Article By Rajveer Singh Head Of Khalsa Diary; conflict and funding none

Throughout the years the Sikhs have been in this world, we have faced many different hardships and have come out on top. Especially when we look at the 18th Century, we see the utter destruction and carnage of Chamkaur Di Garhi, the rise of Baba Banda Singh Bahadur and the first Sikh Kingdom, the Chota Ghalughara and the persecution of Sikhs, Ahmed Shah Durrani’s invasions, Wadda Ghalughara, the rise of the Khalsa and then finally Maharaja Ranjit Singh’s Raj.

After the British takeover, we saw a continuous rise in activism that was then quelled by traitors in the Kaum and government backing, until 1947 when India and Pakistan were separated. This marked the day which the Khalsa Panth would remember as their day of enslavement, where those who the Mughals and Afghans enslaved for over 1000 years, would rule over sovereign beings, like a Hawk ensnared by the confines of a cage.

Government narratives blame one person, Sant Jarnail Singh Ji Khalsa Bhindranwale, however, the reason why they blame them is never the same. Sometimes it’s the murder of Hindus (something which still to this date has not been proven) sometimes it’s the death of Lala Jagat Narayan or for keeping licensed weapons. Nothing they say tends to make any sense and yet for some random reason, everyone in India is blind to that truth. 

Nowadays the BJP and RSS have claimed to “speak for” the Sikhs and claim to be “the only party that has not betrayed our trust”. For someone to claim such a big statement is nothing more than a fallacy, considering that the only one who can speak for the Sikhs is the Guru, as we have no other king. To be able to understand what we require you to read Guru Granth Sahib Ji and follow the path we’re on, not sit in AC offices and chill. 

It was this reason that led to the Darbar Sahib attack, not Sant Jarnail Singh Ji. A collective government-run that forgot who we are, and continued to test our patience, and now this government currently ruling is making the same mistakes. 

What was Sant Ji’s role in all of this? Sant Bhindranwale was one of the few that realised that Sikhs were slowly becoming living breathing forms of Bipran Ki Reet. Naujwans were smoking, drinking, cutting their hair and then going to the gurdwara every Sunday to have langar, with no thought, regard or understanding of what was going on in the world. Those that were amritdhari, were forgetting their duty and were instead busy arguing about trivial matters. Sounds familiar right? Yeah, we’re back there again.

Sant Jarnail singh wanted to inspire the youth again and make them understand that what they were doing was a waste of time compared to what they could be doing. Punjab was in the worst of states it had ever been. Dr Ganda singh describes how Baba Banda Singh Bahadur turned Panjab which was known as “ਜ਼ੁਲਮਾਂ ਦੀ ਨਗਰੀ” (the land of terror) to “ਗੁਰੂਆਂ ਦੀ ਨਗਰੀ” (the land of the True Guru), and Punjab was now reverting back to the land of terror. Basic rights had been taken away by the central government, which agitated the public, and they started becoming restless. Sant Jarnail singh wanted that to change. 

So how did they do that? Well, Sant Jarnail Singh Ji established one thing that had never really been discussed, that the Sikhs, a sovereign kaum of warriors and thinkers, had become slaves within the Indian state. For most people that was inconceivable at the time, many of our Sikh intellectuals, as well as the common man, couldn’t understand what they meant, until they started giving living examples of events going on. 

Sikh protesters were open fired on in Patiala, and not a single investigation was launched. A Hindu man was killed and all of a sudden the CM creates a task force. Police burned trucks of the Damdami Taksal in Chando Kalan with Guru Granth Sahib Ji’s Saroops in there and not a single case against officers was filed, yet the burning of the Ramayan in Kapoorthla was sorted almost instantly (By Sant Jarnail Singh Ji no less). Sant Ji began using these examples to reinforce his idea that Sikhs were in fact nothing more than slaves and guard dogs in India.

See up till now Sikhs had been protesting first against the British, then for the Punjabi Subha and then again for the Dharam Yudh Morcha. They would say our basic human rights in this country were being revoked, or that we were being discriminated against. But by discrimination it means you accept their sovereign rule and you require another to change their ways. But that’s not what the Gurus had given to the Khalsa. The Khalsa was sovereign and above the laws of any country and king and only answered to the Guru Granth and the Guru Panth. Protests in themselves are against our sidhant as well as Maharaj says in their Bani;

ਬ ਲਾਚਾਰਗੀ ਦਰ ਮਿਯਾ ਆਮਦਮ ॥

b laachaaragee dhar miyaa aamadham ||

ਬ ਤਦਬੀਰਿ ਤੀਰੋ ਤੁਫ਼ੰਗ ਆਮਦਮ ॥੨੧॥

b tadhabeer teero tupha(n)g aamadham ||21||

When I saw you attack in such a way, I had to intervene and had to come fully armed.21.

ਚੁ ਕਾਰ ਅਜ਼ ਹਮਹ ਹੀਲਤੇ ਦਰ ਗੁਜ਼ਸ਼ਤ ॥

ch kaar az hameh heelate dhar guzashat ||

When all other methods of communication have failed,

ਹਲਾਲ ਅਸਤੁ ਬੁਰਦਨ ਬ ਸ਼ਮਸ਼ੇਰ ਦਸਤ ॥੨੨॥

halaal asat buradhan b shamasher dhasat ||22||

It is righteous to take the sword in hand.22.

Our sidhant follows the rule that when attacked you respond in kind, not sit on the road and start begging those that are killing you for justice.

And it’s not about being violent. Every modern society spreads the idea that violence is unnecessary and not to be used in a democratic society. The reality is that a state monopolizes violence so that they can use it under the branching of ‘lawful’ or upholding the law and in that way can get away with mass murder and genocide just like the Indian government has tried to do up till now. Of course, this doesn’t mean that violence is always correct, but there are exceptions to this rule.

When Akali Baba Gurbaksh Singh Ji Nihang was attacked by Abdali’s forces in Darbar Sahib in 1764, had they chosen to run away at that moment then Darbar Sahib would have forever remained under the Green Flag, yet even the Singhs made a stand to defend Darbar Sahib, and so when the army attacks the Sangat on 1st June 1984 completely unprovoked, the Babbar Khalsa, Damdami Taksal and Sikh Student Federation response in the way they should have. 

Once Sant Jarnail Singh Ji had driven home this point the situation of Punjab started changing. People started taking Amrit again and began living like sovereign beings, dealing with their issues in their own way through the Khalsa Panth. It recorded that in Vaisakhi 1984 45,000 people took Amrit and joined the sovereign panth, which started spelling big trouble for the Government. All their touts and their workers were being picked off one by one and the number of Amritdhari Singhs and Kaurs who were ready to die for the Pnath had increased, it was almost like the 18th Century had returned again.

Even in their interviews, they maintained those values. In May 1984 a journalist asks Sant Baba Jarnail Singh Ji Khalsa Bhindranwale: “Sant Ji, if the army enters Darbar Sahib you will not survive, they have tanks, helicopters, the best-trained soldiers. So what will you and your licensed revolvers do then?”.

Sant Ji smiled at him and said: “The army relies on their weaponry, their tactics and training. Sure they have fought wars before, sure they have done many operations before; but my belief is in Guru Nanak Sahib Ji’s Kingdom, Guru Ram Das Ji’s Darbar, Guru Hargobind Sahib Ji’s Akal Takht and Guru Gobind Singh Maharaj’s Kundla Sap Khalsa. Respected reporter, maybe you have not read Zafarnama, allow me to quote this one pangti:

ਕਿ ਊ ਰਾ ਗ਼ਰੂਰ ਅਸਤ ਬਰ ਮੁਲਕੁ ਮਾਲ ॥

k uoo raa g(h)roor asat bar mulak maal ||

ਵ ਮਾਰਾ ਪਨਾਹ ਅਸਤੁ ਯਜ਼ਦਾ ਅਕਾਲ ॥106॥

v maaraa panaeh asat yazadhaa akaal ||106||

You are proud of your kingdom and wealth, but I take refuge in the Non-Temporal Lord.106.

Today my Guru stands with me like a mighty fortress and he will watch as this humble servant lays waste to this false king’s army.”

Sant Jarnail Singh Ji had successfully re-established those values we had back in the 18th century, the Guru and the Panth come first and nothing else comes in between and we are better off martyred than slaves. Sant Ji was truly the greatest Sikh of the 20th century who gathered all the Jathebandis, all the Sikhs and all of the Khalsa under the banner of the Akal Takht and once again showed us the Battle of Chamkaur.