Khushwant Singh Passed Away

With the news of his death, 99% of the people are praising him, let's see more about him and see the truth of what he really was about:
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Punjabiat can show the way to brotherhood
by Khushwant Singh
THE man most responsible for widening the gulf between the Hindus and the Sikhs was Bhindranwale. Starting as a preacher, exhorting the Sikhs to return to the spartan traditions of Guru Gobind Singh, he chose that an easier way to stop Sikhs lapsing into Hindu fold was to create a gulf between them. He used abusive language for the Hindus describing them as dhotian topian wale — wearers of dhotis and caps. His goons threw heads of cows in the Durgiana Temple. Hindu goons retaliated by throwing cigarette butts in the Golden Temple, smashing up a portrait of Guru Ramdas, founder of the city, on Amritsar railway station. Then it came to killing Hindus. Buses were hijacked, Hindu passengers off-loaded and shot. Punjabi Hindus set up their own Shiv Sena, armed its members with trishuls (three-pronged spears). If Sikhs could carry kirpans, they had every right to carry trishuls, they argued. They claimed a membership of over 80,000.

Bhindranwale had to be silenced. This was no easy task since he was a creation of the government as well as the Akali leaders. He was arrested on charges of involvement in the murder of Lala Jagat Narain of the Hind Samachar group. Giani Zail Singh, then Home Minister, who had a negative knee- reaction to whatever Chief Minister Darbara Singh did had him let out on his own terms. Sant Longowal described him as a danda (stave) to beat the government. G.S. Tohra, President of the SGPC, let him find sanctuary in the Golden Temple and convert Akal Takht into a fortress. Indira Gandhi, misled by her advisers, chose the crudest way of getting rid of him: she ordered the Army to storm the temple complex. What could have been handled by the police (as proved later by Operation Black Thunder) was a botched-up “operation Blue Star”. It was a horrendous blunder entailing a heavy loss of life and damage to sacred property. Though Bhindranwale was killed, he became a martyr in the eyes of the Sikh masses. Since the Hindus did not share the anguish caused to the Sikhs, most of them who had never supported Bindranwale, the gulf between the two communities widened.

Worse was to follow. The widespread massacre of innocent Sikhs following the assassination of Indira Gandhi embittered the Sikhs against the government as well as the Hindus who they felt had not done enough to save their lives and property. The demand for an independent Sikh State gathered momentum.

The first open declaration in support of Khalistan was made on April 13, 1986 at a convention of the Sarbat Khalsa in Amritsar. The June 1986 issue of Sant Sipahi, edited by Dr Rajinder Kaur, daughter of Master Tara Singh, published the details. “The Khalsa Panth will have its own home where the writ of the Khalsa will run supreme.” It demanded recognition by foreign nations and recognition by the United Nations. It asked the Sikhs living outside Punjab to migrate to their “homeland”.

Their anger against the government and disenchantment with their Hindu brethren were justified. But the solution proposed was totally unviable. So far not one protagonist of Khalistan has drawn a map outlining its boundaries nor given the communal ratios of other communities, including Hindus, Christians and Muslims. At the very best it would be a land-locked state, almost entirely dependent on agriculture. Its only buyers would be India or Pakistan. If the state envisaged is the present-day Punjab what will happen to the 20 per cent or more prosperous section of the community living outside Punjab — in the Terai area, Sriganganager district of Rajasthan and the rest of India? It should be evident to every Sikh that Khalistan would be the doom of the Khalsa Panth. Fortunately, most Sikhs have come to realise that their future lies in remaining an integral part of India.

The realisation came after 10 years of bloodshed and lawlessness. There were nearly a dozen gangs with fancy names like the Babbar Khalsa International, the Khalsa Commando Force, the Bhindranwale Tigers Force, and the Khalsa Liberation Front, composed of between 10-50 men armed with weapons like AK-47 rifles, grenades, etc, made available by Pakistan’s ISI, which also set up training camps for them. Terrorist gangs ruled the state by might — the policemen were too scared to come out of their police stations. By day the police took its revenge by looting villagers whose homes had been visited by terrorists. Terrorists collected levies daswandh (one-tenth in the way of protection tax). They extorted money, molested women and shot anyone who resisted them. Their word was law; no lights at night, village dogs had to be silenced by poison or bullets. Hindus began to migrate from villages to towns and cities where they felt safe.
The governments, both Central and state, were at their wits’ end. They held meetings, changed Governors, imposed President’s rule, talked of elections, made Mr S.S. Barnala Chief Minister for a while without a clear policy for the state. By sheer chance the government’s gamble to hold elections paid off. It was boycotted by all Akali parties and the BJP. Because of the absence of any Opposition the Congress recorded a sweeping victory and Beant Singh was elected Chief Minister. His top priority was to eradicate terrorists. He had the full support of Governor Surendra Nath, a retired police officer with plenty of money at his disposal. The task was entrusted to K.P.S. Gill, then DIG, Police.
By then Punjab was sick and tired of terrorist depredations. Mr Gill carried forward his predecessor Julio Ribeiro’s policy of a bullet for a bullet by infiltrating into the ranks of terrorists and bribing informers. He had the support of the Army which successfully blocked contacts with Pakistan. Within a few months Mr Gill had terrorists on the run. Many were killed, many more laid down their arms and surrendered to the police. They were too scared to come out of jails on bail lest they be killed by their own erstwhile colleagues. Mr Gill had good reasons to pat himself on the back. But somewhat prematurely. On August 31, 1995, a human bomb exploded outside the Punjab Secretariat building killing Chief Minister Beant Singh and nine others.
Khalistan is dead as dodo. But separatist elements still find takers among the Sikhs. The latest example was the acceptance of the Nanak Shahi Calendar prepared by Piara Singh of Canada by the SGPC. Hitherto the Sikhs had followed the Bikrami Calendar to celebrate their religious festivals. Some anomalies were certainly there — some years ago Guru Gobind Singh’s birth anniversary was celebrated twice but no one bothered. But the logic behind the rejection of the calendar is insidious: all communities have calendars of their own, why not the Sikhs? In addition, while it mentions Bhindranwale as a martyr, it ignores the martyrdom of Sant Longowal.

Law and order has been restored in Punjab. Its peasants grow bumper crops of wheat and rice year after year. Its industrial city, Ludhiana, is booming with its hosiery, bicycles, sewing machines and ancillary motor parts. Its products find markets in India and abroad. Punjab could even do better provided its two principal communities worked hand in hand. At the moment they live together but separately. This is not good enough. For the spirit of Panjabiyat it is necessary to restore the old relationship of naunh tay maas da rishta. It can be done provided leaders of the two communities stop criticising each other and show the way to a united brotherhood of Hindus and Sikhs.
(The Tribune 4, November 2003)

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'We've had so many donkeys as PM'
I was the only Indian to criticise Bhindranwale: Khushwant Singh
Madhu Jain August 30, 1999 | UPDATED 12:07 IST

Behind the facade of indulgence lies a strict life by the stopwatch, as senior editor Madhu Jain discovered in a free-wheeling interview with India's most famous sardar. Excerpts:

Q. What inspired you to write a novel after a decade?
A. I heard about this man who after falling out with his wife went through a succession of women. There would be a Bengali sometimes or a south Indian and they'd stay for three or four months. I thought what a wonderful character. From that the fantasy took off.

Q. Is there some of you in this character or are you an armchair voyeur?
A. It's total fantasy. It's not voyeurism. When you meet a woman you wonder what she'll be like in bed.

Q. You've said you are not a dirty old man but have a dirty old mind.
A. My mind is no dirtier than most men's. I am honest and I say it. Fantasising is a common phenomenon and there's no censorship here.

Q. You seem to have created your own persona, with the loose T-shirts, of a man who's always telling jokes ...
A. I've always been indifferent to dressing. Amita Malik got it right when she put me among the worst dressed men in India. But yes, I am a born joker.

Q. There are so many contradictions. You've translated the Japji and other religious writings, and there's the other you.
A. It's gone alongside, it's never made me religious. I rejected religion from the age of 25.

Q. Yet being a Sikh is very important to you.
A. Very important. A sense of belonging, and that's why I gave up the Padma Bhushan after Operation Bluestar. I was the only Indian to criticise Bhindranwale. I called him a homicidal maniac when I was in The Hindustan Times. And he threatened to finish us all. And then I had all this security for 15 years. They've all gone now. Nobody wants to kill me anymore.

Q. Have you ever been in love?
A. No, love is an ephemeral and illusive concept, it doesn't last; lust lasts.

Q. Don't you think you burnt your fingers with the Gandhis?
A. Yes. But I supported Sanjay with good intentions. I was quite taken up by his ideas; slum clearance, family planning. Tree planting was an idea I planted in his head. The fellow was a doer, though his Maruti was a disaster.

Q. But how could you stand by them during the Emergency?
A. Well, earlier I stood by them but then I began to criticise them ... about the press censorship. I said this is wrong. She said there could be no Emergency without censorship. And when she lost the election I went to see her. And she said 'Humko feedback nahin tha'. I said how could you have any feedback if you had locked up the press. It was then that I stood by them when they were in the doghouse.

Q. Did you really admire Mrs Gandhi?
A. She was different out of power. I would invite the foreign press and Mrs G would come here for dinner with Sonia who never opened her mouth. Either she was dumb or just sullen. She felt she was in enemy territory because she thought I was on Maneka's side.

Q. What do you think of Sonia getting into politics and possibly becoming prime minister?
A. In this country nothing comes as a surprise. Kitne khhote reh chuke hain prime minister. We've had so many donkeys as prime ministers.

Q. Who do you think should be the prime minister?
A. Two people who should be returned to Parliament are Vajpayee and Manmohan Singh.

Q. What impression do you have of Vajpayee?
A. He's a humane person, quite a lovable man. Women find him cuddly. He's totally above any communal prejudice. He read a poem to me after Babri Masjid. It was full of angst. I asked him "why didn't you express your views openly?" and Vajpayee kept quiet.

Q. How did you nominate L.K. Advani for the Lok Sabha?
A. It was soon after the '84 killings. I was angry with the Congress. Advani took me in his car to Tis Hazari, and the photographers came. Their objective was to tell the Sikhs that a Sikh was proposing his name.

Q. What do you think of the present-day journalists?
A. Editors have been downgraded to nothing. Now the manager is the boss.

Q. Any good writers today?
A.There are some very good ones other than the well-known names. But there's so much rubbish written that I don't even read.

Q. You accept most invitations and junkets. Is it the done thing?
A. There is no namak haram for journalists. Whisky pi lo (drink the whisky) and write what you want.

Q. What's the secret of your, well, vitality and long life?
A. The only secret is to acquire long-lived parents. My father died at 90 holding a glass of Scotch and my mother at 94 had one last request: her voice was feeble but she said whisky. The doctor said chalo give it. She took it and then threw it up.

Q. Most of your friends have gone, or are going. Do you think about death, does it frighten you?
A. I argued with myself that it won't be long now. The encasing will go, will anything else remain? I don't know. The envelope will be torn up.
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www.sikhgenocide.org/downloads/sandhu.doc

Khushwant Singh speculates: "When Bhindranwale sensed that the Government had at long last decided to arrest him, he first took shelter in the Golden Temple, then occupied and fortified portions of the Akal Takht." *

- Kuldip Nayar and Khushwant Singh: The Tragedy of Punjab, Vision Books, New Delhi, 1984, page 10.
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ਸੰਤਾਨਾਲਿਵੈਰੁਕਮਾਵਦੇਦੁਸਟਾਨਾਲਿਮੋਹੁਪਿਆਰੁ ॥

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He made a prophecy that the Sikh religion will become extinct by the end of 20th century. He died yet Sikhs are still in existence. More like him will come and make similar claims yet the end result will always be the same.

Khushwant Singh was born in a rich family and had no Shardha in Sikh faith. I think in his early years, he might have had some faith in Sikhi but over the years, he not only lost faith in Sikhi but became a declared agnostic which means that he was indifferent to Sikhi. Surprisingly, he was in favour of Sikhs retaining their physical identity involving unshorn hair and turban.

He was an open advocate of drinking liquor but he claims that he never became drunk in life. He claimed that it's not wrong to drink but is wrong to get drunk. It's not known if he was a womanizer but he wrote very vulgar articles about women. He claimed his liking for women but if you read his writings, his liking for women revolves around Kaam i.e. lust for women. He was a Besharam and dirty old man who had no shame even at the age when even worst sinners repent and try to mend their ways.

He used to criticize Sant Bhindranwale for which he claims to have got a lot of hate mail and even threats to his life. He writes that out of all hate lettters, one stands out because the sender who was a Canadian, wrote a lot of obscenities to him. The envelope had just two lines as address: "Bastard Khushwant Singh, India" and the letter still reached him. This is the height of efficiency of the Indian postal service who figured out who the "bastard" Khushwant Singh was.

He is dead now and Vaheguru will decide his fate but as far as Sikhi is concerned and as a Sikh, except for his returning of Padam Bhushan out of protest, when Siri Harmandir Sahib was attacked in 1984, I can't remember any such deed that would make us proud. Other than that, he was indeed a dirty old man, who had good writing skills and wrote some good books too but could have done a lot of good, if he had some moral wisdom of Gurbani. As a writer he was probably in the same league as Amrita Pritam.

Kulbir Singh

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The envelope had just two lines as address: "Bastard Khushwant Singh, India" and the letter still reached him. This is the height of efficiency of the Indian postal service who figured out who the "bastard" Khushwant Singh was.

I couldn't stop laughing at this!

Oh man I never felt better in my life. Thank God this kanjar is dead!

why does he wear a topi ( HAT)?

Its sad to see that Sikhs on other forums are praising him..personally I could not give a hoot if he was a good writer as he slated Guru Dhe Piyarey!

The main face behind the Santa and Banta was The only Khushwant Singh Jee
He originally making jokes by takiing two characters Santa and Banta.

May Guru Maharaj bless him.....