Abroo (ਆਬਰੂ) IF THE SIKHS WOULD HAVE WON THEIR KHALISTAN… Look carefully at this picture. The one on the right, we all know him very well. He’s Bhindranwale. At the center, in the white turban, is Baba Daya Singh—the commander of Bidhi Chand Dal, one of the four battalions of the Khalsa Army. He is the eleventh descendent from the celebrated but contentious lineage of Baba Bidhi Chand Chhina: a contemporary of Guru Hargobind, a brave general and a folk hero who won him four wars. Daya Singh controls many historic gurdwaras across Punjab and also runs an important Sikh seminary, almost 350 years old, in the fabled village of Sur Singh. The spiritual and philosophical tenets of Sikhism have been founded at such places. Daya Singh contributed a large amount of troops and fought shoulder-to-shoulder with Bhindranwale and other Sikh militants during the struggle for Khalistan. One of the most revered warriors, hailed as a martyr, Bhai Avtar Singh Brahma, belonged to the Bidhi Chand Dal. What would have happened if their dream for Khalistan had come true? Most certainly, Daya Singh would have acquired an important political and religious position in the newly created theocratic state. His writ would have run large, especially in Majha. In fact, Daya Singh would have also institutionalized a perverse Sikh ritual, still being practiced in his gurdwaras, of caste-based segregation. They call the Mazhabis, Chauthey Paurey Wale. A denigrating term whose origins can be traced all the way to the discrimination that took place in the Golden Temple, just around the time the ideology of Khalsa was established, ironically meant to imbue equity and egalitarianism. Even now—during masyas, sangrands and barsis—at the Amrit Sanchar ceremony (the most important occasion in the life of a Sikh devout), the Mazhabis are given Amrit in a separate utensil, different from which the dominant castes partake it. That, in a religion, which abhors ritualism in the first place! Imagine their plight in the much-vaunted Khalistan, the Land of the Pure, where the “impurities” would simply be wiped out or swept under the carpet. Read this essay to know more: newslaundry/2013/06/god-just-left-the-gurdwara/. Yes, we seek to do something about it. [Image courtesy, neverforget84.]
Posted on: Wed, 22 Jan 2014 03:36:17 +0000
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