutions are (generally) great. If we ignore the first resolution (which I know is the most important in the short term), the resolutions were well thought out, expressed in accordance with the spirit of Gurmat and are not completely impossible to implement. Am I happy with them all? No. Is anyone? No. That’s the whole point of consensus based democracy. Nobody in the Panth can ever be completely happy. There’s always going to be issues some of us would have wanted discussed. Things that we feel went too far or not far enough. That’s a good thing, not a bad thing. This is how Sarbat Khalsas are supposed to work.
  3. Looking at the resolutions in more detail, it is strange to be calling KP Gill and General Brar to the Akal Takht. I don’t think many of us even think of them as Sikhs. And yet, this is what should have happened. They never were called to account for their crimes! If they don’t appear at Akal Takht Sahib by the end of the month, which they of course will not, then they can be formally kicked out of the Panth. That’s a good sign that we’re following our own Panthik procedures. Of course ideally, they would have boarded the train with Indira, Vaidya and Beant a long time ago, but this is a good (if shamefully late) start.
  4. A World Sikh Parliament, a reformed SGPC and a Sarbat Khalsa next Vaisakhi are all great resolutions (2, 5 and 8) and just the kind of thing a Sarbat Khalsa should do. Will they be easy to do? No. But who would have thought that today was possible a year ago? After 30 years of heartbreak I’m just as cynical as the rest of you. But let’s have faith in ourselves as a Nation. We can make this happen.
  5. Resolutions 7 and 13, standing with not only Sikh prisoners but all political prisoners and disenfranchised people the world over was a great sentiment. We’ve never achieved anything as a Panth without fighting for the rights of others. That’s the true path to Victory (Degh Tegh!). And none of this would have happened without Bapu Surat Singh and his unbelievable commitment to the issue of Sikh prisoners. This needed to be said.
  6. It’s been stupefying to see the Panth fight over Maryada and Bani issues over the last few decades while we’ve been slaughtered and our foundations eroded. All of us need to keep Resolution 9 in our minds. No more argument over Dasam Granth, Ragmala, laridar or pad-ched, meat or no meat, etc. Do what you want in your homes and jathebandis. Follow Panthik maryada when in Sangat. Let’s stop being such easy prey for those that would see us destroyed. Our house is burning and we’re fighting over where the furniture should go!
  7. I have to say, when resolution 10 was read out, I literally cheered, (which woke up my daughter and dog! That time difference was killer for us on the East Coast). The Darbar Sahib Complex was treated as a de facto sovereign state by the British and the Indian state until 1984. In fact, when the Punjab state sent police into the complex in 1955, the chief minister was forced to apologize and promise that the sovereignty of the Complex would never be threatened again. Generations of Sikh political protesters and leaders, from the 1920’s to the 1980’s, stayed in Darbar Sahib and it was understood they could not be touched. This is our sovereign land. If Monaco, Andorra and of course Vatican City, which best resembles what we’re looking for, are viable countries, then a sovereign Darbar Sahib Complex is not out of the realm of possibility. This will be extremely difficult to push through, but it needs to be our goal and we need to get it done.  (See our previous article: OP/ED: The State of Sachkhand)
  8. They snuck it in. Resolution 12. Sarbat Khalsa 1986. We all know what this means. It’s obvious this isn’t a priority on the ground right now. But the fact that we didn’t shy away from what the Panth decided 29 years ago is important. What does this mean, especially since the ‘K’ word was barely uttered today, I don’t know. And to be honest, that’s not where we start our movement. We start it from the ground up, like the protesters on the bridge. Like Bapu Surat Singh ji. But we don’t forget that a half million Sikhs also stood up a generation ago and proclaimed sovereignty.

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The Not so great.

  1. Taking away Badal and Makkar’s awards was good. Not that many of us considered them valid in the first place, but it was a needed statement. But why didn’t they go after them more? This could be a smart political move. If you kick Badal out of the Panth and he completely ignores you, then what? The thinking must be that once the Takht is free, then these sellouts can be brought to proper account. It’s not great, and something harsher was appropriate considering what’s been occurring, but there are also larger political considerations here. Badal is an elected official after all, and represents more than just Sikhs. So that may have played into the language here.
  2. Jathedar Jagtar Singh Hawara. Sounds great, doesn’t it? The spontaneous reaction of a half million Sikhs to that matta was pretty incredible. So, why is this not a completely good thing? Well, first of all, Jagtar Singh is a smart choice and echoes a similar choice. Back in 1990 the Panth was split. There was the ‘Khalistani’ Jathedar and the Sarkari one. A compromise was reached by appointing Bhai Ranjit Singh. Ranjit Singh, like Jagtar Singh, had killed a great enemy of the Panth. He had sacrificed his youth and family for the Panth. Superficially, he was a great choice. Both Jagtar Singh, and Ranjit Singh before him, were not politicians looking for power. They were Panthik sevadars who had put it all on the line. But, we would be naive to not realize that choosing a Jathedar who is in jail is a very smart political move. It allows you to have your cake and eat it too. Just as Tohra could then appoint Manjit Singh as ‘acting Jathedar’ and effectively do what he wanted with the Akal Takht back in the 90’s we need to be VERY wary of why Jagtar Singh was chosen today. Is he Jathedar because of what he’s done for the Panth, or because he’s on death row and therefore won’t get in the way?

Sarbat Khalsa 2015

The Bad

  1. The lack of Kaurs was heartbreaking. Not only were women barely visible in the Sangat, all the leaders on stage were men. This was embarrassing and shameful and fairly pathetic. We need to all, especially Sikh men, really think about how much work there is to be done to live up to Guru Nanak Sahib’s principles. It’s not just a matter of optics, imagine the incredible input Kaurs would have made to the Resolution discussions. We’re really not going to get far as a Nation if we’re stomping down half of our population. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that undoubtedly the most powerful speaker today was Bibi Pritam Kaur, the only woman who spoke from stage. As she said, “All women of the Khalsa Panth have the right to an equal voice in this process”.
  2. I understand that historically the Jathedars of the Misls or Jathebandis would meet and draft the Mattas while the Panth waited outside of Akal Takht Sahib. But having all the decisions being made far away while we watched five hours of political speeches seemed like a poor model of governance. Yes we need to work on how decisions are made, but at least we could have had more Kirtan, dhadi or Bani ucharan for the sangat. I doubt the Khalsa in the 1700’s had to hear people speaking for ‘ik mint’ while every single prominent leader who showed up was recognized and feted.
  3. Seeing the blank spaces on the printed up resolutions (posted by Bhai Harinder Singh SikhRI), and then witnessing how Bhai (Sant??) Baljit Singh Daduwal and Bhai Dhian Singh Mand being brought to the stage was… disconcerting. That was straight up politics. I’m not speaking against either of these Singhs, or Bhai Amrit Singh Ajnala for that matter, but why were they chosen? Why is Sardar Simranjit Singh Mann’s right hand man now the acting Jathedar of the Akal Takht? Simranjit Singh Mann who has been a shockingly ineffectual leader in the Panth for over two decades now. As others have pointed out, having Wassan Singh Zaffarwal, Mohkam Singh and Gurnam Singh Bandala as the ones reading out the Mattas was a plain terrible choice, not only in terms of optics, but because suspicions about the loyalty of these men have been open secrets for years now. Zaffarwal even rejected the 1986 Sarbat Khalsa (where he was a leader!) when he showed up back in Punjab in 2001. So why is he reading out the resolutions for another Sarbat Khalsa 29 years later?

This is undoubtedly not good. We can not close our eyes and pretend that this is OK. At the same time, we can not simply reject the will of the Khalsa Panth. Yes, in terms of political power, resolution 1 was the most important, but a bad result there does not mean that we reject the Gurmatta of the Sikh nation. We’ve been fooled a lot over the last several decades. We have been sold out so many times it could almost be comical if it didn’t mean such horrific consequences for our community.

So, we need to be aware. We need to be awake. We need to be careful. But we can not retreat into the cynicism we have all grown accustomed to in the last decades. We have all asked ourselves ‘what’s the point’ and resigned ourselves to Punjab being a ‘lost cause’. That is not the path of Chardi Kala. We must learn to tread that very fine line between optimism and blind faith. We can follow the example of Bapu Surat Singh; he is standing tall, he is resolute. He will not break and neither will we.

In the end, as several speakers said yesterday, we’re only at this point because of the sacrifice of our Guru. Guru Granth Sahib ji, Master of all Worlds, has sacrificed so many of Their own sarups to wake us up. Our first waking thought in the morning and our last thought at night should be, our Guru’s body has been burnt and torn for us, what can we do now? We can stand with the Sikh Nation. We are the Sikh Nation.

34 COMMENTS

  1. Who writes things like “Ideally, they would have boarded the train with Indira….”?? Is this the 1980s/90s? Is the author a dhadi? We can’t be perpetuating violence against anyone…especially on the Internet for the world to see. And have young impressionable sikhs commenting on what a great article this. Attack a persons position, their views, their actions. When you write things like this you make it sound like the Panth has made no strides in relaying our message. Give your head a shake.

    Also, why would you cut down Simranjeet S Mann? He’s been standing with the Panth since the late 70s when this movement started and he was a Punjab Police Officer. Yes he lacks charisma. He’s not the leader the Panth needs. But he’s not part of the problem.

    This entire article is written by someone who seems to want to appeal to the young impressionable sikh demographic. Written with zero foresight.

  2. I LOVEE MY SIKHI SANT JARNAIL SINGH BHINDERWALE TERI SOCH TE PAHRA DEWA GE THOK KE SARBAT KHALSA DE EH THEKEDAR NAHI SARBAT KHALSA KALA EK SIKH BULA SAKDA HAI PAR OH SACHA GURU DA ASHIQ HOVE PANTH DE GADDAR BADAL CHOTA BADAL JERA 24 GHANTE AFEEM KHA KE BHOLDA HAI EHNU JALDI JANTA SODUGI

  3. Please stop misguiding people we trust this site dont make us run away or have doubts here too ,stop this nonesense atleast for this beautiful day where we manage to see all our people united , talk unity dont pin point please

  4. Just to be clear, “panthic maryada” clearly states that Dasam Granth is Bani and can therefore be sung in Gurdwaras. Let’s not forget that half of our Nitnem comes from Dasam Granth. I don’t think the author meant any harm in his use of words, but it was a bit unclear. The resolution basically meant that the rehat maryada should be maintained by the Panth, which includes the reading and singing of Dasam Bani. Again, just wanted to clarify for everyone. Bhul chuk maff

  5. Yes you are right, we NRIs are safe and can talk ideological about India. In fact second generation types like me frankly haven’t got a clue about realities’ on the ground back in India. Luckily I went home and learnt. Now if I may share some truths with you. Innocents were being killed in thousands during that time, have they no value? Me like many Sikhs are really not after a separate state but due to the constant unjust and ill treatment feel our only protection is to have more local control. Political climates, years of repression, central state interference’s caused the build up of the situation that Hawara and others acted in to try and stop what was state funded murder disguised as emergency measures. Today was a huge day.

    • yes and a scholar here. Well I to am a student of history who actually has grown up in both in delhi and punjab, in a punjabi neighbourhood where hindus/sikhs intermingle and co-exist very well, so please dont tell me about reality of my country or state. Yes thousands on all sides were slaughtered in the name of dirty politics between bhindranwale and indira gandhi. but this is not 30 years ago but the present. How do you blame the central governmnet interfering when for the past decade punjab has been ruled by a sikh party- Badal and the Akali dals. Have your beef with badal and his politics, but politics in punjab are sikh dominated. So why blame the rest of India or the central government? Just remember when Hawara took revenge upon Beant Singh (whether you feel he was justified or not), you are missing how many innocents and countless bystanders were killed. So what type of message are you sending to the world about Sikhism? How do you tell the world, your religion is a peaceful religion when a man who advocates violence, irrespective of his justifications, is made a Jathedar? So you wanted to reform punjab and the sikh pant, Great! How does Khalistan and making a guy languishing in jail a Jathedar solve that problem? Its the wrong type of provocation. Instead you force the centre and state to now interfere by playing with the khalistan card. How do you make non-sikhs or hindus in punjab feel who account for 40% of the population? Those same hindus who were also victimized by militants in those days? two wrongs dont make a right and focusing on Khalistan rather then the misdeeds of the Badal clan was a huge misstep. Finally the current situation in punjab is due to the crisis of leadership among punjabis and sikhs. You have either the likes of Badal who have financially enriched themselves at the expense of punjabis, hardliners who espouse the cause of Khalistan and ignorant nri’s interested in fuelling a movement that died a while back. Even the sarbat khalsa was a prime example of disunity and how even panthic groups cannot agree upon anything. So the problem within the panth is lack of mature and balanced leadership. But given the mood in this article and forum, I doubt we will find that any-time soon. Mark these words and in a couple of years ill comment on this thread, the sikh panth will go through another crisis and ill say “i told you so”. Khalistan Murdabad!

      • Waheguroo Jee Kaa Khalsa Waheguroo Jee Ki Fateh

        1) Badal is not a Sikh. He has many ties reaching up to the central government, including Modi

        2) Beant “Singh” had had killed so many innocent Sikhs that it was worth killing a few innocent lives in order to save thousands of Sikh lives.

        3) Sikhism is not a peaceful religion. It will stand up for its rights even if force is necessary. Guru Arjun Dev Jee gave Shahadat, and after him Guru Hargobind Sahib Jee fought many battles. Then, Guru Teg Bahadur Jee gave Shahadat, following which Guru Gobind Singh Jee founded the Khalsa Panth and fought valiantly against the Mughals. In addition, Guru Gobind Singh Jee says in his Bani that with without uncut hair and WEAPONS, a Sikh cannot achieve the Darshan, and therefore the blessing, of Guru Sahib. Yes, the Sikhs try to be peaceful when they can, but when they are oppressed, and Guru Granth Sahib Jee’s Angs were ripped out of their Saroops ,they (we) will not tolerate it.

        4) How can you say that this meeting was about Khalistan? Only 3 speakers even mentioned the name of Kalistan, and the big Khalistani Simranjeet Singh Maan was not even allowed to speak.

        5) Guru Jee says “Raj Bina Nahin Dharam Chale Hain, Dharam Bina Sab Dalle Malle Hain, ” “In Gareeb Sikhan Ko Deyon Patshahi,” “ShashtranKae Adheen Hai Raaj,” and “Raaj Karegaa Khalsa, Aaki Rahae Naa Koe”. So, Baba Jee, Khalsa Panth will have Khalsa Raaj whether you like it or not.

        Waheguroo Jee Kaa Khalsa Waheguroo Jee Ki Fateh

      • you lost all credibility with your first post. Badal is not a sikh and has ties to modi?
        Who badal is, is open to debate. But generally speaking badal is a sikh politician who heads a sikh political party with a lot of influence over sikh institutions. Now where does modi come in? he has barely been Pm for 18 months and before that was hardly on the national stage.
        so where does modi and badal come from? modi wasn’t even around politically on the scene during the punjabi subha days in the 70’s and 80’s. Stop linking modi to everything. If you listen to his speeches, he has always given due respect to sikhs and the gurus. Listen to his speech in vancouver when he visited the gurudhwara there. I know modi is a convenient target cause of gujarat, but lets try to be logical

      • The era of late 80’s in Punjab was one where any Sikh youth with kesri turban was dragged out by the police from houses in rural Punjab and fake encountered. They were all innocent, our neighbours, our friends, our families. The numbers are ~25K in each of the districts of Punjab as proved by Jaswant Singh Kalra (who was put to silence by death by Police). The assassination of Beant Singh bought an end to this. If the way to achieve this in terms of causing some casualties to a few others, it by no means gives us the right to target intentions of those who lay their lives to bring this to an end.

      • http://www.sikh24.com/2015/11/13/sikh-council-uk-sikh-meet-with-pm-modi-was-useful-and-constructive/#.VkXuUberTIU

        Here is a link from your very own site. you do do know modi is probably the first indian pm in a very long time to actually reach out to sikh masses abroad, who feel alienated from india. First the US, then Canada and now the UK, modi has made an effort to meet with Sikh groups first. Criticize the man for his shortcomings but atleast appreciate the fact he is making an effort to reach out to the diaspora Sikh community. Given the virolic hatred the khalistani diaspora has for him, the massive protests against his visit by many uk sikhs and the international hate campaign where he is blamed for everything from 84 to current events in punjab, Modi could have easily dismissed such concerns and not bothered to meet with any representative from the Sikh community. The fact that they were the first group he engaged with on landing despite the negative/hate campaign should be applauded. If anything it should show to Sikhs outside India that the hindu right wing he represents does not view “sikhs” as the enemy as many here are indoctrinated to believe. Indian sikhs are well integrated and an essential/integral part of India. Modi is now doing his part to bridge the gap with the international Sikh diaspora by promising action on many points of contention such as sikh political prisoners, Blacklists and the Nov 84 carnage. here is the same news from an indian source http://www.hindustantimes.com/india/pm-modi-meets-sikhs-in-uk-assures-end-to-travel-blacklist/story-D3LZzzpvOThWg49hZBE6oK.html

      • Surrinder again you seem narrow minded. (No offense, nothing personal we all make mistakes and best thing to do is improve). Firstly websites like these are highly biased and you simply can’t make a judgement based on them! Never question the inclusiveness of Sikhs in India. The best way to learn is to travel. If possible, I suggest you get out of Canada or Uk or US and travel to India. Go to Gujarat you will see many Sikh farmers there. Then make a judgement about the situation. Don’t just sit at home and read some biased websites and come to a conclusion.

        Also I agree, the situation of farmers is not good at all in ALL of India. Is that clear to you? ALL OF INDIA. Not just Sikh farmers, Hindu farmers, Muslim farmers. All farmers in India are suffering so please widen your perspective.

  6. by appointing a convicted felon/killer/murderer/terrorist/freedom fighter (based on your personal opinion) all khalistanis have shown their true face and how far they have fallen from the teachings of the gurus. A man that advocates violence who to kill one “supposedly guilty” person wiped out dozens of innocents in a suicide bombing, is now head of your institutions? This so called movement/sarbat khalsa was to reform the Akal Takht, the SGPC from political control. So instead you are taking control from one entity (Badal) and now putting it into the hands of another political entity (Khalistan movement)? Especially with Hawara languishing in jail? This is the worst time of radical politics. History will judge this day as a black day for sikhism. What should have began as a peaceful, reform movement to remove politics from the Panth, only ended up taking punjab backwards to the dirty politics of the 70’s and 80’s. I hope all the NRI khalistanis living comfortably outside India remember this, when their fellow sikhs and punjabis are suffering in India because you fuelled/funded/sponsored another khalistan resurgence. If Punjab is in ashes, you all will be sitting comfortably in your cocoons in north america and Europe, living in a time-warp of 84, while untold millions of punjabis have to suffer.

    • point 1. to do sodhna of Panth dokhi is farz of Panth so Hawara is a stand-up man of sikh principles who didn’t put his life before the good of the panth.

      point 2. you need spectacles Bibi Pritam Kaur was on stage, and more than a handful of singhnian were interviewed in the crowd by another channel.

    • Another butthurt RSS Hindu. Mind your own business and leave Sikhs alone. Your master Modi just lost Bihar like a pathetic man and BJP is having an internal fallout lol.

      • lol butthurt RSS hindu? yes such virolic hatred is part of your maryada and the discipline of sikhism?
        tsk tsk. that is your best comeback? man you khalistanis are so blinded by your hatred, you stumble over it

      • @Vikram You call us ‘Khalistani’ as if it were a bad thing. . . maybe if you knew or even had taken some time to understand what the struggle is about, you may realize that it’s not slanderous to any person who stands for Human Rights. Hence why the global populace is starting to see the need for it as well. Also, being of a group doesn’t automatically make you hateful or filled with hatred as you stated. As for Sikh discipline. . . ask those living it what Sikh discipline is. . . if you don’t live it, you don’t know or understand it. . . so please don’t attempt to be an ‘authority’ on it.
        As for you ‘gas lighting’. . . we all can tell your just wasting time and have nothing better to do with your time. This struggle is the struggle for Sikhs because we know what we have been against. . . so, thank you for trying to teach or show Sikhs up, but. . . no thank you.

        *Singhs and Kaurs of the Panth – don’t respond to people who have no idea of the pain we carry with us or the notion of what Khalsa is. No point in wasting time or breath. But do remember. . . if people aren’t envious/jealous/or malice towards our conviction. . . then that means we aren’t doing it right. :)

      • well since your struggle involves my home state of punjab, you will get a response. my family already has had to flee punjab once after partition and frankly i dont want that happen again just because a bunch of khalistanis have delusions of grandeur about their faith. I call you khalistanis out of respect for sikhism. i hold the gurus and the faith dearly with respect. I am not going to insult or mock sikhism, and that is why i use the term khalistanis to refer to you all. and as for gas lighting, what is the first principle of “Saint-Warrior”. Defend, never attack. Something the likes of Jagtar singh hawara never understood when to kill one “supposedly” guilty person, wiped out dozens of innocents. The gas lighting is whenever you guys discuss the issues of panth and then start invoking of khalistan, as if khalistanis are the sole custodians of punjab and punjabi culture. No one was bothering or paying attention, leaving this as an internal matter. But when the sarbat khalsa gets hijacked by radicals and you make statements of a sikh state, you do attract the wrong type of attention. And its not just hindus of punjab, but a fair number (if not majority) of sikhs in punjab and across india who are now apprehensive. Bravo, we have already been down this path in history. didnt work out too well for either side and you nri khalistanis have been carrying on your bipolar complex since then where you conveniently switch roles from savior/lion to victim. If anything its a sad reality of how confused so many here are about their faith and identity. That is the real crisis for sikhism and sikhs.

      • You seem like a brainwashed NRI who is brought up to hate everything Hindu/Indian. Why are you making this a Hindu/Sikh conflict when it is basically an internal Punjab political matter. And if you didn’t realize like many other people here, we Punjabis are not Sikhs only, we are Hindus, Muslims and Christians as well.

        This is a message for the people of Punjab we must stop blaming the central government/Modi about all our problems! IT is the state government, local governments responsibility to ensure the welfare of the state.
        We have high rates of drugs. Did Modi shove drugs down our throats? No it was ourselves who did it.
        We say that “Indian police” harrases/prosecutes us- Reality is that it is our very own Punjab police who are majority Sikhs.
        We say that rest of India hates Sikhs. This is rubbish and who ever says this is blind and has been brainwashed. Just travel to places like Mumbai, Bangalore, Kolkata where there generally are less Sikhs and you will see how much the locals are interested in our culture. I’m not saying that there are no incidents due to the Sikh identity, but that happens everywhere especially in places like UK, USA, where the people are more “educated.”
        We say that Bollywood portrays Sikhs in a bad light. Name me one movie where Sikhs are ever shown to be evil? I only see Sikhs to be shown as courageous, jolly, brave and proud characters.
        We act like Sikhs are discriminated against in India. Bullshit. Absolute bullshit.

      • well if you are going to blame the centre for sending tanks, what about bandarwala fortifying the akal takjht with weapons to fight a far. you forgetting your history. There is a time lag between when the army went in and bandarwala first housed himself in the complex. you cant go and kill someone and then flee into the temple or you start firing at army convoys outside the temple? what about the punjab police Chief Avtar Singh Atwal who was shot while praying in the temple? so don’t forget the lawlessness that prevailed in punjab and the golden temple prior. yes one can argue why did the indian intelligence agencies ignore the initial warnings and let the militants bring weapons. No argument there but then it goes back to the indira gandh collusion with bandarwala. Between those two they wrecked punjab. Dont blame one but martyr the other ediot

      • What do you call..not convicted anyone for massacre of 1984, or Golden temple attack with tanks, or awarding Badals (good local govt!) by the center, just to name a few main ones

      • sure. hindutva is a misguided philosophy that i personally do not follow. their an annoyance and take away from the true message of hinduism, like any radical group.
        As for the rss, i find them a bunch of misguided patriots. The rss did a couple of good things such as during the first india-pakistan war in kashmir- they went and built the air strip that allowed the indian air force to land troops (else who knows what has happened. So in situations of national importance, they have done some good work. But its well documented and im sure this forum will provide us ample examples , of where they are wrong and spread the wrong message of hate and violence.
        that said does the rss/bjp have a somewhat anti-muslim bias due to historic wrongs by the mughals- Absolutely. Now where we are going to disagree again is where the rss stands with sikhs. you are probably not going to believe me but if you research rss sites and news sources, you will find the highest regard for sikhism and its gurus. rightfully or wrongfully so (i know many here will disagree with this statement), the rss view sikhs as the swordarm of hinduism. i know many here will not concur with that statement. I am just telling you how the other side views you, and what hindus brought up in right-wing households are taught about sikhs and sikhism. I grew up in a punjabi hindu home, but i wear a kara and my dadi took me to the gurudhwara as often as a mandir. The biggest misconception a lot of people have is they assume the RSS’ anti muslim bias is towards all minorities, including sikhs. Not true at all. The rss is influenced by historic hindu/muslim baggage going back thousands of years and ofcourse partition. Hindu/sikhs dont have that historic baggage, and instead we have a shared history of brotherhood from the time of the gurus. When the gharwapsi campaign was going on in India last year, such groups were very vocal that they are only reconverting muslims/Christians back to their own faiths- the campaign was not geared towards Buddhists/sikhs who they view as religions that are ingenious to India. Again I am not here to discuss the right/wrong aspect of the ghar wapsi campiagn, I am simply highlighting a point to show that they lack a anti-sikh bias. Now you can argue that RSS’s goal is to reabsorb sikhism into hindusim. And to counter that point here is an article- http://www.firstpost.com/india/ghar-wapsi-punjab-rss-returns-christians-sikhism-raises-akali-ire-2001091.html

        Now I am not sure if the forum allows me to post articles, so imm summarize. Google- “rss” “sikhs” “conversion” or “ghar wapsi in punjab”. As we all know Guru Nanak when evolving the sikh philosophy did not believe in the caste system. Sikhism is supposed to be distant from caste based thought. Unfortunately in practice, sikh politics is very jatt dominated and hence why the lower class sikhs- dalit/mazabhi etc are attracted to groups like the deras. the one announcement I l am glad the sarbat khalsa made was to stop all caste based gurudhwaras. These steps are the reforms the panth needs. anyhow to my point, the rss in punjab went about reconverting mazabhi sikhs who were lured by missionaries back into sikhism. So in closing the RSS and hindutva have their faults and issues, but they are not anti-sikh.

  7. Stop being biased, the resolution did not say a “No more Dasam Granth, or more Raagmala etc” or to instruct to do it at home or not. fyi – Kirtan from Dasam Granth and Raagmala is done in Harmandar Sahib.

    • Sorry, you misunderstood. I meant only that we shouldn’t discuss those issues and instead concentrate on freeing Akal Takhat Sahib. Sorry for the confusion.

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