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Advani reveals deep
bias, dishonesty towards
Sikhs,
Punjab in his book
Dilwala Singh
PUNJAB: For readers dependent on the daily journalistic churnings,
‘My Country, My Life’, the new book by Lal Krishan Advani, declared
by the overtly right-wing Hindu ultra-nationalist Bhartiya Janta
Party (BJP) as its Prime Ministerial candidate, has many problems.
Indian media has been carrying reactions of many Sikh leaders,
pointing out chiefly that Advani has called the Sikh gurus not
‘gurus’ but ‘saints’, has displayed poor knowledge of history by
saying that Bhagat Singh was hanged because he had thrown bombs in
the Delhi Assembly, and claimed that it was under pressure from his
party that Indira Gandhi was forced to undertake Operation Bluestar.
 A number of Sikh organizations have strongly objected to such
scribbles of Advani, Dal Khalsa has underlined its opposition, a few
ruling Akali Dal leaders also have expressed muted resentment while
Congress leader Rajinder Kaur Bhattal has said Advani should
apologise for saying that the ten Sikh gurus were only ‘saints’.
Rest of the criticism revolves around his role in the plane
hijacking and Indian minister Jaswant Singh escorting three released
terrorists to Kandhar.
Poor journalism has a way of presenting a picture so distorted that
at times it looks like a refined art form. Some facts: Advani has
repeatedly referred to Sikh gurus as ‘Gurus’ in his book, and not as
saints; the sentence about Shaheed Bhagat Singh is ambiguous; his
pressure on Indira to carry out Operation Bluestar is merely
implied. There is a much much bigger problem with the book, and
Advani’s approach to the Sikhs, Sikhism and
Punjab.
Every single sentence has a problem, particularly when it comes to
the chapter focused on the region. Titled ‘The Trauma and Triumph of
Punjab’ (pages 422 to 438), the chapter begins with ‘Dehi Shiva Bar
Mohe Ihe’ attributed to “Guru Gobind Singh, the Tenth Guru of The
Sikhs”.
 There is clearly an agenda underlying the distortion. And just see
for yourself its extent: “The Khalsa panth was created three hundred
years ago by Guru Gobind Singh, the last of the ten gurus, to defend
the Hindus and protect Hinduism from the bigoted Muslim rulers of
the time.” (Page 424).
This
constitutes part of a very serious attack on the basic tenets, nay’,
the very raison d’etre of Sikhism and Khalsa’s foundation. Read
further: “No other community has fought more bravely for the
protection of Hindus and Hinduism than Sikhs.” Oh, dear dear Sardar
Parkash Singh Badal, will you please endorse that for the sake of
the fraternal alliance with BJP?
“Sikhs praying at Hindu temples”, says Advani, is a common sight.
(page 424). This man’s mind works with a method.
There is no end to the writers who describe Punjab as the land of
the Sikh Gurus, or as land of five rivers, or even as the land of
the Mahabharta, something might have suited Advani’s tilt of mind.
But the BJP supremo, on page 424, writes: “Punjab
-- the
land of Shaheed Bhagat Singh, an immortal hero of India’s freedom
struggle, is also home to Ghadar revolutionaries like Lala Lajpat
Rai, Bhai Parmanand and countless other patriots.”
The BJP’s agenda is intertwined into every sentence. Bhagat Singh is
indeed a hero, but can
Punjab
be described as “the
land of Shaheed Bhagat Singh” when Bhagat Singh is not the subject
of the chapter? Also, when Advani’s mind thinks of “Ghadar
revolutionaries”, it comes up with the names of Lajpat Rai and
Parmanand? We all know Lajpat’s standing, and the fact that
Parmanand was a communal general secretary of the Hindu Mahasabha.
These are the Ghadar revolutionaries of Advani!
On
page 423, Advani needed to quote figures of people killed during
militancy; so the best source he finds is a website backed by people
like KPS Gill! He claims that there was hardly a month during the
entire era of militancy when he did not visit
Punjab!
Of all the happenings, the most shocking one that Advani could
recall was the murder of Hitabhilashi.
 Now, poor Advani was at pains to prove that the Sikhs had nothing to
do with harbouring any aspirations towards a homeland. It was, in
fact,
Pakistan, he argues. Evidence? Advani is never short of marshalling
evidence; just don’t bother about the quality of it. He quotes a
book of “the late Satya Pal Dang” who wrote: “By supporting the Sikh
militants, Pakistan had ambitions to cut Kashmir off from India and
grab it.” Simple! Poor Dang is not so “late”; the man is alive and
lives in Amritsar. And Advani does not bother about finding out
where Dang got this sensitive information about Pakistan’s
geo-political secret strategic policy information.
Shoddy thoughts, devilish agenda, poor sources, and academic
bankruptcy make an author a brave and independent man. Brave as a
fool, independent as an irresponsible.
But Advani knew perhaps that some hard proof will help; so, he
marshalled one. “In 1985, the National Council of Khalistan wrote a
letter to the
Pakistan President stating: ‘Hindu Government is crushing the Sikhs,
but Sikh fighters are facing this boldly. Sikhs in general are
helping us in this fight, but we are thankful to you for the help
given to us in the shape of weapons, ammunition, training and
shelter.”
 Ladies and Gentlemen, presenting to you India’s Prime Ministerial
hopeful, often dhoti-clad but frequently attired in western suits,
double-mouthed, Babri-masjid demolisher, political guru of mass
killer Narendra Modi and hailer of Operation Bluestar, L K Advani,
the politician with decades of longevity in political life, who
sincerely believes and even writes about it in his book that an
insurgency, a terrorist movement (he sees it as nothing else), when
in need of guns, rockets, RDX, training, shelter, actually gets its
leadership to sit down in a room, draft and send a letter to the
President of Pakistan, and say everything clearly in that piece of
historic document so that some day, our dear Advani ji can quote it
in his book. This National Council of Khalistan was not contented
with thanking the
Pakistan President for “everything” but spelled it out: “in the
shape of weapons, ammunition, training and shelter”. (Page 428).
And this man wants to take
India ahead, negotiating through a maze of internal security issues
world passing through turbulence and watching the civilisational
fault lines exploding. India needs lot of good luck, and prayers.
“The instability caused by the fall of the Janata Party government
in July 1979 was used by
Pakistan
to foment militancy in Punjab.” (Page 428). Bravo, Lal Krishan
Advani, for such reasoning. Islamabad could next act perhaps if
Akalis lose the panchayat election in Ghania Ke Bet in Kassowal
bulge, because then it can cut off the
Ravi
link. Do you ever stop and think?
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Kadam, Kadam Be-Imaan, Advani & Hindustan
There is no end to shameless obfuscations, fatuous arguments and
plain simple old fashioned triply-filtered dishonesty in
Advani's 986-page tome. Advani could have scored 1,000 but fell
short like
India's cricketers often get out just before reaching a century.
His political career may also go that way, so near yet so far.
With dishonesty as subtext, perhaps Advani thinks he has found a
winning formula to hardsell himself to India, but who will hide
the warts?
"(During Operation Bluestar) several structures were destroyed
and Akal Takht (The Seat of the Timeless One), the headquarters
of the Sikh clergy inside the
Golden
Temple complex, bore witness to the exchange of bullets and
shells."
Advani is perhaps ashamed of naming what was destroyed, does not
even mention that Akal Takht was demolished, fails to even
mention that "tanks" were used and states that Akal Takht is
"the headquarters of the Sikh clergy". It is the supreme
temporal seat of the Sikhs and a mark of their inherent
sovereignty.
____________
"The tragedy, however, did not end with the success of Operation
Bluestar." (Page 431). Since when did the BJP formulate its
political vision that Operation Bluestar was a "success"? Has Mr
Advani informed his dear friend Sardar Badal of such a new
formulation?
______________
Footnote on Page 435: "The BJP welcomed some aspects of the (Longowal-Rajiv)
accord. However, we opposed legitimacy being given to the
separatist Anandpur Sahib Resolution and to the proposal for an
all-India Gurdwara Act." Advani at least is candid, but why is
Badal now keen for BJP's victory at the Centre? So that two of
Sikhs main demands can be frustrated?
__________
"(Congress) misrepresented the Akali Dal's demand for Punjabi
Suba as a demand, actually, for a Sikh-majority state. This made
many Punjabi-speaking Hindus to declare Hindi as their mother
tongue in the censuses of 1951 and 1961." (Page 425) No mention
of the role of the brahmanical and mahasha press, but there a
few paras later, there is much grief over the killing of Lala
Jagat Narain. Not a single allusion to his provocative communal
anti-Punjab, anti-Punjabi and anti-Sikh writings.
________
Advani specially adds a footnote on page 429 to praise the
Nirankaris, calling them "a spiritual movement with the
objective of establishing universal brotherhood." Not one
mention of the poison of Nirankari baba, and not a single
allusion to his role in 1978 massacre of Sikhs on the occasion
of Vaisakhi.
_________
"(N)early 500 civilians had lost their lives inside the Golden
Temple". (Page 430). Advani does not bother about citing any
source to back up this figure of casualties during Operation
Bluestar. No mention of the choice of date since the Operation
was undertaken on a day when thousands had converged to mark a
gurpurab. |
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9
April
2008
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