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Sant Bhindranwale On Hoardings Now: Punjab
Responds To Police’s Tactics
WSN
Network
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A
hoarding in Sri Anandpur Sahib |
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CHANDIGARH: At a time when Punjab Police
in an Akali regime has been harassing Sikhs for putting up posters
or photographs of Sant Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, people in many
parts of the state are snubbing the move and responding by putting
up huge hoardings of the Sant thus sending out a message that
repressive tactics will lead to nowhere.
In a detailed report in a regional English daily on Monday, mention
was made of hoardings that not only featured Sant Bhindranwale but,
in fact, included him alongside the tall Sikh heroes of the struggle
against colonial rule.
Bhindranwale is seen as a widely accepted Sikh hero of contemporary
times who refused to bind himself or work within the parameters of
political functioning set up by the Indian brahamanical powers and
questioned the skewed ways in which law and justice delivery
mechanisms responded to aspirations of minorities. Clearly, this was
an aspect that appealed to the masses which have now taken to
putting up his hoardings in various Punjab towns.
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Pictures of Sant Bhindranwale sell like hot cakes in Punjab |
In recent past, police has tried to
embroil certain Sikh leaders under the garb of allegations that they
distributed t-shirts or posters with the Sant’s photograph, even
though no one is ready to come on record to say that the Sant’s
photograph is something illegal.
The SGPC has, in fact, installed a portrait of Sant Bhindranwale in
the Sikh Museum in Amritsar, the Sant’s memory is honored at a
function held every June at the Akal Takht and the SGPC officials
participate in the function where Ardas is led by the Jathedar of
the Akal Takht. Photographs of the Sant often adorn many a poster
for gatherings, meetings, kirtan darbars etc.
However, recently a tendency has been noticed that some police
officials have been making these an excuse to harass Sikh youth.
Reports of stopping cars and other vehicles and booking people for
sporting a photograph of the Sant have been received from many parts
of Punjab. The reaction from the Sikh sangat and ordinary masses in
the form of huge hoardings of the Sant seem to be an apt response to
such police tactics.
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Sant
Bhindranwale On Hoardings Now: Punjab Responds To Police’s
Tactics |
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The newspaper in Chandigarh said the
“villagers consider Bhindranwale as a martyr who had laid his life
while fighting for the Sikh community.”
One villager, Gurbax Singh, resident of Ranbirpura village, to whom
the reporter spoke to, said there was “nothing wrong in the hoarding
as Bhindranwale was also a great warrior, who sacrificed his life
for the honour and prestige of Sri Harmandar Sahib and Sri Akal
Takht Sahib.”
Photographs of the Sant and his posters have remained in demand for
many years now, irrespective of the fact that these pictures often
make Sikh youth more vulnerable to being booked in false cases by
the police.
26
October 2009
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