I have taken consent from two writers-----
Amandeep Sandhu and AJ Singh to publish their thoughts on the unfortunate incident at Singhu .This has led to a huge controversy as expected .
It has left us with unexplained events and answers
These two articles are an effort to enable many of us to understand the background and ( conspiracy) behind this gruesome killing .
As always, I come back to the same question ?
WHY IS THE CURRENT GOVERNMENT TURNING A BLIND EYE TO THE THOUSANDS OF FARMERS BRAVING THE COLD , THE HEAT , THE RAIN AND NOW THE COLD AGAIN
We need answers -
That is why we , the people of India need to raise a collective voice
The story of this "new India" is being written not just by the fascist Modi Regime but all those who are enabling him .
Rise India !!
Here is what Amandeep Sandhu has to say
Day 326
Toll 639
Sidq - Faith
It has been 72 hours since the Kundli border incident and I
am relieved that riots did not break out. From those reading my post, I expect
better understanding about me and my motivation, but to ally anyone in doubt: I
condemn the brutal barbaric murder and dastardly parade of the alleged
sacrilege perpetuator, victim of mob lynching by Nihangs.
The stories of the victim and perpetuators emerging over the
last three days clearly point towards a conspiracy to enact this heinous crime.
Given the recent mowing of Sikh farmers in Lakhimpur Kheri, the recent success
of farmers protest in reaching across the country and drawing participation in
Samyukt Kisan Morcha programs, the increased BSF presence in Panjab, this crime
was meant to distract from the objectives of the protest and demand to sack the
MoS Home and, if possible, fail the protests.
The conspirators know a few things about the Sikhs:
1. They are the pivot of the protests. The more the Sikhs
are hammered, the greater the chances of breaking the protests.
2. They are an excitable people and, discussions aside,
symbolism plays a role in their religion. Testimony to this is the
justification of the murder by individuals on social media. (Including comments
on my post that day which I have since deleted leaving most conversations
one-sided).
3. They are deeply hurt from many instances of denial of
justice, including on issues of sacrilege in recent years. Those too started
when farmers protest were at their peak in Panjab, October 2015. Do you see the
pattern?
4. They suffer from caste issues - it is a fault line. There
is no denying that but because caste in Sikh religion is unlike caste in Hindu
religion, the attempt to see this act as a caste crime failed.
5. The Nihangs, by no stretch a monolith, also cultivate an
image of being a bit out of the periphery of the law. Yet, as of now three
Nihangs have surrendered to police. More may be arrested soon.
The ploy failed. Despite all the furore on social media, on
ground, the farmers on protest have weathered yet another storm. Once again,
the ones who conspired have been snubbed by the people.
However, this episode tells us something about us on social
media who are eager to comment: relax!
The world is not waiting for our grandstanding. The people
in the protest are wiser than us. They are prepared to deal with the attacks to
discredit the protests. They have done so once again. For someone like me who
comes from the trauma of my adolescence, I feel more and more assured about the
sidq - faith the protesters have in the protests.
In this episode, we must applaud those many Panjab Dalit
voices that refused to fall for the Sangh ploy to make the diabolical act look
like a caste crime.
However, two points in retrospect:
1. It is facile to completely de-link the protests from
religion. Sikh thought, Sikh orientation, is one of the pillars of the protest.
Yes, the religion's core message is Sarbat da Bhala - Welfare of Humanity and
its cultural extreme is the kind of 'sodha' - punishment that the Nihangs meted
out. There is a need to draw a line but one can't throw out the baby with the
bath water especially when the values and positive cultural attributes of the
religion have sustained the protests.
2. There is a pattern with SKM to disown whatever it deems
may jeopardize its activities. It could come from being unsure about how an
irresponsible media would portray them. But the Nihangs have been part of the
protests from earlier on. The Nihangs have shared stage, they have shared
langar even with police, they have been projected as a line of defence in case
an armed attack happens. Yesterday, a few SKM leaders were admitting to this.
That dialogue must happen.
A second clarification because these days Facebook is more
misread than read: when the Nihangs had arrived, I had called some Nihang
groups and asked them what was the point of giving fodder to a vulture-sque
lapdog media who would want to portray the protest as an armed struggle against
the state? There were no good answers. I do not know the Nirvair Khalsa Udana
Dal Nihangs.
Today is a call by
SKM for Rail Roko.
Many places the
farmers are stopping trains to demand the arrest of MoS Home Ajay Mishra Teni
who had issued a provocative statement that formed the backdrop of the
Lakhimpur Kheri killings.
Let us enable the
Rail Roko.
My two cents on the Nihang Sikh controversy: -AJ Singh
In the name of sacrilege of Guru Granth Sahib, Lakhbir
Singh, a drug addict, poor, Dalit Sikh, was brutally killed by Nihangs, his
hand was cut off and his body was hanged on the barricade, to the shock and
horror of many of us.
Why did Lakhbir Singh who came to the Farmers agitations for
the first time, lived among the Nihangs, wore a cloak like them was brutally
murdered by them ?
And then those who
tormented him are fearlessly releasing videos of his torture and murder. Only
complete investigation will be able to tell what the real story of the whole
conspiracy is. To give it a caste slur as certain opposition leaders are trying
to claim is only ascertaining the deep state at play that was trying to call
Sikh Farmers protestors Khalistani’s, terrorists or Pakistani sympathisers
after January 26th incident.
Well, for the time being, let us try to understand the
history of Nihangs and their lifestyle.
Nihang is a Persian word which means crocodile. The suicide
squads in the Mughal army were called Nihangs who wore blue clothes. The combat
squad led by Guru Gobind Singh's son Sahabzada Fateh Singh was also called
Nihang and they also wore blue clothes.
Guru Gobind Singh had started a fair at Anandpur Sahib on
the next day of Holi, the main attraction of which was the fighting drill of
the Sikhs, in which mock battles were fought among themselves with Gatka, Neja,
Talwar, Arrow Command etc. The same tradition continues till now and all the
Nihangs from far off places with their respective army sprints towards Anandpur
Sahib where they show off their fighting feats. According to their lifestyle,
Nihangs refuse to accept any authority and have their own discipline, there are
Deras and Jathedars of Deras. They call their tents by the name of Chhawani.
They have three main organizations –
Tarun Dal,
Budha Dal
Bidhichand Dal.
A Historical Glimpse: After the death of Guru Gobid
Singh the Nihang squad fought valiantly along with Banda Bahadur. Later, when
Ahmed Shah Abdali started destroying Kartarpur and Amritsar in 1757, Baba Deep
Singh, walking from Damdama Sahib, took 5-6 thousand fighters along with them
in Tarn Taran and sacrificed them while fighting with the Afghans.
Baba Deep Singh's Jatha was known as Shaheed Jatha or Nihang
Misl and its members were called Shaheed. After a few years in 1763, after the
Sikhs killed the governor of Sirhand, Zain Khan, the head of this misl, Karma
Singh Shaheed became the ruler of Shahzadpur, Kesari and Majri of Ambala. The
area around Damdama Sahib, Bankhandi of Saharanpur and Bartha Jawai also became
part of the Jagir of Karma Singh Shaheed.
Nihangs had a special contribution in the expansion of
Maharaja Ranjit Singh's empire in Multan, Peshawar and Kashmir. In 1818, the
Nihangs under the leadership of Akali Phula Singh along with General Hari Singh
Nalwa made possible successful expansion of the Sikh Empire in the area of North West Frontier.
In the same year, under the command of General Ilahi Baksh,
the Nihang's platoon of Sadhu Singh fought bravely to conquer Multan. In 1819,
the Nihangs conquered Kashmir while fighting with Kunwar Kharak Singh. Akali
Phula Singh and Gurkha commander Balabhadra were killed in the conquest of
Peshawar in 1823.
In the second and third decades of the last century, the
Nihangs played a major role in a series of Akali fronts to free the gurudwaras
from the mahants.
Karseva of Akal Takht after Bluestar Operation: When
the Akal Takht was damaged in Bluestar operation, Nihangs under the leadership
of Jathedar Santa Singh played the main role in the Karseva to get it rebuilt.
It was demolished and rebuilt after the central Govt of the time handed it over
back to Akal Takht.
According to Sikh historians, the ethics of the Nihangs
include reciting Gurbani daily, staying in a cloak, wearing arms, not raising
hands on any helpless poor and weak, protecting them.
But in the incident that has just happened, Lakhbir Singh
was unarmed. This condemnable and disturbing incident must be questioned, and
the need of the hour is to expose the entire conspiracy.
Samyukt Kisan Morcha strongly condemned the massacre and
clarified that the Nihang farmers living in tents near the stage on the border
were not part of the movement. Their activities have been irritating the farmer
leaders. After Buddha Dal claiming responsibility for the lynching and handing
over four of their men to the police shouldn’t SKM be issuing a statement
putting rest to the controversy leading to the killing of Lakhbir Singh?
However, a conspiracy to tarnish the image of the protesting
farmers is certainly at play and deep state controversy cannot be ruled out to
create deep fissures, while it is also true that taking laws into own hands
citing 17th century edicts is also not justified.
Compare that to the Govt in power which openly
facilitates lynchers and cheers minorities killings.
Despite videos of the cars belonging to the Union Home
minister crushing farmers in Lakhimpur Kheri, he is continuing in office while
his son is being interrogated by the SIT & UP police.
It is this irresponsible behaviour of the central Govt that
is encouraging people to take law in their own hands as people have no faith
left in judiciary or the State machinery.
A sealed envelope was provided by the committee formed by
the SC on the three farm bills on March 2021 but no discussions have yet
happened on that.
How do you expect the law of land to be followed when over
700 people have died protesting at the NCR borders and the PM himself has not
even said a word on that…
Published with permission from AJ Singh
Thank you AJ for this informative read .
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