VAHEGURU JI KA KHALSA, VAHEGURU JI KI FATEH
Would we say the same to the Sikhs at the time of Guru Tegh Bahadur Sahib's Shaheedi, when no Sikh was vocal in the Ninth Patshah's Shaheedi? Would we paint those Sikhs with the same brush, who despite 9 Patshahis training them to be Sant Siphais and the Shaheedi of the Fifth Patshahi, remained silent? Sikhs were not unfamiliar with arms and battle (Sixth Patashah onwards). What shall we consider them?
Gurmukho, with all due respect, how many of us were present in India during 1984? If you had witnessed what was going on, perhaps a bit more sympathy and understanding or the circumstances would be prevalent. This was not the Mughals, where we knew who our enemy was and fought them openly. This was the very government and people that the Sikhs had fought for and defended, thinking they were kin. They lived together in neighborhoods, only to see those same people you would call Uncle and Auntie come for your blood! They were lulled into a false sleep of comfort, deluded into thinking they were brothers with their Hindu compatriots. 1978 was a pinch to a sleeping lion (the Panth as a whole still did not realize the large and deliberate anti-Sikh position of the government) and 1984 was a swift kick to the stomach to the lion that finally woke it from its deep sleep. That's reality.
Sikhs did put up fights in 1984. Massive numbers of Sikhs left the Indian army and marched towards Harimandir Sahib, but were prevented from getting there. Punjab was under curfew and the Sikhs caught off guard - how many Sikhs in Amrisar would have LMG, automatic weapons or anything for that matter to counter an army? Again, this was due to their sleep and not listeining to Guru Sahib's bachan of being Shastardhari - Shastardhari does not imply only swords and arrows - guns, grenades, RPGs, armored vehicles and the like would be more appropriate in this day and age for a modern Khalsa. How many of us are equipped as such? This is the Indian army we are speaking of - highly trained killing machines and humans whose sole purpose was the destruction of the opponent. People were shot on site in the streets, helicopters were overhead and tanks actively bombarding the Harimandir Sahib. Speaking of what could have/should have occured now, two decades + later is not appropriate.
Or shall we speak of the November 1984 times, where the common Sikh, unaware of a government planned second genocide, was attacked by its own neighbors, politicians and police? Where the first targets were Gurudwaras to prevent their being a meeting center for the Sikhs (because had the Sikhs actually begun to gather there, I assure you that the November 1984 genocide would have become the battle of 1984 - read on some of the instances where Sikhs, even in small numbers, were able to gather in Gurudwaras and fought off huge Hindu mobs)? Where any two or three Sikhs meeting in the streets were told to go home by the police and they would keep "shanti" - which turned out to mean the police would watch where the Sikhs lived and then targeted those homes for looting, raping, and murdering? Where the Sikhs that did fight were made the first targets and arrested/shot on sight?
Daas was a mere child in Delhi during 1984, but his family was present for the whole unfolding - none of us were Gursikhs at the time. We were near Trilokpuri, the hardest hit area. Yes, we hid from house to house in kind Hindu neighbors. The attack happened so fast that every Sikh family was scattered and either hiding or butchered. Very few Sikhs probably even saw another Sikh in those three days. Fact is that there was not a majority of Amritdhari Gursikhs in Delhi and they were caught completely off guard. Even then, some fought back and were made Shaheed. Fact is that even after the three days of butchering, my father recalled that the Sikhs grafittied on a neighborhood wall, "Khalsa Eo Nahi Marayaa Jaogaa" - that the Khalsa will not be killed off by these means.
Yes, some Sehajdhari devotees (and even some Gursikhs) wailed and cried. Question yourself: If someone came and murdered your father in front of you with a tire around his neck, raped your mother in front of you, tortured your younger brother or sister and you were made to watch this whole scene and lived to see it, would you be in Chardi-Kalaa or crying and wailing, or not be burning for revenge (remember, the ideal of a Gursikh is to remain internally stable even in this horror to exact justice, not revenge - Guru Arjun Dev Sahib laid down this concept)? Granted, there are Gurmukhs on this forum that would be in Chardi-Kalaa and remain unattached to their family's passing, but Daas knows how weak he is and is sure there are others like him in this world that would either be emotionally destroyed or burning in the fire of krodh to the point of self destruction. Do Ardaas for this poor soul and others who became emotonally involved from the events. Daas is one of those lowly creatures that when they do Ardaas of how the mothers saw theyr children speared, chopped up and tortured in Mir Mannu's time becomes unsettled and yet becomes proud of his ancestors. Perhaps Guru Sahib will grant this gift one day...
Now, the Sikhs were not asleep any longer and did wake up and fought - from 1984 to 1995 (and even to the present day, though it has turned away from the open armed conflict). Sikhs controlled parts of Punjab. Sikhs outwardly knew that the government was out to exterminate them and were awakened to this new reality. They fought, achieved some justice by removing the perpetrators from this plane of existence. To this day, I do not believe that even Indian Sikhs trust the Indian government - at least that change has finally occured.
Granted, every Sikh should be ever ready, and the Sikhs were ever asleep and ignored warnings like those of Sant Jarnail Singh Ji Khalsa to have a revolver and be ready to fight, but I would say it is sooo easy to say these things sitting here in foreign countries and with the events as history, which we can analyze with full detail now, a luxury not available when the events were unfolding in 1984. Try saying these things in India and being in the shoes of the Sikhs of India. We live in relative comfort of a good justice system abroad - wear Banaa in India and you run a higher risk of being picked up and made to disappear. That is a different reality than the one most of us live in. Even the recent news bears witness to this continued trend:
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sikhsangat.org]
Gurmukho, sorry for the long post. I know the above does not represent the ideals of the Khalsa, but it is what happened. Please do not victimize the victims of 1984 yet again by speaking ill of them - do Ardaas for them and the Panth to be in everlasting Chardi-Kalaa. At the same time, let's learn from it and remain aware of what had happened and prepare for the future.
ਸਤਿਗੁਰਬਚਨਕਮਾਵਣੇਸਚਾਏਹੁਵੀਚਾਰੁ॥
