My wife wrote her views on Bhai Gurbaksh Singhs hunger strike issue and requested me to share it with sangat here : For the last 58 days, I have been watching a man slowly dying. He has been camped at a place of worship, in a typical little Indian village to raise awareness of the illegal detention of Sikh political prisoners who have languished many decades in Indian prisons, despite serving their full sentences. With prayer deep in his heart, he began a peaceful protest using his own body as a weapon to shake the Indian political and justice system – a system that had mercilessly persecuted Sikhs since its inception in 1947. He has deprived himself of all food and nourishment in the hope of catching the attention of leaders who have the power to make decisions to free the political prisoners. The leaders have spoken and some have even come by his side to have their pictures taken for the newspapers but their words have brought no assurance that India will rise to the occasion and act in accordance with humanity, justice and integrity toward the Sikhs. This dying man I have been watching has penetrated profoundly into my consciousnesses for he has revealed to me the moral decay within the Sikh collective body. While his own physical body has gradually withered to a mere hollow shell of emancipated skin and bones having used all its store of glucose, tissue and muscle proteins for the last weeks of starvation, his spirit has remained strong and hopeful. His body has no more resources left in it to sustain him and internal bleeding has begun. Yes, death is very near and so this morning surrounded by a congregation of his supporters, government officials and doctors, a decision was made to transport him to hospital. As the political vultures waiting for him to expire heaved a collective sigh of relief, some within his own community are decrying this decision to seek medical attention as a failure of the dying man to stick it out. After all, what good is it to watch a man starve to death if one is robbed of the final gory scenes at the very end when the man is dead and the Martyr is born? Who does not love a Martyr and the chance to see one emerge from decaying flesh and blood before your very eyes is a rare opportunity, not to be easily passed up. So to all the Sikhs out there who need yet another Martyr to help inspire them - do not despair so easily, your hopes may still be fulfilled? But perhaps ask yourselves in the meantime, is there another way? Do you need the starving man’s literal dead body on a platter before you choose to accept his sacrifice? Why we don’t we all – the Gurudwara Presidents, the Charity CEOs, this/that Sikh organization, the Jathedars, the public figures and the rest of the Panth, just go to the dying man and embrace him. Why do we need for him to die so that we may awaken? Together we can affect change and make India a safe place for Sikhs to live and prosper. Together we can bring about reconciliation and closure with regard to the continued genocide of our people and resulting severe trauma our community has suffered. Let us come together!
Posted on: Sat, 10 Jan 2015 23:15:20 +0000
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