RSS Seeks Return of Sikh Artifacts Stolen from Darbar Sahib in 1984

NEW DELHI—A delegation of Rashtriya Sikh Sangat lead by its National Organizational Secretary Avinash Jaiswal met Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar on April 5 and sought the return of the Sikh artifacts and handwritten scriptures that were looted by the Indian army during its attack on Sri Harmandir Sahib. During the attack, the Sikh Reference Library was burnt down, and as per eye witnesses, the army personnel took historical Sikh artifacts and scriptures during the attack.  Till date, there is no information about where these artifacts are being kept.

Avinash Jaisal was accompanied by other members of the Rashtrya Sikh Sangat.  The Rashtriya Sikh Sangat is an off-shoot of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, a right-wing Hindu organization that claims that Sikhs are part of the Hindu brotherhood.

The delegation told the Defence Minister that conditions in Punjab were normal.  They appealed to the Ministry of Defence to investigate the matter and return the artifacts at the earliest.  Defense Minister Manohar Parrikar stated that he would look into the matter and if available, all artifacts would be returned to the SGPC.

3 COMMENTS

  1. There is no doubt that army plundered and removed historical artifice and precious items.
    BUT I want to take this opportunity to say as a sikh living in UK I beg the community living in west
    to not to support sikh state; that is not sikh thing we believe in ‘sagal sang ham ko ban aai. ‘Raj Kare ga Khalsa but only when AAKI (Slave) RAHE NA KOI’. (Khalsa Raj will be when no one is slave that is DEMOCRACY)

    Indian democratic system has faults but thee is no better system of government. Sikhism is the only religion that is started by an other religious body HINDUS by ‘giving’ eldest son to Guru to fight for their faith and culture AND we are asking to break away from them?

    • ‘Sikhism is the only religion that is started by an other religious body HINDUS by ‘giving’ eldest son to Guru to fight for their faith and culture’?! Sikh religion was started by Guru Nanak. NO Hindus gave up their eldest sons to him or to his EIGHT successor Gurus. Those who left Hinduism to become Sikhs during those NINE Guruships did so because they could no longer subscribe to Hindu theology (my forefathers included) but found enlightenment in SIkh teaching. You are referring to a tiny minority of Punjabi Hindus during the time of the tenth Guru’s time when he created the Khalsa and Sikh numbers were severely depleted by martial conflict with the Moghul / Afghan overlords and Hindu families (who would have been closely associated with Sikhs as members of the same family would have been Sikh and Hindu such as cousins) tried to bolster Sikh numbers by raising one son as a Sikh. Whether that was done out of solidarity or self interest (as Sikhs were the only ones standing up to the Mughal / Afghan tyranny that was having such a devastating effect on the natively indigenous faiths) is open to debate. You would do better to realise that Guru Tegh Bahadur gave up his life in order to defend the right of Kashmiri Pandits to keep their Hindu faith rather than have to be forced to convert to Islam and ask if that debt has been honourably repaid by the looting and theft – not removal – of Sikh artefacts and relics from our holiest shrine.

  2. The RSS is a terrorist organisation that can not be trusted no matter what they say or pretend to do. This attempt to fool the Sikhs into thinking they are some brotherly organisation is just a cynical ruse. They know perfectly well the Indian Army and Intelligence Services and Central Government will never return the Sikh artifacts and relics looted from the Golden Temple because that then would be an admission of guilt upon their part of having stolen the items in the first place and contradict their decades of denial of having done so. The RSS are safe in this knowledge so know they can pretend to be sympathetic to Sikhs knowing full well there is zero chance of their bluff ever being called. If there was a suggestion that yes maybe items were stolen and a housekeeping inventory has only now brought it to light you can bet the RSS would make sure the items were not released or if subjected to pressure would buy more time in order to release adulterated versions of materials such as scriptures so as to rewrite Sikh history. It’s perfectly possible they have been using these past thirty years in order to fake material which they can miraculously now release back to the Sikhs considering their track record on altering history books in our schools.

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