Dr. Amrik Singh writes from Sacramento

ATTITUDE, competency and knowledge are three components of problem-solving and positive environment. Experts believe that mere knowledge gaining skills can’t help in building positive environment if social attitudes that hamper it are not challenged. Indian universities and colleges may have promoted knowledge and competency, but appears to have done very little to challenge social attitudes. Ingrained in our consciousness, attitudes determine our responses to commonplace social situations. Quite often, we become helpless in getting out of the ghettos of our attitudes, even when it is socially and economically unviable. As a consequence, we are ready to jeopardize social cohesion, economic loss and political stability. Political parties form alliances to accommodate prevailing attitudes. Gerrymandering guided the creation of states, constituencies and districts. The challenging and dismantling of all those attitudes which warp our judgment requires a conscious decision.

In Punjab, attitudinal politics of religion, class and caste created two types of diametrically opposite leaderships: urban leadership represented by Congress and BJP and the rural leadership represented by Akali Dal. Left and Dalit parties dangled between these two poles having no solid identity of their own. For their presence they indirectly supported the agenda of the two: quite often one over the other. The urban leadership is based on the assumption that Sikhs’ political aspirations were separatist. It supported the programs that subverted the nucleus of Sikh ambitions at the political and religious levels. Congress coordinated all efforts from within and without to lead other Indians about Sikhs’ secessionism. Four decades of power provided governmental and media support to Congress’s efforts. The rural leadership represented by Akalis couldn’t create support at the national level to reverse Congress and RSS systematic campaign. The support of Dalits could have created national support, but Akalis’ fixation with Hindutva restrained them from going into that direction. Paradoxically, Akali leadership instead helped Congress and RSS with all the proofs they needed to prove Sikhs’ separatism. The opposition between the Secular and the Secessionist had many advantages for Congress and the RSS as it became easier to execute pending plans like demolition of Babri Mosque at a greater scale.

The tension between the secessionist and the secular was allowed to reach climaxes at many times. But attitudes never changed, or challenged or sought to be reconciled, simply because the simmering pot is what determined the unique character of Indian democracy. In the context of Punjab, cows' heads and tails were found once in Hindu temples, cigarettes in Sikh Gurdwaras and pages of Guru Granth Sahib in the streets. People of Punjab still didn’t come out in the streets to slit one another throats. They only wondered why political leaders were thrusting difficult choices on them. Concrete evidence was collected of the involvement of a political party in power, but that was dismissed. Urban leaders created fears of agitating peasantry as a threat to the Nation on the Move. News media promoted passionately all that was imaginary.

It is a time for the public to scrutinize the role of Sikh and Hindu leadership across party lines in maintaining negative attitudes and thus endangering peaceful coexistence. The post emergency politics of the Congress targeted Punjab for its sectarian politics. Sikh-Nirankari disputes should have been only the affair of Sikhs and the Nirankaris, but it developed into Sikhs and the rest of India issue. Lala Jagat Naryan representing Punjabi Hindus supported Nirankaris’ contention that Guru Granth Sahib was not the eleventh Guru. Lala had no intention of accepting Nirankari chief as his spiritual Guru, but he supported him because such an attitude had a record of politics behind it. The confrontation started the row that brought Indian Army to the Golden Temple in 1984 and plunged Punjab in the tragic mode. Even when people of one community were targeted in buses and trains, Hindus and Sikhs didn’t kill each other in the streets. However, mainstream Hindu leaders projected the movement of peasants for their social and political rights as anti-India. The establishment had not only maligned Punjabi peasants, but also everyone professing Sikh religion.

Urban Punjab suffered a lot. Many businessmen left Punjab to other states, but couldn’t get traction in their business. The rise of militancy and its veering towards terrorism should have taught many lessons to both Hindu and Sikh leaders, but it only strengthened their resolve to repeat the tragic play again when the politics required it.

The failure of both Sikh and Hindu leaders of Punjab in dismantling negative attitudes speaks of the degradation of ethics in the polity. Sikhs in BJP, Congress, and left parties not only subscribed faithfully to the sectarian party agenda, but also showed more enthusiasm in clobbering members of the maligned community. Instead of challenging negative attitudes of their respective parties, they donned the cloak of pseudo-nationalism that had no place for those Sikhs who demanded their social and political rights under the constitution of India. Such pseudo-nationalism has been also denying basic rights to Dalits from times immemorial.

Ledership of the Shiromni Akali Dal after a prolonged and unsuccessful battle with the Congress conceded defeat and submitted to invincible Hindutva for its political existence. Akalis have come to such a pass that they couldn't even express their difference of opinions. On December 6th, Akalis felt paralyzed in front of supermen of RSS, Shiv Sena and BJP. They yielded to them unconditionally, thus plunging once again a phase of uncertainty in Punjab.

During Dera Sauda melodrama, Punjab BJP at no time shared the perspective of Sikhs that they had a right to respect Guru Granth Sahib as their Guru. Currently, Harish Bedi, a sitting MLA evoked all those attitudes that would humiliate Sikhs. It is strange that Badals could not convince their coalition partners about the explosive nature of the situation. On the other hand, Badals became apologetic to Hindu hardliners. Unable to resist the Congress’s subtle attacking policies, Badal went for a total submission. Badal’s unconditional support to BJP was the only way to maximize his vote bank that he lost to congress. Hindus being in majority would help him more than Sikhs in minority can bring him back to power. His dependence on Hindu hardliners created many anomalies in the practice of Akali Dal’s policies.

Sikh leadership across party lines can't be absolved of its complicity in the genocide of Sikh community. Analysts argue that after Indira Gandhi’s assassination, the President Giani Zail Singh appointed Rajiv Gandhi as Prime Minister of India by violating all the protocols. Gaini only wanted to exhibit his unconditional loyalty to Nehru family. Constitutional experts averred that had Giani been a statesman, he would have appointed the senior most cabinet member as interim PM. The senior most cabinet member at that time was the present Finance Minister Parnab Mukherjee. Recently, his statement in the parliament that 1984 Sikh Massacre was most tragic in India’s history, implied Giani Zail Singh’s faux pas.

Zail Singh's personal allegiance to Nehrus crossed all limits of decorum. By appointing the senior most cabinet member in 1984, the president would have given time to Congress party to decide the leadership questions later. Giani acting out of his extreme servitude had cleared all decks for party members to concentrate their energies in arranging Sikh massacre all over India. It was the only way to show devotion to newly appointed Prime Minister who happened to be the grieving son of the assassinated leader. It is often alleged that Giani Zail Singh by indulging in unprofessional, un-statesmanlike behavior prepared grounds for tragic events of Delhi. The Sikh president clearly saw how circumstances were building up, but he didn’t respond even when he could have. Giani Zail Singh blinded by his unconditional faithfulness, abject servility, and apologetic fixation might have made an oblique statement that he would remain a lapdog at the doormat of Nehrus even at the cost of his people. Is it the only way for Sikh leaders to show their loyalty?

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In the land of Gadarites

Gurpreet Singh writes from Vancouver

A trip to California, USA will remain one of my most memorable experiences of life. I have been longing to visit this land which used to be once the nerve center of the activities of Gadarites, a group of revolutionaries that believed in armed struggle against the British occupation of India.

The trip coincided with the martyrdom day of three revolutionaries who were hanged by the British rulers for waging war against the colonial Empire which had occupied India until 1947. Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev and Rajguru were executed on 23 March, 1931 in Lahore . These men were inspired by the ideology of the Gadarites. Bhagat Singh’s father, Kishan Singh was one of the donors of the Gadar Party that was launched in USA in 1913.

The journey that took me to the Gadar party headquarters in San Francisco and one of the oldest Sikh temples where the revolutionaries used to gather for meetings and a cemetery, where a towering militant leader, Maulvi Barkat Ullah was buried had both pleasant and bitter experiences.

To start with the bitterest experience, the original building of the Gadar Party headquarters is gone. The present building known as the Gadar Memorial at the 5 Wood Street has no archeological value. The original building of the party headquarters known as Yugantar Ashram was at 436 Hill Street . The party office was later shifted to the present address of the Gadar Memorial, but actual building where the revolutionaries lived and worked was destroyed long ago and a new one was opened on March 23, 1975 after renovations to felicitate more space for seminars and other academic events.

On way back to Vancouver , a very inquisitive American who met me at the Sacramento Airport was keen to know what was happening with the relics of Mahatma Gandhi, who had led a passive resistance movement against the British and later became an international peace icon. Around that time a controversy had arisen over the auction of Gandhi’s relics which were being auctioned. I told him that not only the relics of Gandhi but the heritage of those, who were opposed to his ideology of non violence and believed in armed revolution is also lost because of the lack of archeological sense of the Indian bureaucracy. A case in point is the Gadar memorial.

The dates signed on the visitors’ book at the Gadar Memorial suggested that this place is not frequently visited by the people. Whereas the Indian consulate officials at San Francisco claimed that very less people show interest in the monument, this place has a limited accessibility to the public. I myself had to phone the Indian consulate repeatedly to get an access to the memorial. Thanks to my connections at the Vancouver’s Indian Consulate office I was able to contact the right person. We had to first go to the Indian Consulate office that deputed a person to take us to the spot where the Gadar Ashram once stood.

Coming to the pleasant experiences, the Gadar Party headquarters, which has been turned into Gadar Memorial, houses a very few rare items belonging to the revolutionaries and some important documents and papers. Among them is the artificial limb of Harnam Singh ``Tundilat’’. He had lost one of his arms when a bomb went off accidentally during military training in preparations for rebellion. He was forced to use an artificial limb after that and came to be known as ``Tundilat’’ since then. He used to work as a bodyguard of Lala Hardayal, a Gadar leader.

The copy of the party constitution that envisaged its members to keep aside their religious beliefs to work together against the common enemy is also at display inside the building. While the Gadar Party was secular in its character, a board carrying the names of the patrons of the memorial near the entrance to the main hall includes Didar Singh Bains, a former Sikh separatist leader.Besides, the copies of the Gadar newspaper clippings and membership form are also nicely framed and displayed.

A visit at the oldest Sikh temple in Stockton also generated mixed feelings. The temple is currently controlled and managed by those seeking Khalistan, a theocratic Sikh state. Although the temple was founded by those who fought for a united and secular India, but pro Khalistan flags and the pictures of the Sikh separatists greet the visitors inside the community kitchen hall. A boy wearing a Khalistani T shirt was playing around in the temple. Ironically, the wall near the entrance to the sanctum sanctorum is shared both by the pictures of the Gadar heroes, who were from different religious groups and the emblems of Khalistan. The one good thing is that the building of the temple that was built in 1929 is still intact. It was replaced by the original building that was dedicated to the temple in 1915.

The California journey would have been incomplete without a visit at the cemetery in Sacramento where Barkat Ullah was buried. He had died in Sacramento in 1927. Born in Bhopal , he came in contact with the Gadarites, most of who were the Punjabi Sikhs and had a role in inciting the Muslims of India against the foreign rulers. The first day we went there the cemetery had closed for the day. We had to go there again the next morning. The Caucasian attendant immediately pointed out to his grave when we enquired for the spot where a famous Indian freedom fighter was buried. Barkat Ullah was the Prime Minister of the provisional Indian government in exile that was established by the revolutionaries in Afghanistan in 1915. His grave was found by Charan Singh Judge, a community activist in 2001, the year when the Islamic extremists had attacked the World Trade Center in New York . The Muslims are facing racial profiling in USA since then while the prevailing prejudices against them have also been amplified by the ultra Hindu nationalists in India after 9/11. The Indo American Cultural Association was asked to find his grave by the Desh Bhagat Yadgar Hall in Jalandhar, Punjab. According to the association leader, Makhan Bassi, Charan Singh Judge took several months to find the place through his contacts in the local Muslim community. Once the grave was found a function was held at the grave yard in the memory of Barkat Ullah and people of both the Indian and Pakistani origin attended the event. The immigrants of the two neighbouring countries which were partitioned on religious lines and have fought two wars came together to pay tributes to a hero of an undivided India.

This trip was largely educational and can be described as a pilgrimage to the land of our national heroes. However, I would still call it an incomplete journey, as more needs to be done to find out places named in the books of the Gadar history, like the potato farm that was owned by the party ideologues, the courtrooms where the Gadarites were tried. The Barkley University where the Gadarites studied should also be visited by the historians to find more about these men. As the centenary year of the launching of the Gadar Party nears in 2013, a lot needs to be done to preserve these monuments and relics so that the younger generation can be guided about the history and value of the revolutionary struggle which had laid the foundation of secularism and social justice in India.

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All women team to manage Sikh gurudwara in Canada

Jagpal S Tiwana

AT its annual General Body meeting held on December 20, 2009 Maritime Sikh Society, Halifax, Canada elected all women office bearers to run the Gurdwara for the year 2010. This is not the first time that a woman has been elected President of this Gurdwara. In 1993, when Mrs. Gurdip Kaur Toor was elected President for the first time, all other office bearers were women. In 1994 Mrs. Surjit Kaur Sidhu and in 1998, Mrs. Gurinder Kaur Dhillon were the Presidents.

In fact, the year 2009 was all devoted to recognize and promote women’s seva to Guru Ghar. When the 2009 executive was elected, we made it a point to take oath of office from a woman.

Only women were honored at the end od this year. Mrs. Kuldip Kaur Chehil, Mrs. Satpal Kaur Sodhi and late Mrs. Gurdip Kaur Toor (represented by her husband) were presented Siropas- robes of honor by a senior and well respected lady, Mrs. Pritam Kaur. It was in recognition of their meritorious service to the Maritime Sikh Society since the society was founded forty years back.

We also gave two awards to young girls for rendering valuable service to the society. Miss Sonia Singh got the 'Bhai Ghanayya', , ‘Sevadar of the year’ award while the 'Best Speech in Punjabi' award went to miss Sargam Paul.

We associate women in all activities of the society. Besides preparing Guru Ka Langar, they mostly lead the Sangat in reciting Ardas. Mini ardas before putting Babaji to rest is always done by a woman. On Akhand paths, mostly women take turns in reading the whole of Guru Granth Sahib, especially Nauven Mohulle de Silok. Majority of the devotees who sing shabad are women and young girls. This year on Baisakhi day in April, Mrs. Amandeep Kaur was the only guest speaker and she did an excellent job in covering the significance of the birth of Khasla in 1699. She read her scholarly paper in chaste Punjabi. Only girls are taking music lessons from renowned musician Pandit Vijay.

Maritime Sikh Society is a progressive society where turbaned and non-turbaned Sikhs work in harmony. Though according to the constitution only Sikhs can become its members, we encourage Hindus who are devotees of Guru Ghar to become members and even are invited to serve on the executive. From its very beginning there has never been a contest in the election to the new executive; it is always chosen unanimously. The Gurdwara library is pretty up-to-date containing works of both the Sikh and Western authors. We don't have a paid Granthi; all work is done by volunteers.

At its annual General Body meeting held on December 20, 2009 Maritime Sikh Society, Halifax, Canada elected the following all women office bearers to run the Gurdwara for the year 2010.

President Kanwal K Sidhu

V. President Krishna Grewal

Secretary Manvinder K Dhillon

Treasurer Sushma Paul

[The writer is President, Maritime Sikh Society, Halifax, Canada]

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