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Indian media
hounds Sikhs again
Harbir Singh
Dear
Mr. Sanghvi
It is very unfortunate that in the last one month, the pro-Indira
print media / Congress party supporters have dug up the wounds
of the Sikh community again by portraying her as Godess/”Devi”
and remembering her as the courageous woman, iron lady, mother
India, iconic leader, visionary leader, charismatic leader,
martyr, unifier of the country and the list goes on.
Homage was
paid to her practically all across the country and widely
covered both in the print media and on TV. Large full page
advertisements costing crores of rupees (over million dollars),
sponsored by pro-Congress Party agencies appeared, remembering
her as a martyr. What acts of martyrdom, did she do, I fail to
understand even 25 years later?
At the same
time, well known HT journalists like Vir Sanghvi in their anti
Sikh tirade described Sant Jarnail Singh Bhinderwal, the
spiritual leader of the Sikhs as a Frankenstein’s Monster –Bluestar
-Too Little, Too Late.
Another HT
journalist Dilip D’ Souza, titled his story: Unease in the
Museum (Golden Temple) for displaying pictures of Satwant Singh
and Beant Singh and accorded the same esteem as Bhagat Singh by
calling them as ‘Shahid’ and says in the end – But this museum
underlines what so many of us find hard to swallow; one man’s
terrorist is another man’s… What? Martyr?
I think here
lays the great divide in thinking between a Sikh and a pro-Indira
supporter. While a Sikh thinks that the desecration of
Harmandir Sahib (The Golden Temple), the most pious of Sikh
institution was an unthinkable thing to do, a pro-Indira
supporter thinks it was a necessary thing to do to flush out the
alleged militants holed up in the complex.
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No
checks and balances have been put to place to prevent
another massacre of the minorities as similar incidents
repeated in Bombay, Gujarat in 1992 and at the Babri Masjid
destruction. The Indian police continue to be inept even 25
years later. Why don’t the Indian journalists focus on the
police who have made no efforts to clean up the force? |
Was it
necessary to launch an all out attack on Shaheedi Purab of Guru
Arjan Sahib when the Golden Temple was filled with over ten
thousand devotees who got caught in the cross fire and thousands
got killed? Why weren’t the dead accounted for? Why were they
all heaped up like dead animals and burnt? Why weren’t their
bodies returned to the families? These and many more are all
very troubling questions. Why don’t the pro-Indira journalists
dig into all these troubling issues and indict the guilty?
Who will
answer all these questions? Unfortunately, the common man in
India does not know all these things and is easily swayed by the
pro-Indira marketing propaganda by the cash rich Congress party
and build up anti-Sikh feelings.
What if the
Sikhs, started spending crores of rupees, remembering Sant
Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, Beant Singh, Satwant Singh and the
hundreds of martyrs who died fighting the Indian forces in the
Golden Temple, thousands of young Sikhs who disappeared in
Punjab under he state terrorism carried on by K PS Gill/ PM
Rajiv Gandhi and PM N Rao’s command? How would India or the
pro-Congress elements in India react to it?
What if the
institutions in Punjab are renamed after the Sikh martyrs of
1984, just like India has renamed thousands of institutions
after Indira and Rajiv, including airports, hospitals,
universities, sports stadiums, metro stations and the list goes
on? How would India or the pro-Congress elements in India react
to it?
Prime
Minister Indira Gandhi showed the way to the pro-Congress
elements that it was alright to desecrate the Harmandir Sahib
(Golden Temple) to prove her might in 1984. It is well known
fact that most of India rejoiced at this news, an event that has
become the darkest chapter of post-partition Indian history in
the minds of the Sikhs and perhaps lay the foundation for an
independent Sikh homeland that many Sikhs demand, even 25 years
later in countries abroad where they feel free to express their
minds.
 Senior
Congress supporters (like Bhagat, Lalit Makhan, Sajjan Kumar,
Kamal Nath etc got the cue from PM Indira Gandhi and took to
the streets with thousands of thugs after her assassination and
massacred thousands of Sikhs in most gruesome manner in the
streets of Delhi and other parts of India. Many children and
adults were roasted alive with tires around their necks. How
many innocent Sikhs did these pro-Indira journalists protect?
How many criminals did they identify? Where were the likes of
Vir Sanghvi then? Where are these criminals hiding today? How
many got promoted including in the police for conniving with the
Congress? How many of the murderers got prosecuted?
They also
desecrated many Gurdwaras (e.g. Ashok Vihar) where people
urinated on the Guru Granth Sahib and burnt many of them. Even
some of the most historic Gurdwara like Sis Ganj and Rakab Ganj,
built after the memory of Guru Teg Bahadur who died protecting
the Hindu Pandits during Auranjeb’s regime were attacked and not
spared. Where were the pro-Indira journalists then? The few, who
tried to save like Sanjay Suri, were also harassed.
The violence
went unchecked for several days. It is obvious, that the
conspiracy to teach the Sikhs a lesson was hatched at the
highest levels of Congress hierarchy and was likely blessed by
Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi who later also made insensitive
statements about the tree that shook Delhi. Why weren’t the
south Indians killed after Rajiv’s assassination by the same
Congress thugs? Whether Indira was a Devi or Demon, it is only
a matter of opinion? Ask the families who went through this
horror? Have the reporters ever tried to find out about the
eerie feelings of the Sikhs or the revulsion the very name
Indira Gandhi brings?
No checks
and balances have been put to place to prevent another massacre
of the minorities as similar incidents repeated in Bombay,
Gujarat in 1992 and at the Babri Masjid destruction. The Indian
police continue to be inept even 25 years later. Why don’t the
Indian journalists focus on the police who have made no efforts
to clean up the force? Today the North East migrants in Delhi
continue to be the target of criminals and little is being done
to protect them.
For heaven’s
sake, kindly stop sprinkling salt on the wounds of the Sikh
community and remember that the Sikh community recites this
pretty frequently,
“Hum Ah Bhi
Bhartae Haen Toh Hoh Jaate Hain Badnam,
Woh Katal Bhi karteh haen, toh Charcha nahi Hotah”
With warm
regards,
Harbir Singh
The author
is an expatriate from US, currently living in India, but
contemplating to go back. He may be contacted at harbirsingh64@hotmail.com
18
November 2009
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