Genesis of Sikh-nirankari Tussle - Bhai Hari Singh Shergill by Sikh Digital Library

GENESIS OF SIKH - NIRANKARI TUSSLE by

BRAI HARI SINGH (Shergill), Editor, 'Punjabi Samachar', Bombay-400011

Published by DHARAM PARCHAR COMMITTEE (SHIRO MANI GURDWARA PARBANDHAK COM MITTEE) AM R ITS A R.

GENESIS OF SIKH - NIRANKARI TUSSLE by BHAJ HARI SINGH (Sbergill), Editor, 'Punjabi Samacbar', Bombay~4000U

,P.ublis~d l1y

DHARAM

PAFfCH~l{

'COMMITTEE

tSHIROMANI GUROWARA PARBANDHAK CDMMIITEE) AM R ITS A R.

Published by SARDAR MAHINDER SINGH ' GIAN!' SEC REtARY, SHIROMANI GURDWARA PARBANDHAJ<. COMMl1TEE , AMRJTSAR . &

Printed at JASPAL PRINtING PRESS, KATRA GHANIAN , AMRLTSAR

INTRODUCfION Thi. compilation under the above title has got a specific background. The so-called N irankari Chief Shri Gurbachan Singh , in a camouflage Sikh attire, and his domestic Nirankari

MandaI. headquartered in Delhi-9, have been, for quite sometime past, indulging in publicly insulting, ridicuiing and downgrading the Sikh religion, the Sikh Gurus, certab time-honoured Sikh personages, usages and traditions, as Âˇwe ll as their elernal1y sacreu WORD - INCARNATE ENLIGHTENER ; Sri, Guru Gninlh Sahib. Despite a number of earlier angry, non-violent protestations

of Sikhs agail,sl this vulgar and irreligious conduct of Ilis, on morc than half a dozen difrerent occas~ons in Punj ab and 0l;ltside, .. the ~Nirankari buba' has hcen pursuing this irresponsibleÂˇ '.practice a~

vigorous ly as ever.

At last he grew bold enough to beard the lion in I,is own den. On the 13th Ap ril, L97 8 on the historical Baisakhi festival, when more or less a million Sikhs gather From far and near to pay homage at the Golden Temple, Amritsar, Gurbachan Singh tholIght expedient to convene his so-called Nirankari Samagam and repeat his usual blasphemous blurtings and his claim to be the exclusive supreme modem av tar of God of to-day, over the hcads of Guru Nanak-Guru Gobi"d Singh and all other timehonoured oriental avtars and ::;emuti c prophets.

Indeed, it was the most provocative challenge to the very existeJ1ce of the Sikh Panth in its holiest citadel. As a consequence, about L50 devoted Sikhs, lIJ",rmed and clean of any partisan politics. proceeded fro m Ajit Nagar premises to persuade hjm not to inuulge jn the aforesaid profane behaviour

vis-a-vis dignity or the Gurus' house . Instead of acceding to slIcil a persuasion, as if already flIlIy planned and prepared, he (iii)

is said to have exhorted personnel of hi s fully armed private army to attack these protesting Sikhs, even at a distance of about 300 yards from the pandal of his gathering, He was presiding at this gathering in a kingly demeanour, he as the 'King' and his consort as the 'Queen', As a result, over a d07-"n of the Sikh protesters wefe mowed down in cold blood and about 70 seriously injured. This simple act of sheer murder has naturally sent a thrill of horror througl10ut the Sikh World . It is a long standing misfortu ne of Punj ab in general and of the Sikh community in particular that there is quite a lot of hard-boiled communalist Punjabi brethren who are ever o n the prowl of seekir;g or manoeuvering to create all kinds of un savoury situations , wherein Sikhs could be run d own and put to grief. True to their 'mission', therefore. th ese communali ::;ts seem to have taken it to be a go lden chance to dea l another grievous

blow 10 Ihe Sikhs, by laking s.ides wi th th is fake Nirollkari hoha, These 'friends' of the Sikh Community, seemingly, all the more encouraged by the pro -Nirankari attitude of cert ain npex men in the CeJ1tre have,

011

storm of an anti-Sikh

an d pro-'Nirankar; baba'

the contrary. raised a

g~路eat

(l ust

make-bel ieve

pUblicity in the publ ic media and on the platform ~ nd Ihrollgh misc.hievous lobbying a mong all kil~d s or infiuentlJi quarters aJ:J. on al\ so rts of important forums , Some of even th e apparently u n.concerned responsible people

seem to be ve ry much mi sled by this spuriou s propagan da, instance, acco rd ing to an insertion in

Fo r

the 'Hindusta n Ti, l'! L': s' of

15路6路78, one Mrs. Firdos Fa tima, All-India Organiser of World Family is reported to have cabled even to the Secretary-Gene ral of U,N.G. Mr. Kllrt Waldheim , as follows: "Th e Akali G overnment of Punjab 路is persecuting Nirankaris in the name of reI igion. It is a clear case of genocide and suppressio n of human rights and the lives and liberty o f millions of Nirankaris are in danger.

This is how this misleadin g propaganda by the CUl prit-inChief the alleged killer of (he conscien tious Sikh protesters, (iv)

together with his anti-Sikh communalist allies in Punjab, is clollding the sense of judgment even of presumably impartial people. Credibility of such a spurious publicity is further reinforced by the much too open pro-Nirankari tilt of some apex d ignitaries in the Centre. Contents o f this brouchure are, therefore, aimed at :

(i)

exposing the very fraud behind this Sikh-Panth denigratin g bogus Niranb'.ri movement,

(ii) bringi ng out in hold relief purely anti-Sikh politics involved ill tbis fake religious. Centre-sponsord device to the cheer of Sikh baiters. (iii) Providing a f~1Ctual l1leterial to the honest, igno rant peo ple about the current Sikh-Ni rankari scuffle . (iv) Creating a healthy understand ing in honest quarters on thi s Issue in order to promote healthy national cohesion. (v) Off-setting the ch.llce of this fraud, polluting the very eSi>ence or the f'i acred mora l-cum·s.piritual values of eth ica l (nt-lian heritage . (v i) Alerting people of other religions like Hindus, Christianity and Islam also against the blasphemies of Gurbachan SUIgh trea(ting upon their sanctified prerogatives over the heads or their ol'/ars and prophefs and With no ml! r1t whatever or his O\vn, rather heavily we ig hed do wn u nder his demerits, ins tead . (vii) Clarification of the real 5i!1,nilicancc of the much disc ussed Akal Takht Hukamnama as a ll in"lru ne nl fo r safegu ard'ing the sanctity aJld vaiues of dh arma as slH:h, besides keeping intact the l·. tcg rity or the Khalsa Panth , by Slaving off the disrupt ive activity and influence of these immoral. fake Niiankari:;. (viii) making out a ('a~e fo r a th orough offkia l inqtliry hUD the activjtie:, of t ll~~ harnlfu l <J.:1d dbi. IL·; r.:ti ~g ~~ j ra ·: · kari l\1andul und its Chief and ipso ~ral.'[O othe r 5\1':h post-ind cper,dc llcc murshrool11 growth of spurious parasitic cc l\ ~ in the name of rel igio n a!Hj spi ri lu alism

( v)

with a view to b:HiJling them and save the nation fro m their degrading parasitic and evil depradations.

(lX) making all the responsihle and conscentiollS citizens and humanity at large aware of what malicious and

subtle designs are there on the part of misguided po wers- th at he and so me tlieÂˇ ha rd communalists in the

country to malign and rub off the Tcligio-cultu ra l-culllpolitical entity of a small but virile patriotic minority li ke Sikhs , who bave slOod the country in good stead ]n variolls fields of national significance during a1\ these over. 500 years of thei r existence, with religiocultural robust pOlentialiti es of thei, faith for an allround resurgence of I ndia in the modern context. (x) Last, tJlOugh )1 0\ Jeast, making the exalted stewards of the Sikh Panth now recognise the in ev it<lbility of revising and renewing thei r Panthi c strategies, in order to writ e new equation s For tbe Pan th 's liaison with the

country's destiny and in order to fulfil the destined his toric com mitment of

the Gurus' community

~ i.S

embodled in a mcmor,lble Pu :;jabi couplet "Asil1 vor is han Hind di a1lna de,

puja kiti hai ihdi l1ihang banke. I '

That is to say, "we ure the rightful heirs to Indianism

as we have hitherto ,elftcssJy staked our all at the a ltar of its serv ice, glorification und wo rship.

Towa rd:; these ends follow a brje f narration he reafter.

li st of contents afte r thi s and a number of Appcr.dkcs A to H , as :hmc xures at the e nd , are like ly to g ive a c lear idea of the c onter. ts on points enumerated hereabove. The author is obUged to the learn ed authors of the va riotJ s references consulted in co mpi ling th is booklet. Their Jist js given under par agraph No . 32 in the main na rration .

The writer is all

the more h1debtctl to th e SeÂˇ ret ,li Y_ ~ . G . P . C . : A lllf itsar, for his very ki nd ly providing to the U\.u(' r:.,igr,e<..l all thejr rccel.tlY pubUshed materia l on the :;lihj<.~<.:l u nder dist'ussion.

-H A Rf SINGH (Sllerg ill)

CONTE:NTS

or Nira nkari-Sikh Sampardai

Origin

Ni l' ankari Movement

'Baba Dyal's Resuregence Campaign

... 2 'd

4. Code 0 f Conduct

5. Baba Dyal's Suc<:esso rs 6. Buta Singh , The Rebel 7. Buta Singh, A Debauch 8.

9. 10.

4 5 5 5

A vt:.tr Slllgh 'Ano inted'

J I.

Settiing down in D elhi Creed of Wine and Women Sham Spiritualism

12.

"B1Lsphemol1s Claims

13. Colossal Ignorance 14. Avtarvani. A Fraud 15 . The Disclaimer 16. Wha 1. is Correct '! 17. The Nirankari Malldal 18. Celltre's Complicity 19. Anti-Sikh Political Conspiracy 20. Another Stunning Disclosure 21. Sardar Hukam Singh's Evidence 22. Still more Collaboration 23. Sikh-Nimnkar; COlltrove rsy 24. 25.

Clash or Kill.ing ? The Hlikamnama

26.

Study the Hukamn.ama

... ...

6 10 11

14 14 16

Ii 17 18

..,

21 21

,..

24 26

27 36

27. Hukamnama Safeguard s other Faiths also 28. Private AnllY 19 . Naq,li Niranko.ri Niha llg; (Vii)

39 42

30.

Status of A ',,,-itsa r M "Tty'"

31. Inquiry, A 32. Refere oces 33 . The Finis 34.

~/i\l :, t

45 , ..

49 50

APPENDICES ; A

B C

D E F H

Shri Gurbachan's C laim to 51 Supreme Incarnation 52 Translation of Abstr acts from P a njpan i 53 Shri S:llpal Bngh i's Article 56 The Hukamn " n:-Orig iu al and Transla tion 58 Naqli Nira,Ilk"r; Nihangs 61 -62 Sardar 1-i1lkam Singh's Article 67

GEN'ES~ยง.< OF ~l~

NJRANKARl - ~

Origin of Nirankari Sikh Sect In the SikJj religious terminology, a Nirankari is a perso n who believes in the worship of formless God (NfRANKAR) . As again st Brabminic polytheism, Guru Nanak (1469-1570) believed in and preached this cult, i.e., the glorification and worship of one form less God alone. Among his contemporary spiritual exponents, therefore, he came to be known as NANAK NIRANKARI. As a matter of fact, Guru Nanak's school of thought was an antithesis of centuries-old Brahminism. To believe in one God a lone, to discard Avtar theory, to shun idol worship, to reject caste system, not to practise Brahlllinic ritua ls, ceremonies, pilgrimages, to resist evil and socio-political aggression etc. etc., were some of the cardinal points in tbe Guru's religious doctrine. The Guru 's physical form , after running through ten successors, Guru Nanak to Guru Gobind Singh (1469-1708), came to an end. In fact, to complete the evolu tionary process of ultimately vesting the GUru 's eterna l a-uthority in the SABDA, the Divin e Word (the Gurbani), enshrining tbe Guru's soul and spirit, and creating the Khalsa in the cnd as the Guru's physical form, is interpreted by recent research to be the divine design of the Ten Masters.

Guru Gob~d Singh, before his demise in Nandcd (Maharashtra) in 1708, reposed tbe spiritual Guru ship in the Guru 's Word , Sri Guru Granth Sahib and the physical Guruship in the body corporate of the Khalsa Panth , to ever keep implementing the Guru 's mission. The latter were to a ct in conformity with the sp iri tual dictates of Sri Guru Granth Sahib .i n all the religio-tcmporal affairs for aU time to come. 2. Nirankari Movement As it usually happen s in case of almost all the religious denomination s, by about the beginning of the last century, very many followers of Sikh religion , under the recurring influence of centuries-old Brahminism, began to relapse into Brahminic ways again, as now too to so me extent. They began to worship Brahminic gods and goddesses and their idol s, practise the sa me old rituals, rites and ceremonies in mundan e matters, indulge in pilgrimages, and take to all sorts of perso nal gurus in place of Sri Guru Granth Sahib. 3. Baba Dyal's ResnregÂŁnce Campaign In the midst of such an un-Sikh like deteriorating environments a.ppeared Baba Dyal (1783-[855), the reformist. Born to devout Sikh parents in Peshawa r, he snbsequently shifted to Rawalpindi to preach hi s gospel of reforms. Of course, jle had to face a stiff oppositio n from the misled ren egades in the begi nning. In a vigOl'ous bid to reclaim such Sikhs b3ck to th e Guru' s fold in respec t of aU the above noted Sikh credentials. he launched a fullblooded, organised re-formi sl movement. It came 10 2

be called the Nirankari rnovementas the Baba would always repeat the words 'Dharr Nirankar' (i.e., Hail the Formless God). As again t the personal gurus, he emphasised on following Sri GUIU Granth Sahib as the only and the eternal Enlightener. As said above, be condemned and di,,(;ard ed the Brahminic rituals, rites and cercmon.ies aad follow those as prescr ibed in Sikhism, instead.

Code of Conduct ]n the matter of personal socia-religious di scipline and code of condllct, no Nirankari member could smoke, drink or use any other intoxican ts, not indulge in showy , ga udy and luxurious livÂˇing, earn ing one's living by honest mean s, not to indulge is sex beyond one's wedded ~ pou se . Of course, other items of Sikh religious routine, like early rising, take bath, en gage in s il11l"Oll i.e. repetition of God 's Name, recite G lJ rbani and attend early morningKirtan in Gurdwara follow a ll au stere, socially u seful , and virntollS .life etc. etc., were a s well adhered to. In lhis way Bab~ Dayal's Nirankari movement was aimed at restori ng Sikll Faith back to its original pristine form. Thi s was the need of the hour for Sikh Fai th. Babaji fulfilled it. 5. Baba Dyal's Saccessors After Babaji, his welcome organisation still continues, having becn stewarded by these equally d~dicated stalwans : Saba Darbara Singh (I 8L4-1 870), Baba Rattaji (1830-1909) , Baba Gurdit Singh (18691947), Baba Hara Singh (1887-1971). After partition,

the Nirank ari Oat-bar shifted its head-quarters to Chandigarh in Sector 2l ÂˇB. Its present leader is Baba Gurbux Singh , elder brother of Dr. Man Singh Nlrankari, one of the front rank Opthalmic Surgeons in the country. The whole Sikh community feels indebted to this original Niran ka ri Sikh Sampardai. It stood tbe Sikh Panth in good stead during a critical time of religious decadence. The Sikh community as a whole has got respectful regards for it even now. 6. Buta Singh, The Rebel During Baba Gurdii Singh's time, one Shri Bu ta Singh in course of tim e, started contravening the Nirankari rel igious discipline. Although he was an employee of the Niranka ri Darbar, a preacher-cum -Kirtan singer, he took to drinking and other all ied social evils. After a few warnings, when he did not mend his ways, he was expelled from and excommunicated by the Darbar. As all th,~ decent circles in Rawalpindi began to Jlate and shun him, he nltim ately went to Peshawar in his pseudo-Nirankari garh, in sea rch of another bird of tbe same feather. He picked up at last Shri Avtar Singh (father of the present N irankari chief, Shri Gurbachan Singh) to be his partner in his future fraudulent design of slartillg a bogus rival Nirankari organ isation. Shri Avtar Sing h was then a petty bakeryrnan in ~ome remote street af Peshawar. But though iUiterak he is said to have been sufficiently clever and of the same debauch kind as Buta Singh. He readily agreed to be his (Buta Singh's) follower 4

and canvass for more followers. Thus they are said to have both struck a mutuaUy gainful bargain, But inspite of all sorts of tricks and tactics in their pse udo-religious camouflage, they are said to have not cut much ice in respectable Sikh quarters, either in Peshawar or afterwards in Rawalpindi. 7. Buta Singh, A Debauch Giani Partap Singh, Editor, 'Gian Amrit Monthly' Amritsal' and ex-Jathedar, ShTi Akal Takht, Aruritsar and author of 'Naqli Nirankari' (Punjabi) 5th Edition, on page 37 bottom of his book, mentions a sto ry , It proves that he was a meat-eater-cum-wine addict and a licentious free lancer in sex, as the reader wiU read more about him further on in this narration. 8. Avtar Singh' Anointed' As a result of his debaucllery and dissipated life, Buta Singh is said to have died at last a miserable and a tortuous death of syphilis in Kohmari (Pak.) in 1943 (ibid pp. 36-37). It is stated, when Buta Singh's dead body was being carried to the cremation ground, a man in a lighter vein, garlanded tbe accompanying Avtar Singh with a garland removed [rom over tbe dead body. In this way Avlar Singh proclaimed himself to be Buta Singh's successor (ibid, p. 39). I n fact he assumed the title of a ' spiriwal emperor' (Shahembah) next to Buta Singh, [he pervert. 9. Settling Down in Delhi After partition , this 'shahenshah' , together with his meagre family coterie, came down from Ra wa J5

pindi to Delhi, ultimately to set lip his Nirankari colony there. Hcre he succeeded in course of time in buildin g up an extensive, spu riou s growth of his 'eat-drink-and-be-mcrrj ' sort of a bogus Nirankari MandaI, virtua lly a family concern . As is in dicated down below in this booklet, the Nirankari Mandai flouri shed, with the Centre', patronage.

10. Creed of Wine and Women I n order to illu strate the point th a t Bu ta Singh injtiated a fake spiritual cult to breed a permissive society, here are, for illustration sake, a few anecdotes, cu lled from reliable printed record: (i) Giani Partap Singll in his aforesa id publicat ion (p. 37) states, in the words of one Giani Kartar Singh Sa rhaddi of Pes!]awar, as, " Once o n the in sistence of Avtar Singh, J went to see h is guru Bu ta Singh in an upstair room in a public lod ge in Peshawar. On ente rin g what did I see? Buta Singh was seated there with a few plates of cooked meat a nd a wine bottle before h im and al so an a1tract ively dressed young woman, apparentl y, of ques tionab le reputation . On seeing a ll thi s, I qui,.;kly retired from tbere." Buta Singh was a reg ular add ict of liquor. He used to preaciJ hi s mission , quite drunk so often (' Nirankari Ba ha' by Balwant Gargi p. 58). ]n these peop le's 'bible', tbe 'Avtar Bani' (p. 7), Avtar Singh prcaches,"God never prol1ibited an y thing in the matier of eating and drinking. Spiritualism has got nothil.,g to do with these t ri viali ties," a nd so .

.in case of free sex. In the 'NirankaTi Baba' publication of the Nirankari Mandai, p. 168, it is stated, " Baba Avtar Singh used to sometime distribute whisky to his disciples with his own hands as prasad. (ii) Dr. Mohall Lal Sandal, President of Sehjdhari Sabha of Amritsa r, repwduces a nasty story from th e 'Indian Observe r' of New Delhi of 22 Oct., 1956. In his recent Punjabi pamphlet, 'Naqli Nirankari Mat' p. II, Dr. Sandal tells of a Kanpur young refugee girl. She is reported to have sta ted, "A Kanpur lady disciple of the NiTankari Baba seduced me to accompany her to Delhi for tlJe Ba ba 's darshan . I was kept in a hotel for the night in Delhi. The next day she took me in a car to the Nirankari colony and ushered me into the Baba's (Avtar Singh' s) presence in his room. The latter, quite drunk at the moment, molested me, i.e. had sex with me." fiii) In a dialogue, which Mr. Sandal cites on pp. [I , l2, Mr. Ba[want Gargi, in his 'Nirankari Baba' (p. 21, 22), is said to have had with a young lady illlnate of the N irankari campus, tbe latter is stated to have openly admitted, "I believe in free love: there is no sin in this. Tn the N irankari cult, the Baba has absolved us of all sex inhibitions. Such inhibition s are all a humbug. Sex res trictions are a nonsen se in our spiritual faith." She is said to have quoted from the~biiM -<+w._214. 245) I

. â&#x20AC;˘

â&#x20AC;˘

in support or her contention. (iv) Quoting from p. 131 of 'Yug Puni sh' a book which descri bes Avtar Singh as the present day Messiah, Dr. Sandal states on p. 13 tbat he (Avtar Singh) claimed like tbi s : "When of all the foregone Avtars and pro phets, e.g., Lords Rama and Krishna, Jesus Christ, Prophet Mohammcd , Guru Nanak etc., God ordained me from heaven to gO do wn to the earth for mankind 's deliverance (in (1900) he, (Avtar Sill gh) had covenanted with Him (God) as undcr : "There shall not be any inhibition s for my followers in matters of sex, diet , dress etc." Dr. Sandal, therefore, asserts th e Nirankari Bhawans are dens of vice and tkball chery (p. 13). These Bhawan~ , he furt her contends, are palluting the rraditional spirilLlomoral tone and tenure of the Indian culture and putting the young boys and girls off the track. (v) Dr. Fauja Singh of Punjabi University Patiala, Director of History Faculty, al so endorses thi s view in hi s folder, entitled. 'Sant Nirankari Dal, a Challenge for Indian Society'. He srates (pp. 4, 5 and 6) "The presenT N irankari Chief ie. Shri Gurbacban Singh , live luxuriously and moves abollt in Me rcedes Car. They (Niran kari s) arc oppooed to any restrictiOllS wheth er they aTe on food , liqu ors, meats and smoking. The 'Baba' a llows a mjxed meat diet of pork, bear, goats etc. together 8

(vi)

with wines and liberty in sex relations etc. (Avtar Bani pp. 7, 203). The Sant Nirankari Dal has become a challenge to all right thinking Indians. In the name of spiritualism .. . all moral values, wllich are the bedrock of human society, particularly Indian society, have been thrown to the winds. Naturally, this is causing heavy damage to our soc iety, to our whole value system and it is high time that effective steps were taken by the Government as well as by the people [0 ban all these objectionahle activities of the Nirankari " As reported in a Bombay Punjabi Weekly (the Ranjit, Bombay-56, dated 6.8.78, p. 2) in the alleged Amritsar 13.4.78 murder case, against the 'Nirankari Baba' & Co., an approver is said to have disclosed during police investigation like this, 'During. a pleasure dance in a Nirankari Bhawan in which only married disciple co uples participate, if a garment of a lady touches any ot1,er ma n or vice-versa, both can retire i nto a secluded adjoining room to mutually enjoy an uninhibited sex. 11 is a lso reported. when the police put this que stion to the 'Baba' to testify, he began to weep. Perha ps, because of such awkward police queries, thc communalis t allies of the ' baba' and the ir press had expressed their distres, on their 'Baba's' harassment by the PUlljab police. By the way, these kinds of unaba shed immoral 9

libertie" it seems, have attracted multitudes of disciples to him. A host of high government officers roo, could not be excluded from such a pleasure loving multitude. (vii) In another recent 4 page Punjabi pamphlet, published by the SGPC and tirled "Nirankari Mat vich shrab kabab di khulh" (i.e. , in the N irankari cult there is no restriction on meat eating and use of liquors), the author states on the last page "Now in place of the extil1ct WAM MARG, the Nirankari cult has come forward to take its place. It is aimed at creating an ,i mmoral society. It is like a cancer on the spiritual body of Indianism ." (viii) In another 4 page Punjabi handbill captioned, 'NlRANKARI TOLE DA PAJ UGHAR GIYA' (i.e. 'Nirankaris have been exposed ), tJ1e wr iter says, "these people have openly propagated debauchery in the name of rei igion." Thus, there is now a volume of published prima-facie record to estab lish that t11ese new blasphemous Wam margis (who believe in 'mans , madura, mail han' CUlt) are a blot on J ndia's dhical culture, based on spiritual, Illoral tradition; they are sprrading the cult of perm issive society. 11. Sham Spiritualism They claim that they can impart spirit uali sm lesso n for the vision of God within twinkling of an eye. These charlatans have introduced a ridiculous 10

jugglery trick to initiate their naive disciples irlte) spiritualism. The Chief or his approved deputv places his left palm below and the right one at a distance above, before an initiate. They ask th e latter to look in between the two palms in the empty space, for a vision of Nirankar, the formle ss God. And that is all. What a joke, a fraudulent drama. Is it really so che,lp an affair? Indian Rishjs. Saints, Tapasvis, and Gurus spent and even now spe nd , years and years go ing ~ hrough hard , rigorous timt:-honoured, sp iritual se lf-discipline in solitude in order to acl lieve spiritual excellence. In contrast, therefore, isn't it a mockery by these people of India' s only proud heritage in this field, comulated through a sustai ned , well di sciplined spi ritual labour of ages and ages, by m)' riad s of ollr sacred land's great spiritual l11a , ters? Our 'moralist' Prime Minister, who all the more exulls in tilis rare anc ient 11Crilnge of lndia, must put hi s foot down on sud) sham activities in the sacred 1l.lme of spi ritualism. It i:-. a n i.nsult to the country's spiritua l tradition . .I sn't it ? 12. Blasphemous Claim The present chief of the Nirankari MandaI, and hi s late fatller, Shri Avtar Singh, have bee n claiming to be the o nl y alltars and proplwts in the world today since 1900, beginning witb the fore-mentioned CULl Singh, the debauch. They ha ve been asserting that in suppression even of Noah's, Janak's, Lord Rama's, Krishna's , that of Moses, Christ's, Prophet Moham-

mad's, Bhakt Kabir's, Guru Nallak's and Baba Dyal's spiritual prerogatives, exclusive assignment of spiritual leadership of a1\ of them has been now vested in them both, the fatber and the son, together with their wives. A photo-stat copy of Shri Gurbachan Singh's general proclamation in this context, addressed some time back to the whole mankind, is reproduced hereunder: Sant Nirankari Mandai "Gurbachan Singh Delhi-9 (Ind ia) Nirankari My dear Friend, Please be informed that the responsibility assigned from time to time prophets like Noah, Janak, Rama , Kri shna, Moses, Christ, Mohammad, Kabir, Nanak and Dyal, has now been put on my shoulders, by my predecessor, Baba Avtar Singh ji. My duties include revealing God to one and all, irrespective of seekers' caste, creed, culture, nationality or morals. So whosoever wiU approach me or any of my apostles will instantaeously be gifted with an abiding perception of the omni-present God. 1 came also to glorify the holy prophets of the past by revealing their real greatnes~ and decoding their teachings into layman's actual experience. 1 have no ritual to impose, no particu lar recitation to prescribe, no penance to subject my disciples to, and no new religion to found. Vegetarianism or nonvegetarianism or tllis or that political ideology does not stand in my way. My message is for the human being in yo u and not For a member of any particular 12

religion or nationality. I have the entire reservoir of water for the present day thirsty world. You too come and quench you r thirst. Yours eternally, Sd/- Gurbachan Singh" (See Appendix-'A') There is another photo-stat copy of a post card in this context, as reproduced hereunder, written by disciple of the Nirankari Chief, Shri Gurbachan Singh, from Chandigarh. One Mr. Harcharan Singh Nirman, 1313 /Sector IS-B, sometime b,ICk wrote to fore-mentioned Giani Partap Singh as follows: "Tbere is one lineage of prophets from Adam to Gurbachan. All holy prophets including Noa h, Rama, Moses, John (The Baptist), Christ, Paul, Mohammad, Nanak, Gobind Singh, Dyal and GurbaC?han are interlinked iu a never broken chain of succession (Nomination by predecesso r) and have a total identity of philosophy since Adam. One lineage of prophets discovered by (above-noted) HarchaTan Singh Nirman. Enquires welcome". (See Appendix-'B') Further, in the word s of one Mr. Balwant Gargi in the 'T1lustrated Weckly of India' Bombay, in its issue of 24 Oct., 1971, p. 23, Shri GLLrbachan Singh proclaims," the responsibility ass igned from time to time to prophets like Noah, Janak, Rama, Kris hna, Moses, Christ , Mohammad, Kabir, Nanak and D ya l, has now been put on my shoulders by my predecessor Baba Avtar Singh."

Colossal 19Doranc~ What a pity? The man is eve n ignorant that both in the Oriental a nd Semetic religi o ns, th e re is no quesrion of scccessio n to an Avtar or a prophet. H. 'Avtar Bani', A Fraud Shri Gurbachan Singh's father, Shri AVLar Singh, wa s an illelt'ra1e person. H e is said to have paid a fabulous a mount to some third ratc Punjabi pocts and got d o ne a poo r poetic scribbling under the title of 'A vtar Ba n i'. He prescribed it as the Nirankari religiou s book. This is also full or such ab sunj fibs , crudely glorifying Shri Avtar Singh and his son, Shri Gurbachan Si ngh as the present day exclusive avtars and prophets of G od. Their wives, Smts. Budhan and Kulwant Kaur, are also similarly deified How preposterously absurd.' 13.

A SYNOPSIS The comiler of this booklet some time back had an occasion to glance through the complete 2S2-pages of the Avta r Bani. The origi.nal is a Punjabi publication of 25-10- [965 of the Sant Nirank a ri Mandai, Saut Niraukui Colony, D.:lhi-9. The a Jtilor indicated is Shri Avtar Singh. But its conten ts consist of three parts. The first 170 pages wi th 376 versified pieces, are by Shri A vtar Singh and the next 6 of one [uDnin g non sensical rhymes are by the 'Mothe r of Universe' (Jagat Mata ), the 'worshipful' (Smt.) Budha wanti Niraokari, spouse of Shri Av tar Singh , The las t, 3rd part of 73 pages is a set of 42 co mpo siti ons by 42 different poet henchmen 14

followers of the Nirankari MandaI. As to the poor, crude, nonsensical Splfltuoreligions a nd literary quality of the whole text, Prof. Pritam Si ngh, Head of the GUfU Nanak Studies Department o~Âˇ Guru Nanak Dev University, Aillritsar, has given an able, and objective> review thereo f in the Daily Trihune, Chandigarh, in its 25 Sept., 1978 i. sue , p. 4, fOf the sake of this brief narration, one can add little more to it. How it 'is all a fraud on the conscious and intell igent cOlllmunity, hereunder is the summary of Prof. Pritam Singh's review: "He (i.e. A Vlar Sing.h) exhorts men not to brother about good and bad and to understand that such praGtices as five " nam azes" per day and other penances only erode the body and serve no other usrfui purpose. MO$t of sucb exJlOrtations are onl y generalities. Baba Avt a r Singh has a racy, direct, repcti tive but un eq ual style which does not care much for literary embellishments. Judged purel y as literature. "Avtar Bani" may not succeed in commanding any prominent place in Punjabi swdie 5 either for the originality of its matter or for its bold experimentation with di ction or language, fo r all of which it dra ws heavily On Guru Granlh Sahib . It i; not a bo ok o f re ligio us philosopb y either, as no consistent ori gin al theorretica l framework on whicb all independent and lasting reli giou; st ru cture may be built, is avai la ble there. There is hardly any Idea th at can be put fo r-

ward as new . The book res ts marc on its rejec tion of the preva lent religions tha n on its prese nt a ti on of a fresh or a reorgani sed thesis, whi ch may be rel evant to the times that we jive in . Th e whole idiom of the book is so medieval, in fact so ancient, that o ne just wonders whether any of the writers of the book lived or lives in our own age at a ll. 10 view of the growth in Ill e number of the foll owers of Sa n t Nira nka ris, should th is extraonJjnary feature of "Avtar Ba ni" be interpreted as a tragic bid of our peo ple to esca pe the contem porary socioeco nomic im pa sse ?"

15. The Disclaimer As if out of g uilty conscience, Shri Gurbachan Singh, soo n afte.r his a lleged complicity an d abetment in the 13th April, 1978 carnage of Sik hs, h as now publicly di sawowed hi s pr op heth oo d and other rilles to be a n exclw.. ive avlar of the day and hi s appell a ti on of eve n Godhead. Fo r instan ce, in addition to his highl y costly repeated publicity insert ions in the country's D ai lies, a nd Week lies, English , Urdu , H indi on es to this effect, he has also distributed in thousand s and sen t round to all the Punjabi newspa pers in tlle Puniab a nd outsid e, a printed leaflet to di sc.l aim all hi s divinity tilles , und er t he b ea din g "WHAT IS TRUE, WHA T IS UNTRUE?" On its p . 2, item 6 he stales, 'My name is Gurba chan Singh . Some se lfi, h people unll ecessarily derame me by fal sely implicating my na me a s if] am a guru , all avlar o r a proph et. I am sim ple Gurbachan Sin gh, beyo nd whi cb I do

not claim myself anything else. Nor 1 deem it proper to do so. And further more he , ays, " I recogni se Shri Guru Granth Sahib aDd other religiou s blwks as n :vealcd texts , and give equal res pect tn them all. Not on l- that 1 would nOl Uller any disrespectful words again st them. I al so take i t to he sacrilegiou s to heat. any olle else doing so. J , ineerely believe in aDd revere all the Sikh Gurus and olher religious pre ceptors." ] 6. Wbat is Correct? One is puzzled, therefore, I'll ascerlain whether his earlier claim s to be an exc lu sive aVlar aDd proph et of tbe modern world-ra th er Nirankar (God) llim selfwas correct or bis [resll di , a vowal, that he is a simple Gurbachan Singh, is genuin e. One is inclined to infer that just as he was over-bearingly and ridiculou sly assumpluous ill llis fir st fake claim, he is equally insincere and dishonest in his disclaimer. Otherwise, if he is sincere in his fresh stand , he must wind up hi s whole fraudulent show, close his den se of vice, the l:lhawans, hand over the Mandai's property of several crorcs to the Government fOT a charitable purpose or constitute a Trust of his own chaise and him sel f full in line with some established and time-honoured relig.ious Order, preferably join the original Baba DyaJ's Nil'ankar i Darbar. He may advise his followers also to do the same. 17. Nirankari MandaI Some time after CO!l'fn-f~dO~V)) ' t1! i DelhihShri

Avtar Singh & Co. started and organised their rebel and rival fact.ion, tile Nirankari MandaI. It is virtually a family concern. In course of time , be set up his own campus, the Nirankari Colony, in Delhi-9. Centre's Complicity A Punjabi Weekly of Chandigarh, the 'Panjpani' in its issue of 7.5.1978 has given a stunning background story of the format ion of the Nirankari Mandai and its growth . The Editor has made a firm assertion about the MandaI. It came into being during S. Patel's tenure in the Home Ministry. Shl"i Avtar Singh is said to have made a mutually gainful written contract with the Government through the Secret cell of the Home Ministry. The main terms, it is stated, were these: Shri Avtar Singh would spread his Mandai's activities in the Sikh-dominated districts of Punjab. The a im of the Mandai would be to corrupt the staunch Khalsa fervour and character of the Sikh masses, by preaching and practising his â&#x20AC;˘Mans, Madura, Mailhan' cult among them. The political purposes is said to be to weaken the Sikh urge for keeping intact their full-blooded distinct entity in respect of separate socio-religiouscum-politico-cultural aspects of the Sikh Paoth. Thereby, it was meant to demolish the image, capacity and competence of the Sikh Panth's mouth piece, the Shiromani Akali Oa!. The latter has ever been, since after partition, an eye sore for the centre. Having missed the bus III 1946-47, the Oal bas

18.

continued to rightl y clamour for restorin g and rehahilitating the Co mmunity's historic in dependant status in the aforesaid aspects. The Congress bosses were, as perhaps now too some apex men of the present government are, anxious to silence or full the D al into accepting to abjure politics. Indeed, t here have been repeated attempts by the Delhi demi-go ds, for instance, both by the Congress and recently by the Janata party, to make Akali Dal a ba ndOIl its separate political sta tus. Of course, to makc the Panth acqu iesce into this position without acllieving the nal's targets, is tantamount to obliging the Sikhs 'commit religiocultural-cum-polilical suicide in the present set up of things in the counlry. Thus, Shri Avtar Singh and his Nirankari MandaI are said LO bave pledged for making the Sikhs deflect from th eir Khalsa way of life and thinking, thereby ma king them fllrget their oistinct entity and ultimately ma king them merge in the general mass of the maj o rity community. Such a n arrangement, Delhi seems to be ever anx ious, would permanently extinguish the Oal's fiat to fight for the Sikhs' rightful place in the country's political life. In return for til is 'service', the Government is said to have agreed to make availa ble craTes of funds to Shri Avtar Singh and his Nira nkari MandaI. it is firmly claimed by the above said Weekly tha t the said mutual arrangement in writing is still present in the secret cell of the Union Government's Home 19

Ministry. (See Appendix-'C') . It is, therefore, vcry important for all concerned. the Si kh Panth, th e Nira.nkari M a nd a i, and the Union G overnment to ferret out an d un earth the said docum ent, a nd make it public. Presu mably, by virtue of such an existin g agreem ent, the present apex apparatu s of Union Government also feels committed to honour it. That perba ps explains the PrimeMinister's consiste nt, much too open, pro-Gurbachan tilt and his coJJcague, the Fo reign Min ister's reported advocacy of the Niral1 kari Baba's preaching Manav Dbarma (Human ism). It was perhaps und er this cloak that a nonSikh Minister of Punjab and a veteran communalist Newspaper proprietor of lullundur vo lunteered to speak at t he last so-called 'M anavta Sammclan' of the Nirankari Chie!' at Arnritsar on 13.4.78, the massacre day of the Sikhs at tbe b ands of this alleged killer. And it is still fresh ill tbe Sikh's M emories tha t some time back our Foreign Affairs Ministry had se nt round a circular to some of our foreign embassies to ask Sikhs living abroad to arrange Y.I.P. receptions in honour of Shri Gurbachan Singh when he vi sited tbere. Strong protests th en again st such a circular by the Tehran Sikhs mu st still be there in the Foreign Affairs Ministry'S records. Further, in order to lend dignity and credibility to thi s anti-S ikb Nirankari MandaI, some of th e senior ce ntra l Ministers have been attending their annu a l gatherings in Dellii.

The Sikhs are also prone to interpret even the apparant soft corner of the Supreme Court for the 'Nirankari Baba' in the same light. So there is a reason to believe tllat Shri Gurbachan Singh 's daring indecent depradations against the Sikh religion and the Sikh Panth are not without the Centre's connivance. 19. Anti-Sikh Political Conspirary The above referred to document plus Centres' pro-Niraokari attitude, coupled with the communalists taking sides with the ' Nirankari Baba' as against the Sikh Panth and this unholy anti-Sikh alliance raising a dust sto rm against the Akali-dominated State Ministry to topple it down: all this, what is it if not antiÂˇSikh politics? To all intents and purposes, therefore, Shri Gurbachan Singh 's Niraokari Mandai and his camouflage fraud ulent cloak of spiritualism have proved to be more anti-Sikh political game then anything else. Th is game is being played by anti-Sikh forces to suppress the Sikh Panth's aspirations to re-discover its destiny. 20. Another Stunning Disclosure As culled from the S.G .P.C's. recently published 'White Pa per' (p. 26) there has come to light another piece of relevant naked truth. It is a statemen t of one Shri Satpal Baghi of Ferozepul'. It is said to have appeared jn an April end 1978 issue of the Daily 'Indian Express', its Chandigarh Edition. As it is in the sa id WHITE PAPER. it is being given verbatim in an Appendix-'D' herewith as a 21

part of this booklet at the end. Its text forcefully reinforces the version of Chandigarh's 'Panjpani' Week ly iss ue of 7.5 .78, as referred to above under paragraph 17. In conjunction with Appcndix-'D' , giving full text of Mr. Satpa l Baghi 's statement, may be pro fitably read the 'Panjpani's' version (English rendering of the relevant ab~tract portions ) in Appendix-C and also S. Huk am Singh's article mentioned under paragra ph 21 herebelow : 21. Sardar Hukam Singh's Evidence To further endorse this view, it would be quite pertinent to quote Sardar Hukam Singh, Ex-Speaker, Lok Sabha, from his recent article in the 'Spokesman' New Delhi, in its 15 and 22 Ma y, 1978 issues. Ever since 1947 there has been lurking an unfortunate suspicion in Delbi's inner thinking about the Sikhs' fidelity toward s their cberisted motherland . And this is so despite their undeniab le historic lion's share in sacrifices in th e country's liberation struggles. Sikh Pantb's insistence on keeping its alJround distinct entity intact, is another serious grouse of the majority community's bard-boiled communalists in tbe Punjab and else\Nhere, even in the Centre, whatever be the complexation of the ruling party in Dellli. In this context, it would be quite cogent to quote Sardar Huk(l1U Singh's inferential verdict from hi s derailed article, based on so lid factual data adduced by him. In this ankle in two instalments (15 and 22 May issues), captioned, 'SIKH DENIED MINORiTY STATUS SINCE PARTITION', he writes: 22

"Immedia tely after p~tition, the Sikh leaded tried their bes t to assu{e tbe Indian. O:p.y.~ilJ ment and the Congress pa-ny Ur~f'thev' did not want any separate state, but only safeguard to live as equal citizens, with respect and honour, and not as underdogs of democracy··· .. . ... The policy of the Indian Government since Independence, whatever its complexion presented and whichever the cloak it has worn, has been to absorb and assimilate the Sikhs, and not to give any recognition by which they might further prolong their existence as a distinct community" (The Spokesma n 15.5.78, pp. 6,7), Sardar ji, besides giving other references has al so copiously quoted from the communalist press leaders of August to October, 1948, e.g. Jai Hind, JuJlundur, 6.8.48 ; Hind Samachar, 4.8.48; The Pratap, JuJlundur 11.9.48; Tribun e, 5.10.48; the Hindustan Times, Oct. 1948, to prove hi s main contention in nutshell, th al " if the Sikhs desire to live in India they should cease to think as a community. The majori ty community is bent upon liquidating their identity by rubbin g them down and malignin g tbem , and the Sikhs have been trying to foi l th ose manoeu vres." ('SPOKESMAN' 22 .5.78, p . 4.) . Therefo re, in the context under-reference, Sardar Huka m Singh's artic le in question is very much wo rth reading. Its implication must be processed th o roughly by all the conscious Sikhs, also 23

by the weU wishers Ilf the Punjab, as well as of the country at large. Ever,' loya l son of Mother Punjab too must pause and co mpre.i1end Punjab's future in the light of S. Hukam Singh's th is writing on the wall. (See Appe ndix H) All the sa me, Sdrda rji's writeÂˇ up lends a great credence to the assertion made by the Editor of the aforesaid Weekly of Chandiga rh . Thus, inadverÂˇ tently, it also lends credence to the possibility of th e reported mutual arra ngement between the N irHnkari Mandai and the Centre as an effective device to ' rub down' the Sikhs, and therefore. Delhi patronage of Sbri Gurbachan Singh 's person and programme. 22. Still More CollaboratJon As practicall y it is a well thought out policy of the Centre to 'rub down' the Akali Dal, ipso facto the Sikh Panth, a not her circumstantial piece of evidence is cited hercbclow in support hereof: The Sikh Pa nth decimation policy is the crux of the who le malleI' vis-a-v is the Niranka ri Mandai 's anti Sikh activity. The 'Punjubi San'~lchur' Weekly of Bo mbay (its 4. 8.78 Iss ue, p. 4) al so makes a point from a reliably qu ot.:d source in this respect. It reveals, the Sikh Jead ~ rs arc now growing consciolls of a fact. The Sikh s are undcr a thick cloud of suspicion at the Cen tre, evcrsince a Home Ministry prepared and rccorded confidential note about their political frustration and hence a likely contingency of their hobnob bing with Pakistan any time. The sa id note is stated to have been prepared and recorded during

late Sardar Patel's stewardship of the Home Ministry, soon art~r independence, just to conditioll Delhi's recurring. po licies towards the community. This expla in s not only the Centre's sinister device of the Nirankari MandaI's continued patronage again Âˇt the Sikhs, but a lso its continued allti-Sikh and (because of Sikhs) a nti-Punjab trends_ There has piled up a heap of instances of deliberate discrimination, both agains t the Sikhs and the Punjab, ever since J947. For example, 3rd June last Memorandum of Punjab's Revenue Minister on the subject, su bmitted to the Prime Minister- and the latter's subsequent unceremonious rejection th.:reof -is ju st an iI! usna tio n_ As a corollery hereof, the traditional anti-Sikh communalist diehards of Punjab have evcr a llied themselves with all kinds of anti-Sikh and anti-Punjab forces. Their allout support of the bogus N irallkar is in the case under reference, is a patent fact [Q further amplify this point. They and their press have ill reccnt month s, done th eir worst not o nl y to support' the al leged killers of Sikhs, but a lso to utili se this unfortunate episode to malign and topp le the present AkaJi-domin"tcd co~litio n Ministry in the Punjab. This a nti-Sikh phobia of some of om communalist brethren is an old mental maJady of 1 heiJ"S . For instance, one is reminded of a top class comlTluna list lawyer Jeader of lahore to have been tbe chief adviser of the Nankana Sahib Gurdwara Mahanl, who had massacred abo U[ 150 innocent Sikb devotees in Feb., 1921. The latter had gone to the Mahant to make

him desist from his acts of debauchery, as a custodjan of the sacred shrine, One is, t.herefore, tempted to surmise, just as the Brilish Government had supported the killer Mahant against the Sikh Panth for their imperialist reasons then, our world-known 'morali st' Prime Minister, and like their Lahore fore-runner, 'Hindi, Hindu-Hindustan' neo-imperialist zea lots of today in supporting the alleged new killer of Sikhs, might not earn a simi lar odium , A top class majority community intellectual has claimed that after independence 'Hindus are the masters and r ulers ofIndia', It is not improbable, therefore, that apart from the se well organised zealots, in positions of power today, this communally over-bearing thinking is symbo lic of a n average politically consciolls member of the majority community, This seems to be so inspite of the tall hypocritical claims to the con tra ry. 23. Sikh-Nirallkari Controversy It is much too evident that the Nirankari Mandai bas, eversince the aforesaid agreement, been working heart and sou l in the direction of its undertaking, Because of Sbri Gurbacban's openly running down the Sikh Gurus, mimicking them and also aping certain hi storic, esteemed Sikh personages, ridicul ing the authority of their eterna l WORD GURU, Sri Guru Granth Sahib, mocking at the Sikh Conuuunity for pursuing their scrosanct usages and tradition, for instance, Kar-Sewa, Amrit Prachar etc. All this has enraged the :whole Sikh community over

the years. They have been giving such pin Pricks XI? the Sikhs ince long. For this reaso n, before Âˇ tg:4.L78 traged}'; there had been a numher of earlier angry protestation by the Sikhs against such indecent and vulgar p'ublic blurtings of Shri Gurbachan on various occasions and at various places in the Punjab, like Ropar, Hoshiarpur, Ludhiana, Pathankot, Chowk Mehta etc. and outside, for instance, in Bombay. The concerned police records and court proceedings must bear testimony to it in Punjab and Bombay. The Amritsar tragedy was just a climax of all this. 24. Clash or KLling The Anti-S ikh Press ha s been profusely publicising all these months that 13.4,78 tragedy in Amritsar was an armed attack parpetrated by the Nihangs on the Niranka[i gathering. For this one may refer to, for instance, a mi sleading caption under a photo picture in the 'Illustrated Weekly of India' of 23.4 78, p. 27, (also referred to elsewhere in this booklet) which mistake the Weekly had to rectify with regrets on protest from S.G.P.C., in its 14.5.78 issue, p. 5. It is all a travesty of truth. The Nihangs or any political Akalis were 110 where in the picture on this occasion. It seems, the se habitual anti-parrth publicists deliberately inducted the name of Nihangs in this tragic episode to make it appear quite plausible, because the Nihangs are armed with traditional Sikh Weapons, remanents as they are of Sri Guru Gobind Singh's holy militia, analogolls to ELII'opes'

Knight errants of medieval ages. The Sikhs who went to protest to the N irankari Chief to refrain from insultillg the Sikh religion and their Gurus in his public hlurtings were all unarmed. They also bad no liaison whatever with any partisan politics. They bad on their persons only sheathed usual symbolic small 'kripans'. Therefore, tbey never went with any intention of engaging themselve s with anyone in an armed combat. It was, therefore, the same kind of onesided atrocious killings of conscious protest ors, by the se p,eudo-Nirankari killers, i.e., their para-military Sewe Dal, as General Dyer had killed protesting peorle in Jallianwala Bagh on the Dth April, 1919 Baisakhi in Amritsa r. The notorious Mahant Narain Das of Nankana Sahib had also killed about 150 Sikhs on 2! st FebruaTY, 192! in a simi lar way with the connivance of the British Government. Tbese 13.4.78 Sikh protesters we re kept by the police at a di stance about 300 yards frolll the ve nue of the N irankari gathering. AmI the peo ple at a cons iderab le distance outside the ' pandal" arc said to ha ve heard the Nirankari chief speak on an elaborate loud -speaker arrangcment in stalkd inside , exhorting h is trained militia perso nnel in thcse words, "These Sikhs think they can stop us frolll freely carrying out our programme. Let them know today bow mi staken they are. Time has come to be active for Lbi s job .'Âˇ 1t is reported, at this stage a cont in gent of their para-military force, armed and equipped with

rifles, acid bottles, mechanically operated poisioned arrows etc., Jlastened to the spot wllcre the un-armed protesting Sikhs were made to stand by the police. With in 111 inutes they mowed down more than a dozen of these devoted souis. Their only fault was that tbey went there for a perfectl y legitimate protest as said above, just as it so often h appens, for example, ou [side the Prime Minister's or any other Government dignitaries' residence in New Delhi or elsewhere. Hence it was not a SikhÂˇNirankari clash but a deliberate one-s ided massacre of unarmed Sikhs, A reference has been made at an other place in this book.let that, according to a front rank ex-Nirankari veteran, tile Niran.kari chief is said to have got precontemplated plan of 'teaching a lesson ' to the protesting Sikhs. The Kanpar Carnage Tsn't it strange? Shri Gurbachan Singh , together with his otber associates, is facillg a lllurder trail in a Sessions Court. But tbe G()\'crnment and the jud ieia ry is so considerate for this alleged murderer that he is allowed to be enlarged on bail, without putting any re strictions and conditious on him for obviatiqg any furtber chance of his repeating such a ghastly contingency as tl1e one of 13.4.1978 at Amritsar, at least as long the Court proceedings were in progress. Not only tbis:' Leaders of his private paramilitary force, (see Appendix P.A.) who are also alleged to be directly involved in the Amrit sar

massacre, are long declared absconders bearing sizeable rewards on their heads. Is it complimentary for the Government's forces of law and order, in fact for the Government itself, that these alleged killers, absconding for the las! morc than six months, si nce 13.4.78. arc still at large? It is extensively rumoured that they are safe and enjoying in the Nirankari Baha's own custody in h is headquarters in Dellli-9, that is, under the Centre's own no se. It is, therefore, wrong to infer that the se alleged declared murder absconders are under the implied direct protection of the centre itself? And what is the direct sequence of the above logic? The Nirankari baba is aga in involved, or why not say is directly responsible for another similar set of murders in Kanpur on 26th September, 1978, under simiJar circumstances and fOT simila r reasons. And one sl.lOuld believe therefore, that the Sikh community should await a still further round of martyrdoms for the same sacred cause as at Amritsar and then in Kanpur, at the hands of these very alJeged murderers, the fake Nirankaries, thmugh oul the country with the Government's connivance. It seems this abominable Nirankari baba is well set to 'teach a pucca lesson' to the Sikh Panth Ullder the Centre's OW[] patronage. Sardar Hukam Singh's Inquiry Report As culled from the Daily TriblLl1e of 19.10.78, p. I, hereunder is a Copy of Sardar Hukam Singh lnquiry Committee's report on the Kanpur Tragedy. Though subseqllcntly the Prime Minisler has 30

remarked it is a 'one-sided' version, yet it is analog.eous to tile Corrgress Inquiry Report on 1919 Jallianwala Bagh massacre as against British Government's Hunter Committee's findings. Tile accredited readers may be pleased to make their own references from the undernoted next to reconcile the same with the pivotal gist of the case made ont in tile main exposition in this compilation. The Kanpur Tragedy The three man committee appointed by the Delhi Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee to enquire into the Kanpur incident of September 26 has expressed the view that the tragedy resulting in 13 deaths and injuries to over 40 persons could have been averted if the police had desired so. The Committee is headed by Mr. Hukam Singh former Lok Sabha Speaker. The other members are Mr. M ehar Singh Chadha, retired Distri ct and Sessions Judge, and Mr Hazara Singh Cundoia, an advocate of the Supreme Court. The committee which made an on-the-spot enquiry for tbree days in Kanpur submitted its findings to the D. G. P. C. President Mr. JaslVanl Singh Sethi. The report, wllich was released to the press by Mr. Hllkam Singh and Mr. Setbi at a news conference said that the situation was allowed to develop unchecked until the Sikhs reached Nirankari Bhava n where they were trapped and then fired upon indiscriminately. The poLice did not have Lathis or tear gas 31

shells, normallv used in dispersing crowds, befnre resorting to shooting. Tile shooting was to kill and not to disperse th e as se mbl y or protect any human life or propert.y as almost all tIle bullets were aimed above the hips. Ninmkaris Armed Preparations had already been made at Nirankari Bhavao where heaps of stones and brick-bats had been collected on the Toof. These were used as missiles as tbe Sikh procession approached the Bbavan. Besides, the Nirankari volunteers were armed witb lathis and firearms. The police, according to tbe report, received information at 8 a.l11. that a procession wa s heading towards Nirankari Bbavan. During the hour and a half interval it bad, no magistrate was requested to be on the spot [lor was an y senior officer deputed to assess the situation and deal with it. The S.H.O. was left alone to take all the deci sions and he had already made plans to 'shoot to kill' as was apparent frOl'll his equipping him self and his assistants with revolvers and .303 rilles. The procession covered a 3-km route and passed the road where the police stalion was situated . The police watched the procession pass without any hintrance and remained unconcerned. The gates of the Bha van had been closed and bolted from inside with only one kept open . At the enclosure gate the proccssionists were asked not to enter the hall. They insisted on meeting the Baba. The stones thrown from the Bhavan forced them to

run helter-, ke lter but a few forced their way in. No force was used to prevent them nor was the assembly declared unlawful. Wilen so me had been trapped the only opened gate was closed. There were police inside the hall also. There were vol leys of brick-bats thro wn by the crowd outside and a murderou s assault on tbose trapped with the use of fire -arms, brick-bats and Jatbis. Th" F.I.R. filed by th e Sikhs states tl1at the first shot was fired by Baba Gurbacban Singh . The Sikhs fo und themselves cornered with no chance of escape. Thlls in desperation they struggled and fought hack. Tl1ere was firing without warning. Every Sikh tryi ng to flee or find shelter was chased and fired at. The po lice appeared to be di ssa tisfied even with this firing. A young man Mr. Manmohan Singh, had hiddt:n himself in an adjacent bu ildin g. Two hou rs after the firing bad stopped he came out and lried to ride away on his scooter but was shot dead. The pol ice did not a tlend to the wounded to see wnether any could be saved. On the other hand, those attempting to provide first -aid to them were fired at. There were no Nihangs nor any other outsider. Tbe question of use of excessive force by the police, the report observed, was irrelevant as revolvers and 303 rifles were the only wea pons they bad. Atrocities The atrocities committed by tbe police were

so terrifying that the Sikh s were completely paralysed and could not even dare to mention them. No Sikh dared to file the first information report. There was a lot of delay and when ultimately it was filed, all tbe Sikh leaders were asked to sign it so that everyone echoed the statement exonerating the police, the report stated. The district authorit ies completely fo rgot that they were tbe guard ians and the Nirankaris and t he Sikhs were their wards. Timely steps could have saved the Sikhs from this catastrophe. Mr. Hllkam Singh said that the Sikh processionists di splayed a high spirit of restraint and sacrifice. Some of them had to make the supreme sacrifice by braving the bullets of the police and the Nirankaris while others were permanantly disa bled. Two young men became martyrs, leaving behind young widows with small children. The committee suggested that immediate relief should be provided to the widows and their orphaned children brought up and compensation given to those disabled. Mr. Hukam Singh said the U.P. Ch ief Minister who had strong views, was initially nelt in favour of holding the ellqniry and tried to dissuade them from doing so. Mr. Sethi said he would sub mit this report to the Prime Minister on October 21 and demand action against the erring police officers. A copy of the report would also be sent to the U .P. Chief Minjster.

Other~

Otherwise, if these p~rk had rea II}!, .<~ genuine independent religious ~tÂˇ . oQii'Âˇ tntlllltl)'.ti'ti preach. without insulting the Sikh- reJfglbff -or tor that malLer any otller reJlgion s, the Sikhs could have no quarrel with them. As a matter of fact, there is no record of Sikhs clashing with followers of any other genuine religion . Tilev believe in the mllxim so copiously enunciated in their sac red scriptures Like 'Na ko bairi nahin begana sagal sang hamko ball aa;', i.e., no one is our enemy, WI! befriend one and all. Or "Sabko mil ham apan kina, ham sabill1a ke sajan", i.e. , we nave be friended all and we arc friends of all. Both these quotation s, out of sco res of such ones, are from Shri Guru Granth Sahib. Similarly Shri Guru Gobind Singh exhorts his followers in this context in these words " Monas-lei-jat Sahli Ekai hi Pahchanbo", i.e., Recognise yeo whole humanity as one. Hence as a matter of practical illustration to thi s day Siklb allover the globe easily fraterni se with all people of the Universe. This is a part of their character, individual, a nd Co rporate, as a result of their Gurus' teachings. The world-revered authorities like late Maharishi Aurobindo Ghosh and Prof. A. Toynbee and scores of other eminent erudite celebrities, fully endorse this view. For instance, one may refer to Swami Aurobindo's 'Foundation of Indian Culture', and Prof. Arnold Toynbees' Preface to the UNESCO's Publication, titled "Selections from Sikhs Sacred Writings" .

l-Jen ce Shri Gurbachan's impertinent claim to be the present day Guru Nanak and 11is insult to Sri Guru Grauth Sahib and to mock at the sacred Sikh traditions, and p(!rsouages etc. as briefed above, is the cause of his coming into conflict with the Sikhs at Jarge, and not the Akalis or Nihangs alone, as is being mischievously publicised to malign the Akali leaders and Akali Ministers in the Punjab Government. As for Nihangs they have been nowhere in the picture in the sto ry under reference. 25. The Hukamnama In the Jast resort, in view of the continued insulting of Sikh religion, and d isruptive activities in the organised Sikh Panth etc. by Shri Gurbachan and his bogus Nirankari followers, the former at long last has been obliged to proclaim his and his followers' socio-religious bo ycott by the Sikhs. It was in the form of a traditional Hukamnama, the edict, issued from the highest seat of Sikh religio us authority, the Akal Takhat on 10th June, 1978. The Sikh Panth is an organised Guru's socio- religious state within state. Such occasional Hukamnama in Sikh history hitherto have been issued, both in the Gurus' times and afterwards, to keep intact the Pantb's integrity against any disruption. This is, therefore, a domestic prerogative of the Sikh Panth. None else sho uld bother his or her head about it. If some people ha ve dODe it or are stilj doing it, they have done so or are doing it at thei r own risk of interfereing with the religious affairs of the Sikh Community. The Hukamnama affects

none others, except tIle disruptive, bogus, Sikh-like Nirankari Chief impostor and bis followers. 26. Study the Hukamn3lJ1a It is Ilighly improbable that the tllOughtless communalists and other critics of the Hukamnama, beinfolded by their absurd prejudices and or ignorance, have so far studied its text in depth nor they are conversant with Sikh history and tradition, nor they care to know aU this. Thus they are announcing their prejudiced judgements without any basis. Refering to its contents in a photostat copy, published in the official organ ali the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandl1ak Committee (S.G.P.c.) Amritsar, 'the Gurdwara Gazettee', for June L978, the under-noted words and a text of Shri Guru Gobind Singh quoted therein, are very germane to the above point: 'Khalse da vird hai', Dharam chalavan. sant ubaran. dusht sabhan ko lIlul uparan. It TIleanS, the Khalsa Pantll is inherently committed to further, fOSLer and uphold the vaLues of Dharma as such, and to stand a sentineL to safe guarding the dignity oftbe righLieous peo ple, the saints, and to destroy tbe enemies of these ethical values and the virtllolls people root and branch . Apart from Sikhism, as already pointed out, Nirankari Mandai's 'bible', the ' Avtar Bani', downgrades and insults the credentials of Hinduism, Christianity and Islam as weLL It defies Avtar Singh and Gurbachan Singh over the heads of Lords Ruma, Krishna, and other Hindu deities, and ridicules Hindu pilgrimage tradi tjo n, as well as insults Jesus Christ

and Prophet Moh am mad . The Hukamnama, therefore, tbough indirectly, is there to check their taking liberty wjth the sa nctity and grace of othe r religions also. In a way, therefo re. over a dozen of the cream of pious Sikhs, following in the foo tste ps of Guru Tegh Bahadur, have laid down th(Âˇir lives o n 13th April, 1978, in defence of Dha rma as such . Tha t way, all sincere votaries of alJ re ligions and lhese who swear by the spiritual val ues of India's anCie nt, ethica l, eternal cul ture, mu st also own these martYI's as their own. It follows, therefore. that al l the followers of Hinduism, Christan it y a nd I slam. mu st also jo in ha nd s with the Sikh Panth to boycott these bogus Nirankaris. They sho uld all jointl y impress upon the G overn ment t o arran ge a th onlligh en quiry into every dewil of thi s wam-margi cult for its total ba nning. 27. Hukamnama Safeguards O ther Faiths Also Apart from safeg uardin g the excellencc of t he corpora te Sikh character and system, 1here is uno lher catholic signi ficance of the Hukamnama. Inadvertently , it checks the on >Iau ght of Gurbachan Singh's wam-margi N irankarism on the essence of our proud Indian ethico-spiritual culture . For th at reaso n it behoves the whole lot of people wbo sear by such a spiritual tradit io n of Mother india, most of all the Central Government's votaries of anc ient ethica l culture, must rather join forces wilh the Sikh Panth to save sp iritual Indianism again st th e 'pollution of the foredesc ribed debauch Nilallka l' ;sm.

28.

Private Army The S.G .P .c. has recently published a 4-page folder, titled 'Private Army of Sant Nirankari Mission.' According to this the Nirankari MandaI maintains about 7,000 strong militarily trained militia. The recruitment thereto is said to be country wide. The force is a paid one and regularly ranked and uniformed on a military pattern . There is a Commander-in-Chief, a Deputy Commander-in-Chief and down tile rungs, there are other militaryÂˇlike ranks at th~ lowest stage being ordinary sepoys and other ranks (ORS). Their recruitment age ranges fr om 16 to 40 years for males and 12 [0 30 for females, preferably unmarried young girls. The force is made up of citywi se and region-wise recruited units, their strength in each case being Nirankari population-wise and importance of a place or a region. Training duration for neo-recruits; is three man Ihs, as per a well planned schedUle. The force is called the 'Sant Nirankari Seva Oat' (S.N.S.D. ). 11 is planned, controlled and supervised in every detail by the regularly. constituted 'Nirankari Seva Dal Board.' It was the S.N.S.D. personnel who moved down the 13 Sikhs, the martyrs and grievously injured about 80 others on the last Baisakhi day, 13-4-1978, in Amritsar. Earlier, besides about half a dozen other places in PunJ3b, they bad already indulged in a similar action in Bombay too fO( similar reasons. A noted writer, Mr. Balwant Gargi, stales about the S.N.S.D . in a Nirankari Mandai publication 39

of his, the 'Nirankari Baba' pp. 72, 73 li ke this: "the first time 1 attended a (Niranka ri) Smagam two years ago on the the Dchli's Ram Lila Grou nds , 1 was startled to see an arm y of uniformed so ldiers, controlling traffics and conducting participants. A white turbanned senior official wearing epaulettes and leather cross belts commanded them with a whistle". Tllis is a brief description of Gurbachan's paramilitary force maintained for atrocious actions like the tragic one, recently enacted in Amri tsa r o n 13-4-1978. Some Cogent QueTies In relevance to tbe 'Sant Nirankari Seva Da l', a nlisnoroer indeed, and its heinou s activities, plus other unpalatable facts stated in this narration vis-avis the Government's administ rative obligations, here are a number of cogent queries of a responsible citizen for the Governm ent to answer: (i) Isn't it probable that apart from reponed noncooperation of tbe Debli Police with the Punjab Police, the Ia.tter were also afraid of se rvin g arrest warra nts on the 'Nirankari Baba' in hi s DehIi citadel and llis other aIJeged murder accomplices, beca use of the baba's these S.N. S.D. hideou s scntinals? In tbis way, process of law was trifled with, seemingly by this Nirankaci militia. (ii) If tbe Government has so far taken no cognizance of this S.N.S.D's. activities and its supereme Commander, th e baba, wha.t inference the ' Secular' Administratio n would like the

Slkh Panth in particula r a nd the other peace lov ing citize ns in general to draw from thi s kind o f its gross adm inistrative delinquency? (iii) How is it th a t the Government's law and order age ncies to ok no notice of the Nirankari C hiefs's earlier such vio len t ac tio ns a t a number o f places in the Punjab an d outside, in order to proper ly bridlin g him befo re permitting him to convene hi s gathering in Amrit sa r on U-4-1978 ? (iv) Is it not the obligation of the Government even now to take the public at la rge into its confidence as to what was the inventory o f the po lice wilh regard to the weapons and casks of whisky erc. recovered in a police resea rch of th e Amritsar Nirankari gat hering camp and its B hawan, ca rried on immediately afrer tbe 13-4-78 tragedy? With informatio n about th e licenses of the armoury items used -ill the sa id carnage. (v) AlJd is it not th e height of the Governments' callou sness and disregard of the precious humalJ li te, that it aUow.:d the Ni ra nkari Chief carryon his condemnable programme of his Amritsar gathering o n 13-4-1 978 for hours even after the massac re th a t day? And is the Government not still more se riously accountable be fore tbe people, th a t il not only allowed the C hie f an d his a Ueged murder accom plices and other pa raph e rna ti a t o safel y esca pe to D ehli, but also some Government officials 41

having pmvided him escort for a safe run-away? Isn't it not a Government's virtual abetment in tbe alleged crime? (vi) Isn't it with a sinister purpose that the Government induc ted quite a few Nirankari I .A.S. and other senior officers in Sikh garb into the Punjab administration? For all such queries to answer satisfactorly the ball is certainly in the Government' s court for clearance. A major slaughter was long contemplated One of the front rank veteran ex-Nirankaris, Nirankari Mandai 's senior ex-preacher, has disclosed another startling fact. ]n llis recent Punjabi publication (p. 61) 'Sam Nirankari Mandai di Haqiqat ' (i.e., Reality of the Nirankari MandaI), S. Ujagar Singh Josh Aoandpuri has revealed Nirankari Chief's long contemplated scheme of a major slaughter of Sikhs to teach them a lesso n, in order to make them abandon their protests against his in sults to the Sikh Gurus and the Sikh religion. Isn't it also pitiable that the Government's concerned machinery has bee n careless about such hideou s designs of Ius against the Sikhs? 29. Naqli Nirankari Nihangs Shri Gurbachan Singh has also created a contingent of imitation Nihangs, a militant Sikh sect. This contingent is created and kept for a few probable purposes. One is to utilise their serv ices along with the foreÂˇ described para-military Nirankari Seva Dal on occasions like the one of 13-4-1978 Amritsar carnage_ Second, to use i.t to create a camoufla ge

scene of an Akali-Nihang atlack on them (the NiraJ:tkaries), as an anti-Nihang or Anti-Akali publicity stunt, when it suits their purpose. For inslance, they got published an identical misleading picture in the 23Âˇ4-78 'J!lustrated Weekly ofIndia' (p. 27) to publicise as if Akali'(Nihangs) had attacked them in Amritsar on 13-4Âˇ78. On S.G.P.C's. and other Sikh s' stlbsequently pointing out this mistake. the Weekly had to publish the necessary correction in its 14-5-78 issue on p. 5, with an expression of regrets. There can still be another fraudulent purpose; as if Nibang Sikhs, known to be a sect of staunch militant SikJ1S of pristine Khalsa faith, are also their followcrs. Thus all kinds of frauds seems to be another article of faith with the NirankaTi MandaI. To authenticate the above statement regarding creation of NaqLi Nirallkari Nihang contingent, a group photocopy of such mim'c Nihangs taken on the 26th general Ni ra nkari gathering, and one more of such illlitatio n Nihangs practising a mock fencing game is in the 'Sant Nirankari' Punjabi Monthly for December, 1973 p. 21 (See Appendix F). 30. Status of Amritsar Martyrs This brief narration would be incomplete without clarifying the status of the 13-4-1978 Amritsar martyrs jn tile Sikh world, as heores hereof. There should be no doubt about it that despite their deep anguish, the whole Sikh Panth is genuinely proud, lhe,e martyrs together with Sardar Darsban Singh Pheruman's ma tc hless deed of October, 1969, 43

have added another modern golden chapter to the vast proud record of Sikh martyrs in history so far. In what great esteem the whole Sikh world holds these ne w ma rtyrs, it would be evident from the unanimous reso lutio n on this tra gic event, a~ passed in the AIIÂˇWorld Sikh Convention , held un de r the auspices of the supreme statutory Sikh religious body, the S.G.P.C. Amritsar on 17-5-1978. Also how even the Sikh Dh ar ma Brotherhood (Los Angeles, U.S.A.) of the Western Hemisphere Neo-Sikhs, ha ve reacted to thi s carnage of Sikhs; for all thi s see Appe ndix 'G' . Representatives of the Brotherhood participated in th e 17-5-1978 Convention also. Is it a Religion? The country's Prime Minister and vest of hi s co-thickness seem to be very much at pains to make the people believe that this fraud of Nirankarism is a full fledged faith and its followers mu st enjoy a right of worship as they like. In !Iris context there is a pertinent question diforcing this hot issue from the current politics it has gOt to be aca demicall y investigated whether Gurbachan's Nirankari Mission is at all a faith of any distinct identity meriting such a privilege. For thi s a panel of competent religions scholars of Hinduism, hlam, Christianity and Sikhism, which faith these people demigrate, mu st sit together to fix a common yard stick of credenti als of an acceptable religion and academjcally map it out on that. Of all the people, let our esteemed Prime Minister him self take such an

initiative. Otherwise such fake and mushroom growth of these so-called, faiths , panesitic demonstration are sure tn mak" our cherished Mother India a hell to li ve in and make a mockery of an ethical sacred heritage before tbe world at large. 31. Inquiry, A Mllst The fore-narrated facts warrant an immediate forthright Governmental inquiry into the Nirankari Mandai's aJl'airs. It is sure, as a result, some solid material will come on the file, to make it necessary for the Union Government not only to ban the Mandai itself, but al so prescribe their ' AVTARBANI' and other spurious literature. By the way, like the Nirankari MandaI, an enquiry and an identical action is also called for agaimt the activities of quite a number of otber such pseudo-religious agencies in the country. There has cropped up a mushroom growth of such counterfeit, parasitic cults and regressive elements in the land . They are threatening the full-blooded modern , onward march of tl1e nation. They a re badnaming I ndia in the whole world. Quoting an eminent writer, Sri Dinanath SidhalJtaJankar, from the April, 1973 issue of a Hindi Monthl y, the 'Jana Gyan ' (p.30), a 'WHITE PAPER', recently published by tbe S.G .P.c. states in this context ou p. 16 as follow;; : "there is a deluge of bogus gods incarnate and hypocrirical gurus in India these days. Current lv, there are over two hundred and fifty persons thriving in India who claim to be gurus or 45

gods - incarnate. Some of them stake the claim that they are ihe supreme god, Vishnu, others procla im that they are the gods of gods, Siva and still others asser t that they are incarnations of R ama Chandra, Lord Kri shna or the Final Incarnation, heralding the End of World, Immaculate Kalki." What a tama sha of India's proud ancient culture? Hence a high level inquiry into the affairs of tIle Nirankari Mandai and other such fake religious mountebanks and agencies of its kind is imperative in the nation's interests. By tbe way, any well-meaning Government of India, would beartil y appreciate the S.G.P.C's. recent great labour of love in publishing a lot of literature, bearing on the da rk image of this bogus Nirankari Manda I and its Chief. These small, bandy publication s in English and Punjabi have revealed the MandaI and its apex steward, inside out, whole of its ugly picture. Normally, a really people's Government in the interests of the country at large, and in the light of what is being stated in this booklet, would heartily welcome such a labour of Jove, in order to readily use it for putting its Central Bureau of Investigation (C.B.I.) on the MandaJ's track to apprise the Government in due course of what is what in this camouflage of a pseudo-spiritual fraud. Otherwise, as in case of the bogus Nirankari MandaI, an unhealthy impression is gaining ground

amongst the people that as it serves its sinister ulterior motives in particular contexts, the Government itself is interested, even in creating and patronising such disruptive forces for the sake of 'Divide and Rule' purposes. On the contrary, according to a recently reported version of our Honourable Foreign Affairs Minister, the big wigs of the Central Government have been attending the annual gatherings of the Nirankari Chief in Delhi. Their so doing is tantamount to giving credibility and respectability to tbis bogus conglomeration. And what does this kind of patronage mean? Nothing more or nothing less than this that they bless N irankari Mandal's antipeople and anti-rei igions activit ies and its Chief's blasphemies, for instance as contained in the undernoted versions about him in the Mandai's periodical, the 'Sant Nirankari' issues. It says, in the darkest bour of the present black age (ghar Kaliyuga ) the God Himself, the 'spiritual emperor', in the garb of Baba Gurbachan Singh, is delivering humanity across the horrible ocean (of sin) with his all encompassing personality ( Vairal Raap) May 1964 issue, p. 24. His father , Shri Avtar Singh, too had claimed like this. 'Allah has returned to earth, accompained by God, with (Lord) Rama also under his (Avtar Singh's) garment. God, has Himself descended on earth', (ref. The 'Sant Nirankari' May, 1964 issue, p.9). Again in August, 1972 issue p. 17; "To-day in the Bharat land of 23 crores of Gods a all Gods,

Baba Gurbacban Singb ha s apearcd. In negation of temples, mosques anJ Gurdwaras, be is re-making men (out of beasts) through his spirit ual ceUs (Nirankari Bhawans)." In July, 1973, together with his fami ly members, he visited Europe on a pleasure trip. His 'Sant Nirankari' edilOr had printed an account thereof, under the headline 'CHRIST AGAIN TO EUROPE' and in January, 19n his vi sit to Denmark was reported in the same magazine under the headin g, 'GOD IN COPE NHEGEN'. The,e arc just a few illustrations of the impostor, Shri Gurbachan Singh's numerous such idiotic but blasphemous ontbursts. It seems, therefore, our Central Government dignitaries are patronising and boosting thi , kind of a mountebank against the great Sikh Panth, for reasons no'v known to every conscious Sikh. rf they neglect to hold a thoro ug inquiry into his tomFooleries and ban his MandaI's activities, it wi ll confirm their malafides vis-a-vis the Sikh Panth. This free play of the MandaI is also polluting the rich spiritua l heritage and culture ofIndia, of which our top Government .Ieaders are so proud. Crux of the Wbole Trouble All sa id and done and frankly speaking, crux of the whole present trouble between the Sikhs and the bogus Nirankari 's is reduced to this. TJle bogus Nirankari anti-Sikh movement has been initiated and patronised by the Centre for cowing down the Sikh Panth in their di stinct religio-cultural-cum-political 48

aspirations. Amp le factual material has been adduced in this compilation to support this contention. 32. References In order to compile the foregoing brochure, OF SlKH-N lRANK ARI entitled "GENESlS TUSSEL," a va ried list of references have been consulted. Of th~m, about a score are S.G.P.C's rec~ nt small pamphlet publica tions in English, Hindi. and Punjabi. Of these some titles are: (Eng lish) Nirankari Mandai's Challenge to Sikhism , Sant Nirankari D a l, A Challeng.e for Indian Society by Dr. Fauja Si ngh, Head of History Department, Punjabi Universit y. Patiala; A WHlTE PAPER; NIRANKARJ'S PRIVATE ARMY; Why the Amritsar Martyrs sDcrificeci them selves, by the American ' Sikh Dharma Brotherhoo d ; (Punjabi) Nirankari MandaI da Sikh Dharam n u Challenge ; Naq li Nirunkari Babe da Chhal ÂˇNataki Gian ; Naqli Niranl\ari To le cia Paj ughar giya; Naqli Nirankari mal vich shrab Kabab (beef plus P ork) di KJ1UlIh; Naq li Niran.kari cia Khuda vi Naqli le Jhutha Hai ; Naqli Nirankari Babe da Jhu tha Sapashtikaran; Naqli Ni rankari M a t cle Hindu Dharam Virudh hamle, by Dr. Mohan Lal Sandal, Amritsar; (Hindi). Some extracts from Avtarbani (pp. 158, \ 86, 193, 203, 237, 243, 246) publisbed by Sikh Dharam Parchar Sabha, Ludhiana; Gllrdwara Gazette, official organ of S.G.P.C., May, June and JUly. 1978 iss ues; Takht Sri Haz ur Sa hib, Nanded's, official organ 'Saci1 Kl1and Patta r's' issue for July 1978; 'NaqIi Nirankari' book of Giani Partap Singh,

ex-Jathedar Sri Akal Takht and Editor 'Gian Arnrit' Monthly, 5th edition of 5-6-78; Nirankari Mandai Di Haqiqat' by a veteran ex-Nirankari, Sardar Josh Anandpuri; Original Nirankari Darbar's Hukamnama issued in January, 1955; Kendri Singh Sabha's booklet; 'Sach Kithc Rai'?; writer's two book-lets 'Genesis of Guru Granth Sahib' and 'Guru Tegh Bahadur, Tbe Martyr; Gleanings from tbe Nirankari Mandai's Literature 'Avtar bani' 'Nirankari Baba Yug Purush, the 'Sant Nirankari' magazine etc. NOTE -The abbreviation of S.G.P.C. in the foregoing narration st~nds for "Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee" Amritsar, the supreme statutory religious body of the Sikhs. 33. The Finis It is hoped this booklet will dispel the misgivings in all the honest quarters. Instead, it is sure to create bealthy understanding of the iss ues under references. A great misunderstanding has been created by the fake Nirankari, Shri Gurbachan & Co., plu~ his allies, the traditional anti-Sikh communalists and their press, against the Sikhs and their leaders, through a vast network of a misleading publicity, up and down the country, even abroad. If it does, the purpose of this labour of love, will have been served. Such an understanding on the issue in question will help the ends of national cohesion.

Appendices APPENDI X A (Ref. pamgmph 12)

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APPENDIX C (See paragraph 18)

The 'Panjpani' Weekly or 7.5.1978, p. 1 1239, Sector 34-C Chamligarb (Translation or relevant abstracts)

Headlines Because or suspect mala fides or Sikh., the most serious conspiracy against the m during the last 30 years, being uncovered for the first time . The Nir;1nkaris arc given an assignment to ~h:Jpe a new Sjkh religjon which \\lill forego its sovereign entity.

Maill Article This h as been the orller o f tlle day dur ing t he last 30 years that there has been a mushroom growlh of all so rts of modern sajnts. gurus. ri shis etc. Their main concern is to create their Own deras, ashrams, colonies et:.: ., publicise their personal selves, amass wealth and lead, enjoy a proll.igate life, full of pleasures and luxuries ..... . (Baba) Gurbacllan Singh has topped them a ll. Arter the last Baisakhi massac re in Amritsar he is the topi:; of the day and very st ar tling facts about him have come to light. ( Ill th is) a most surprising inforn1<ltlOn has come out from

a cent per cent reliable source of t he Union Home Ministry, who naturally wants to keep anonymous and is sure of the custody of the relevant reco rd . Th is document make it clear that there is a secret agreement between the Union Government

and the Nirankari Mission, by v irtu. of the which the Mission is said to have received crores of I"und. I"rol11 the Government. This contract is >uid to have been made during lale Sardar P atel's st ewardship 01" the Home Mini. try. This agreement was based on a repo rt said to have been

prep3red by the Min o rit~es' Secret Cell of the Min istry. It is reported to be t o the ciTeel t;,at in the North , Ab lis (i.e . the Sikhs) could any time pose a threat to th e country's so lid arity, by hobnobbi ng with Pakistan. Hence in o rder to wea ken them , it is said to have been m ade out in the repo rt, it wo uld be desireable to help people like Baba Avt ar Singh (Gurbachan Singh's r" ther) . Such people could wean away the Sikhs from their spirit or sovereign entity and ultimatel y make them amenable t o be a part o r Hindus, it

is said to have been cl ai med in the said report.

As per th is reported mUI.ual agreemellt the Nirankari Mission was committed to give an annual account of its achievements (to the Go vernment) through a secret agency, it is said. It is said. it is there ill the secret ce ll file that such annual accounts (of th e M ission's achievments) We re found to be satisfactory .

In lieu the reof enormous fumls were paid every yea r

to the Nirank .. ri

Mi ss ion ~

it is mentioned.

It is claimed, very trustworthy (an atic and a ble men we re put illcbarge of this Minoritie's Secret Cell. whose runction has been to convey exaggerated and co loured o pinions to tlle G overn-

ment against the min ori ties .

On the bas ;. of these very officers'

reports , it is said, the Central Governll1el~l dig11itades subsequently beg.111 to att en d Nirankari fun ctions. in order to impart to them cred ibi lit y and respectabil ily in th e people's eyes. Also, a frer thi s, the Foreign Minjst ry began to in struct its roreign missio ns and embassies to arrange V.T.P. rece ptions ill honour or the Nirankari leaders and otherwise be helpful to them during the ir foreign tours, it is claimed by the Weekly. Even Sikhs li vi ng abroad, were specia ll y instructed by the Ind ian E mbassie s to accord befitting receptions to th e Nirankari leaders, which the former took. very ill. 1\ is also asserled in Ihe sa Id Weekly that as a part of' the fulfilment of th e Nirankarj MiSsion" s comm it ment . it a lso

nlanagi!d to induct its own trustworthy agents, LA.S. and or I.P,S. or Secret Police officers, more particularly in the Punj ab. And that in case of such appointments the Home Ministry has been making speelal recommendations on the plea that those appointees being Nirankaris, would be specially useful to the Indian G overnment . The Weekly states that at present there are many Nirankaris, particularly in the Punj ab's C.LD. bepartment. (On the Weekly's p. 5, col. 4, last paragraph) The above referred to sour-ce oflnformatiun is confident the record under reference, in the Home Ministry's Minorities Cell, cannol be removed orÂˇ dessroyed as a number of antiN irankati Officers (in the said Cell) are quite vigi lant about it.

~hat

In tbeend the Weeklyexborts the Akali M.Ps to manage to unearth this record and get it placed on the Lok Sabha ÂˇSpeaker's Table, by which they would be best serving the cause of Sikhism. (TraJ1Slated by tlle writer of this brochure)

APPENDIX D (See para 20)

Another Stunning Disclosure Quoting from the S.G.P.C's recently published ' WHITE PAPER', p . 26. here under is another startling revel'!lioll on the point made out by one Silri Sat pal Baghi of Ferozepur i n an April . 1978 i<stle of the Chand igarh's eililion of the ' Indian Express' daily: "The genesis of the real trouble between the Nirankaris and Akalis goes back to the YC'lrS whell Mrs. Indira Gandhi headed the Union Government. She wan ted to weaken the Shiromani Akali Dal but found that Akalis could not be brought to heel. She thought of all . Ieabo rate plan to strengthen lhe Nirankari sect 110t onl y in Punjab but throllghout lhe country and abroad also. Ollic ial patronage was ÂŤ tended to the Nirankans much to tile chagr in of AkaIis , who have a\w<.lYs co nsidered. the Nirankads as heretics. In ptlrsuit of this policy of di vide and rule, Mrs. Gandhi personally ga ve clea rance for a diploma tic p~lssport to be issue to the Ni rankari Chier a nd 1ne Ind ian High CommiSSioners and Ambassdors abroad were 'instructed to SI10 W him respect and regard. This was meant t o help the sect to improve its image and increase its fo llowing abroad . Durin=- Mrs . Ga ndhi's regime. the Nirankaris \vere known

to be receiving financ ial help from secret Government funds, not open to aodi t or scrutiny by Parl iament. During the Emergency Akalis further annoyed Mrs EIl'orts for bui lding a p,"rallel Punjab as a counterblast to

the recalcitrant attitude of the Gan<lhi and Mr Sanjay Gandhi . org.:lnisatioll among the Sikhs of the Akalis were intensified. At

the instance of Mrs. Gandhi, the Congress regime began giving greater official patron age to the Nirankari Sect. Mr. H. S. Chhina I.A .S ., a staunch Nirankari, wa; appointed Chief Secretary to the Punjab Government in J 976. As a result of open official patronage and support, this sed got a cO ll sjderab le boost within the administrative set-up of the Punjab Government. Mr. Chhina appointed Mr. Niranjan Singh r A.S. as Deputy Commissioner of Gurdaspur. Mr. Niranjan Singh tried his best to enlarge the field of operation of the Nirankaris. Tt is during this period that the Sant 01' 13hb dranwale took up the challenge.

What a rare and revealing naked tnltll? Doesn' t it fully co!lfirm the 'Panj panj's' vcrsi on in its 7.5.78 issue?

APl>fND1X E (See para 26)

Hukamnama 10 June, 1978 of Sri Akal Takhat, Amritsar Re-an Edict to the Sikh World for socio-religiolls boycott of the Naqli Nirankaris 'rhe,.e is but ONE G od ; the whole .cOGmos is His manife,tatiol\ VICTORY TO HIM 'Hail , THE TIMELESS GOD , Stand by us' EDICT OF SRI AKAL TAKHT SAHIll

' Vi ct o ry to the kit chen cauldron and the Sword, 1 his exalta tio n is recei ved from Guru Nanak-GuTu Gobind Singh' "Sal v.tion of the whole Khalsa world lies in accepting Ihe Orders o f Timeless Lo rd AI mighty, The TIMELESS GOD is all Merciful , AND u nder Hi s Decree was o rdai ned and manifested into this tllliver,. the aLi-beneficent Order of Sikhism lor the deliverance of mank i:ld ; as sha ped by Guru Nanak to Guru Gobind Singh . And it is Ihe Khalsa's co mmilment to foste r a nd further religious values a nd exalt the righteo us people and also to destroy the enemies of both these, root and branch , For sometjrr.e past ll1ere has appeared a mo vement in

Delhi , under the title of the 50-called Nirankaris, of which Gurbachan Singh is the leader. His aim is to dem olish the religiollS and Illora l values. But besides this, he is specia ll y and v igoro usi y vitia ting the Sikh doc trines. usages and grandeur. Because of this . there have o'.curred serious cla shes .at a number

o f pla ces in the ,Âˇountry. Ar.d ror lhis very re ason , a nllmber of Sikhs got n,arlyred or grievously injured on the last Bai,akhi , 13 April 1978, in Sri Aillritsa,. .

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These enemies or Dharma and Sikhism miscall themselves as Nirankaris and their leader Gurbachan Singh cl ajms to be God incarnate. These people consider physical luxurie s, comforts and pleasures as the aim of .human lifc. D isavowing their Lith in the ' SARDA GURU', the DIVINE WORD, as the spiritual ENLiGHTENER, which is the apex of a Teligious doctrine, they pre~t(;h the worship of the physical form of gurus. They oppose the spread of moral values on the plea that vice and vutue are nonsense con cept s of man. This preaching of theirs is a grievous attack on aU the religious and moral codes of the world, The Panth cannot but accept this chal lenge,

Therefore, under the seal and authority of Sri AKAL TAKHT, tbis EDTCT is issued to all the men and wOJnen of the Sikh fraternity and other men of religion that they should oppose this organisation of enemies of religious. values and otherwise harmful to mankind , by all possible and legitimate means , It should. not be allowed to spread and expand in society and in the w0r1d , The Khalsa Pantil must cut off all worldly relationships, m ;~ trimonial and s'Jcial , with such misled Sikhs, who have become Nirankaris and with their leader , G tlrb~lchall Singh , This is the EDlCT of Sri Akal Takht Sahib, Whosoe;er abides by it will be honoured in this world and the next. The Guru has ordained : "Worship only the Timeles God ; follow the WORD alone; and Envision the Guru in tne body corporate of the KHALSA." SEAL OF SRI AKAL TAKHT Dated , 28 Joth, 579 NANAK ERA 10 JUNE, 1978 Sd/ - Sadhu Singh Jathedar Sri Akal Takht, Sri Amritsar

APPENDIX

(Ref. paragraph 29)

Naqli Nirankari Nibang

•

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iban

APPENDIX H \Refer to paragraph 21) In the main body of this compilation, there is a particular emphasis on a point Deducing from the Centre's initiative of starting and patronising the fake Nirankari movement as a means for rubbing off the organised religi,)-cultural-cum-political separate entity of the Sikh Panth , there is an inescapable inference . After successfully manoeuvering to rope in the Sikhs not to insis t o n securing any independent territorial

St 3 tU5

during

"The Great Di vide", the Delhi authorities of independent India, have ever been iII-at-ease to cold-shoulder the Sikh community's aspirations to rehabilitate and maintain their separate histodc entity.

In this very context here is a brief recount of facts, enumerated by Sardor Hukam Singh , exÂˇSpe"ker of the Lok Sabha, as to how the Celltre has beell consistantly apathetic t owords the Sikhs anxiety, even for a minority status and rights, ever since 1947. This article of Sardarji in two consecutive i!lst alments in the 'Spokesman' Weekly, New Delhi , its 15 and 22 May, 1978 issues, may be usefully and profitably read in conjunction with the contents of Appendices C and D herewith: SIKHS DENIED MINORITY STATUS SINCE PARTlTION Now a mjnority commission has recently been announced by tbe Janta Government. It is composed of one Parsi (cbairman), ol1e Muslim and one Christian.

The Sikhs reel prc-plexcd as to why no Sikh has been included. There have appeared articles in lhe Sikh press; resolutions bave been passed by representative bodies; deputatioos bave been led; and pleadiJlgs done, but to no effect.

Our Mu:;lim brClhren a re net yel· s3tisfied with having a reprcsentatlOn only. They want chairmanship. The Sikhs onl y have desired reprcsellution. They are not worrieJ aboll t the chainnanship . Tbey would not e'CIt aspire ro r th a t. But alJ prote~talions~ supplications, petitions and ple~tding s, however prolonged, well·argueJ or reaso ned have been answered-in s imp le 'No'. Ihe highest authorities would n0t <Idd a third Jetter, mlleh less a second word.

This is natural to Cause disappointment, btlt there should not he any Sllrprise. The policy of [11dian goverl1ment ~ since independe r. cc , whatever Hs .:omplexioll presented Hnd whichever the cloak it ha.) worn, has been to a bsorb and assimi h t e the Sikhs, 311d not to gjve any recognition by which they migl1t further prolong their existence as:l di:-: tinct community.

111erc

has always been lurking fear that th e Sikhs migbt so me day ask for the exercise or self-determi !lation and a separate homehJ..nd. Lord Mountbatten and his staff c<llloeived this idea . ale.·td the lndian rulers against suo:b :J. poss ibi li ty. and created r~ ~u s ab0ut such an eventua lit y. which have been hauntlJlg tile minds of the majorily community. Scon after partition ) i l was believed that Mountb3.ttell had suggested to Nebrll th at the Sikh s shall bave t o bekcpt u nder watdl, as they have failed misecclbly in politic.,1 parley, to gel anything and so they were :lure to feel frll :)tr L\ l~U wilen the conseqllen ... es of p~ut i tion b(:comc known to thC lll. The Gover!lo r·Ge~:eral expre5~cd .his Views thtH, arter lll.igr:.!ti.Jll. (here was pro ba bility 0 1 Sik h concentr" ti"n in East PUl\j .. b ~ Ild a pc; s~ibili1y of their <.iema il dlng a home b lld Wl1i(.. h could be diffi cult to dcn y. Whethe r this was all ora l IJlk , or any part wa s redlH.:cd in writ ir g, no one c(Juld say . "But strong rumours were afl o at in know ledgeable circies ab0 ut thi s suggestion. In such c ircll.ill slunccs, direct ev idence is not possibl e to dig out, but indi c~lt ion:; of such th inking troub ling th e mind s or G ovel'I1·..> r Gener3 1'~ colleagues Moun tbatlen" .

cUn

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"If pa rtit ion has: lne8nt incr.eased cc.onomic sacrifice fi,\r' " .• " ' . I the Sikh" it also enta ils politica l drmcei1tr.tiu n. py ing within easy reach of Delhi. they may cOI\i'(l J'i:;t._ afler ' the mi g ratw~ , some fiJIy percent of the' to tal P<lPU\;tl;,1!.ll OfI I he oew·Mslj'liil.litb (Mission p. 71-12 , Sept. 23, 1947). " In formed obse ners see in th is :;itll Htion all the ingrcuients o r a Sikh naljonalist ll H.\ e n1ent, anJ ton~jder that already the sol\ltion~ "",·hith has becn moted of creating, a new Inctian pro vince o f Sikhi, tan, fail s to measure lip t o Sikh demands" (Missio n P . 172). Thi s fear of political : oJ1ceJl1rtltio ll and the preSC:ll:e or " all the ingredient's o f a Sikll national movement" lurked in the mint!:' c'f the Ind iar! leaders 311d the same influenced the po licies Df the govenllllcnl , rc~ultjng in discriminatio n r-Igainst and Sl!5pk ion abo\lt this ll1 ill('li ty .

1l,at such '",s Ihe actual tlunking of the t op brass becomes clea r fro m th e open ~tatcments o f Pandit Nehrll. sl anted Jec!arations o r San.h r Pme !. and frank enunciation. or Dr. AlI1 bedk ar. Whe n in early Februa ry, 1948, Sardar Ajit S ingh Sa rh adi, along wjth another rriend , who was intimate with Dr. Ambedkar, approHchcd the Mi nister tn tell the tale or w('e, at Ihe bell est of Sbirornall i Akal i Dal , and narrated (h a( the Sikhs h,"l been the grcate&t sufferers of Part ition. Dr. A lll bcdkar disclosed wJ, at he thought about it. ReplyiJ1g to the Sikh friend Dr. AI11bedkar.

mude ouf:1.

"rn

You were at the mercy of the two co mnnlJlities;

You played an equal nowhere;

Today after this mi£ratioll . though fo rced , yo u Sikhs h;:we beell the greatest gainers;

the entire population;

united ·Punjah,

you were

1.3% or

t he

role ...... bul politically you were

Your comnnl1lhy .. . has come t o be in majori ty in the S Dt. Sikh St utes ...

You are likely to be in majority, or a re already in majority in eight Distr icts of Jullundur Division.

H ere is an area o f nearly fifty thousand squ are mi les, whore yo u will be in majority.

YO\lr community, fo r once in the Jlistor y of 400 years, has a homel and;

Hereafter you have a territory with majority. You have a language or your own, tradH ions: hist ory and heroes. You have got a religion . commo n hom! among YOllrselves. and by all cannes of nationshood , yo u are a people h ~i vjng a h o meland ; and yel teU me thaI yo u have ; " Jr"re" terribly ...

w,"

The concludjng porlion of Dr . Ambedkar 1110re frightening . The Sikhs had never thougM or even imagined On th ese lines, but the Central Government -it can never be co nceived that what Dr , Ambedkar W<LS expressing to his Sikh frie nd was his own exclusive v iew, not held in CO mJl10 n wHh his colleagues in the government inc luding Nehru and Patel-was suffe ring from the fear of SikllS eÂŤfc ising the righl of sc\fÂˇdetermination and even opting out of Ihe uni on. Dr . Ambedkar illade no sec ret of these fears , and explicitly observed ;" }j islory dep icts that s ufferings h ave always been undergo ne fa I' such objecti ve,. How long would a ny party in Jndia be able 10 crush you or tfeat you badly when you ha\'e gal a territory or you r own, whic h on the admitted and ac..:epted principles of selr-de te rmination , can opt out if the exigencies of time and situa lion demand . ( Punja bi Suba by Aj it Singb Safhadi, p. 146, 147).

\\lhat the act ual pos'jtion emerged after partition is thus

stated. In partition parley;, "at Ieas't one minority (Muslims) had wo n everything it bad hoped for. The loa ders or the Muslim

League. and the leaders o f the Co ng ress had wo n, in one case, not all that they had hoped for, but in the fin al analy. is, 1110re than eithe r held expected ." (Last Yea rs, Page 18.1). Naturally

Jinn ah was over-whelmed wllh his success .

Congress, on the other hand, was crestfallen, and rather as hamed at having lost its fight fo r an untli vided Indi a." ( Mission, 183) " The Sikhs had lost everything they valued . their homes . their property, irrigated rich lands . anti t heir holy pl aces (p .184). The Sikhs realised no one seemed to care v~.ry much what happened t o mino rities solongas lile Congress and the Muslim League were satisfi ed . Jinnah proba bly did not care, while N ehru and Patel wert: not particuLirly ;nte rcsteu" , Immediately after partit io n. the Sikh leaders tried their bes t to aSSure the Indian Govt!rl1 mcnt an.J the Congress Party tha t thcy (SikhS) did not want a ny sepa ",!e Sta te, bUl only sa feguards to live as equal citizen ~, wi th fl.'specl and honour, and nul as underdogs

or democracy .

O n 20 9.47 . on be ing as ked by Pa ndit Nehru, Master T ara Singh. crest-fa llen as never be fore, rep lied. in the negat ive. He di d ne l ".k even fo r any linguist ic adj ust men t of boundar ies (C urzon to Nehru by Durga DilS) . On 28.9.47, Masler Tara Singh promi5ed : " We shall continue to suppo rt the Congress and the unio n go vernment in its task o f reconstruction (India'S Mino rities, Govern-

ment of lndia , Minist ry o f Info rmation and Broadcasting). 3.

The same day .

addressing a press conference. Master Ti:! ra Singh made it clear that t'a bogie of Sikl1 State in PIlJ1ja b is bei ng conjul'ed up by the Pakistan propaganda machinery in o rder to create tii!\scntions between Hindus and Sikhs .. ." he emph asised lhal " Hindus and Sikhs will rise and fall together. "

In Oct ober 1947, S.A .D . Presiden t Gian Ka rt ar Si ngh. addressing a press conference in Jullunduf! declared th at

the Sikhs wo uld no t ask for any separale re presentation

if suil " hie safeguards were provided for (Punjahi Suba by Ajir Si l\gh) . 5.

On 17 March, 48 , the Shi ro mani Abli D" I direcled the A kQI i leg islatl rs , clc(.:teo on co mmunal elettorates by fi ghtiJlg aga inst the Congress in 1945 , to 1111!rge in the Congress IcgislariH' part ie~. both at the l:c rllre and in r..II1j ab. thus ctT.:c ing Ihcir separate ent ity ,,"d distinct politi " ll identity.

On 24.4 .48. spe31dng in the ",nual "on fl're nce of the Sikh Students Federatio n. M aster Tara Singh sla l<(\ Ihat the Sikhs wanted io preserve their identity and sclf-re;pect.. The H indu should rea lise that the elimination of Sikhs wotli<1 be harmful to the Hindus themselves.

Lord Mountbatten Jskcd whclilcr Sikh motive "w:.ts the objective to set up a Sik h St ale" , Mr. V . .p . Menon rep Ucd. "No Politil'ully, th ey had lost a ll and had not e'en gained lull undur d ivision (M ission p. 160. Sepl. IS, 1947)" .

"While the Si kh I""ders are at grea t pains to descrihe the Hin dus /IS th eir brothers, there are not many outward. signs of hrN hcrl y love . and Tara Singh has been almost equally vehemen t in his di ss:1ti~fad i oJl wi th the East as with the \Ves t Punj ab Governmen t :' (Mi ssion. 23 .9.47 , p . 171). I n s pite of his d isillusiollillent. M aster Tara Singh we nl on making his attempts to persuaue the Hindu l~adel'S: to bel ieve th at Ihe Sikhs only wanted safeguards against any tyranny or d iscriminalio n, ,\nd Ilot an y sepa rate st ate. But the Congress lUld go t scared of possible conce'l ltra ti on of Sik hs AS conceived and imagi ned by the MOUiuba ttcll. Sec retari ale (Mission p. 17.1172) 'lila fi rmly believed and horribly fear<d by the I ndian leader>, as dischÂťeo by Dr. Al1Ibedkar, who had e~visaged Ihc impossible eventuality of Sikhs legitimately gett ing a separ:ne ~t atc o n th e pri nciples of self-determination with a chance of their ('Ip ting oll l of Indian Union .

If Dr . Ambcdkar's think ing be acccpled as the mirror of Indian leoders' mind, ,nd there is no reason why we should not, thell a.11 subsequent policies 0[' djscrimin:ltion againsl S-ikhs,

assaults o n PUlljabi language, disowning of mother

ton~ue

Pu nj:' bi }I-i lldus, suspicio n abou t patriotism of Sikhs as expressed not me,eJy by Jan Sangl' an.d Arya Samaj but a lso by Nehru, Patel and o ther top brass, reductio)l of Sikh representation in army si nce partition, and misreprese ntation or evell a <.: ryof

anguish into a apprc~ialeu .

fis ~ipal'ous

tenden cy can well be undcrsh10d and

ll1cse suspicio ns. entirely unfoundeu, of the governme11t polit: ies

be haviour towards the Sikhs.

and commun al

remait)~d

the basis

Hi clu m~ijQrily'~

The tlllxi<'ty of the H i .<lus tn suck

back the Sikhs into their OlTIfi!V\.WOtlS belly was ano\.her factOr that influenced the formulatioll or policies of the govern,nent and lhe attitudes of the comnHllla lists. When the Sikhs were "a l great pains to describe the Hinous as hrolhct's"; what was the response from the other side 1 It is an amuzing tale. I.

Wilen the Sikh, had thrown their lot with Hindus, and Master T"ra Sillgh had dodared unequivocally that the Sikhs did not wanl lilly separate sta te but would rise and fall with Hindus, even, then Durga Dass suggc'ted to Nehru to cl1quire froln Tara Singh wl'lcthcr he wanted Khalistan. In that Sitll3tion and under those circumstances such a suggestion was adding insult to injury . Hut the amazement was th at Nehru had himself put this question to Tara Singh a day earlier, and the latter. "crestfallen

as never before", had replied ill the negative .

This was

nothing but humiliating a faJlen friend. and di:-;gracing a

betrayed mir.ority. 2.

A deputation of Hindu leaders, soon afte r partition, in Sept. 1947, waited on Nehru and urged upon him against letting the Sikh problem assurne serious proportions, wnile the Sikhs we re giving pledges that there was nO Sikh

problem at all. Thi, was a nother instance of mani pulated suspicions to deny justice to the Sikhs. 3.

Mahatm a G andhi , in his post- prayer speeches, began denouncing lhe Sikhs as " mad a nd drunkards" during August and September 1947 when Sikhs were arriving in India. hav ing lost everything that they valued. These prayer speeches migh t h.ave comforted the Muslims in India and pacified thei r rage agaiJlSt Hindus, but infuriated Pakist an is already there a nd other Muslims migrating from , or li ving in India against the Sikhs.

On Sept. 7, 1947, in regard to suggest ion of MOllntbatten for banning kirpan carried by a Sikh . uNehm and l'aiel stood firm ahout the Sikhs. and there is to be a ban on aU weapons." '- 1 will "ot tolerate D elhi becoming another Lahore", P atel dedared and Nehru added: ,, \ am clear in my mind , kirpan may have to be ta ken away." (Mission page 153). On August 5. 1947, Jinnah and Liaquat Ali Khan demanded "tha t the Sikh leade rs be arrested ... " It was oot done because "to stop Sikhs now, it would have been necessary to arrest the whole community" (Last Yea rs p. 227) otherwise the Congress leaders did not demu r. Thougb the :

(i)

demands or J irmah and Liaqua t for the immediate a rrest of Sikh leaders ;

(ti)

the suggestions to disarm tbe Sikhs and impose a ban on Kirpan ;

(iii)

the wi lling preparedness of Nehru and P otel to ban Kirpa n;

(iv)

the slanderaus vituperation of Ga.ndhiji during his prayer speeches, immediately aftel recitations fro m Gita, K oran and Bible, calling Sikhs mad and drunkards. letting Don-Sikhs imbibe hatred and illwill against the Sikh s.

CO'uld not materia lise into a speedy and effective punishment of the Sikhs, as Mr. Ienkins, the retiring Governor of United Punj ab, Mr. Mlldie and Mr. Trivedi , the Governordesignate of the West and East PUlljab respectively, unanimously expressed fears thaI any anion taken at that moment would exasperate the Sik'hs and goad them to desperate actions, wbich would defeat the very objective or protecting the Muslims. Yet all these moves had the cumu lative effect of formu lation of a policy to be fo llowed by the centra'l and Punja b governments in respect of dealing with Sikhs . Tilis pol icy found expression in the issuance of u directive by the Punjab governor to all district magistrate; to keep a strict watch on the Sikhs, as. according to this policy letter daled 10.10.47, these were likely to commit crimes aga inst the life and property of the peaceful citizens. How the Sikhs were being forced out of West Punjab was ~vidc"l by the letter sent by Governor of West Punjab, Mr. Mudie, 10 Iinnah dared September 5, 1947 : " I am telling everyone tbat 1. do not care how the Sikhs get across the borders ; the great thing is to get rid 0 f them as soon as po SS ible."

Thus driven and haunted out by West Punjab. received with suspicio n and kept u.nder watch in the East Punj a h, dis-cr.iminated against in every walk of life, the Sikhs felt bewildered. Whe.ll the spirit of Ule East Punjab government policy letter permeated into the minds of tl1e :;cr.'ices, which were already communal, and fo rmed 90 per cent of the atlministrat ive machi-

nery, the fate of Sikhs in services became unenviable. And when the religious sermons or Gandlliji, denol,""ing U,e Sikhs, reached every home through broadcasts, the Sikhs began to be .Iooked upon as criminals. Where was the comfort to be found, the Sikhs wondered. The Sikbs' heart pulsated with feaL..an.d , aJlprehensions about their [u.ture when they heard b6't1 ···deda'r.ii\~ 4lf some

' :15

membe rs in~ide the I.:o nstllucn t assembly that " there was 110 minorities now " and the loud shouts of ' H indi' , ' Hi ndu ' , ' H indu!-lan' in th\,.' :- trcels, giving evide nce of wha t was to come. The

':OOlIl1UI1:tI

Hi ndu press. Wl1ich do m ina ted the fram ing

of H indu o pin io n, lu ving bee n rreed fro m t heir fig ht agaj :it Muslims, now dir l'c.: tc~ 1 their machines 01' virulent p ro pag '. m.h . against the helpless Sikhs . Any soher voi ce. such a' . 1\0 pa tri o ti c Indinn Sh Lluld dc ny the paten t rea lity th a t the pvl itil"a l fl.!clbgs of the Sikhs h:' ve (Wf"J1 grieVD l1sty o lttr~lged ... \V;.s igno l'e J . The H ind u comtnllt1:Llii-1 ·t t'i ed to ridicul e and revile thc Sikh ::- . Thc adv i,·c 0(" NM ak Chand Na z th at "to ridil ul e this psy':ho l" gy of th " Sikh, (that t hey had hee n betrayed from e,"c ry side) o r to look dow!1 0 :1 it. is no t good politks o r Cle war ning of Dr . A lnb..:d J...a r tl!~\t the minorit ies in rndia ·· bl.!ve loy:'! lly accepted the rule or the major ity. whi ch is. b:lsil..·aJi y a (.'omlDunal m ajo rit y and no t a po liti ca l m ajor ity. It is ror th e nElj ,)rity to realise its duty not to di scriminate against \l1i !~ OT iti ..::. " (C . A . Deba tes Nov. 4. 1948)-,, 11 were denied . Th, vernacu lar p ress bad started 11 calculated c.:um paign or vilificatiol1 ag.ahist. t:iL' SIkhs since fhe- d ~ty of parl itio,~: the y h.lVC Hot only m!l intaillcd it. rather t hey have tl.cceleratcd th.: mO VCI11CIH . D r. Ambcdk a r declared that no mi no ri ty h,)d a:,kcd fo r p a n hion nfrcr A ug ll ~ l 1947: Pa rel .:oncf'ue,d th tlt :V{U:Il.:'i Tanl SiT1gh .h as u!>sureo rtJl I coo peration lO the Union Gove rnmen t in its task of reconstru ctioll: Neh r u ,,,Jmittcd that T dra, Shgh bad declined to seek any separa te s la te ; Giani Kartar Si :1gh e ndorsed t ha t t he Sjkh:, \\'ol,ld not :.sk 1'0 1' any ~ tate if sa:cglla rd:; were given ; S.A . D . t!1i~ 'lNI \he S.kh Icgh la.tors to .1 °;/\ C(lngl'c;s, an d th~y did mrrge \!v: fl1M." h L';-' to lose any di:;tin.: t ideii t ity: but,

inspire of all l lll :,. the Punj a b vt:rn ac.: ular systematic l'a mpai~n nr vilificatio n t hus. :

p ress cont inued a

" The ;"ur would be : H ow much of the East Punj ao should So to the H il,dll; and how 111l1oh to the Sikhs"l Berore we c.:a n decide th is, we !iohall ha\e to find out the (ow l popuhnio n of the Ea::.t Punjab nnd then dwidt, it ill proportion 10 t he rl)pu~

"ltiOn of the two com'l1ullities". 6 Aug.u' t, 1948).

(The Jaj Hind , Juilulldur,

" jl' tl,i" province is to become the homeland of the Sikhs (no S!k ll had asked "for homebo-,d), then all Hindus li ving here should be lolel so. Those. who want to shift further inl<l nd . will tlo ~O. Those, ",,路110 deciui! to stay hel c, will know uJlder what c ir CU 111S\UI1'.e~.. they arc to live here.'" (Hilld Samachi:.II", 4[;1 Au g'~:-il 1'J4g) .

"Outward ly he (Mas ter Tara Singh) i5 A,h'o':II ti nng a sq:,,:; ate p:-ovinee fN t.he fUJ1ja bi'spc(. kirg people, but really J1C

is fi:lvoudrg the

en~. bljsJlIl

ejJ

Hh',tius Ul jl and Pak istun ,: ." (!vIili.tp).

a Sikhistan in bet\o,.路ccn

How thi s inwardly in Tara

Sil og h wrr~ x-rnyed by t he editor is not t",ld when Nehru l,:t(1 bee n expre~~l y I cp :icd ry Tru'3 SiP!!h that the latter wanted to Jive "'ith Hh,du:-. ar,d \1.!d no desire for a !-.e p<.lrale Slate.

The Prat ap or lullundur was forthright : fI [ want to "dd ' l".s the Akali rrien,js tllat the way they a rc treading, leads 10 Tu :路kbt c. n .. . " (pr,""p, J UllU",ItIT 11 -9- 1948). This viliriC'ati vll was ak'lllc. h~hi. ld.

l'\0t contined to the vernacular p;-ess 1l1e English dai1k ~, wi th communal edj loTs~ did no t lag

The

~T lib une'

in its Ieatk:r

or Oct. S1

1948, commen teu.

" 1l ,";is ol, ly yc~ te rday th a , we drew atlentiln to the dangers uf l,!iHlcrs (Ta ra S.i1'lgh. i.H\J others) narr0wing their minds and giving 1.0 lhcir l'or..l mU:1ity or that they owe to thei r ~ tale..'路

their provinl:e - the aliegianL'e

This could mean th e t " Sikh could not be a ll I lldi"n. He chose bC l\VCCIl the tWo. This editor believed '-SikJtislll" anu "Patriotism" were illt.:ol11pa tiblc,

had

1()

The 'Hindustan Timc~!, whkh representee! the Government point of view normally. wro te in the leader of October, 1948 ; -'11" th o :i~ , \\- \10 nrguc On tIle HI1Cf, or i\!(aste.r Tar~1 Singh believe that by 11'J:UL!lg togelher as a community they L'(\11 hope

to estab1ish thei"r (:ommuna \ dominum:c the re is no roum for such parties with in the (nd ian UJllOil."

The uniformity language and the identity of thought at the same penod of time is very significant. The ( Prat~p' wrote that Tara Singh's wa y leu to Turkistan. 'Tribune' reminded Sikh leaders of giving a l1egience LO community . ~He thought Sikbisll1 and palliotism incompatible. 'Hindustan Times' said if Sikhs wa nted to hold together as a community there was no place for them in the union. The uncerto ,le is the same. 11' the Sikhs desired to live in fndia. they should cease to think as a cornm.Jnily. This was the real crux of the Sikh problem that has baffled solution d'uring al1 these years. The m i.ljority commun ity is bent. upon liqlddating their identity, and the Sikhs have been~ trying to foil those manoeuvres.

Let us trace the sequence of manoeuvres that were adopted to de"y safegunrds to the Sikhs, which the leaders h ad been asking for. With the setting up of consti tuent asscJnbly, "when the qllcstion arose whether adtdt franchise should be introduced, M au lana Azad advocated its deferment for 15 years, Dr.

Rajendra Prasad and Nehnl plumed for adult franchi se as an act of fait.h.. The vote favoudng it was carried amidst a<.:c1amation'l. Dcfeated in his first endeavour , " M:lUlana Azad wanted reservation of seats fOT the Muslims and other minorities within th e framework of general electorates. Patel opposed such safeguards. Nehru left it to P"tel to jump the hurdle as chairman of the advisory committee ." Patel hil11selfwas against any safeguards; Nshru left it to P atel to achieve his objectives . How deftl y Patel discharged this assignmeJ1t is a revealing process-taking a step; giving One shock, making a ha lt to let that be absorbed; atier some time administeri llg: another. then t:1kiug resp i te~ but meanwhile persuading. JTIu"'-loeuvring anti e ven coercir:g a few members to espouse his cause and help him 1113rd1 further reach his goal. Ultimately he aelljeved his goal. Christians helped; Muslim> were helpless;

"',,1

Sikhs were ,Âˇoerced. the S';hcdllied Castes and Anglo-Indians had secured what they wanted - Scheduled Castes taken out of the list of minorities a nd mo.<do part of !-findus. The Anglo-lndi,\1;s were especially lucky. They were favoured be('~ lIse the English interceded for them, and tbe Indian leaders were impatient to get power whatever the cost. How the fears of Sikhs ronccntrating and of carving out a homeland for themselves, and even the VIsionary pl1antom of their opting out , influenced the leaders in their actions and attit udes

can be judged from wha t follows : Tn pursuance of pura 20 of Cabinet Mission Pbn of May 16, 1948, an advisory comnlitt.,;e rO T minorhies was constituted under the chairmanship of Sard ar Patel on J anuary 24, 1947. There were six Sikh s-Sardar Baldev Sing'h, Sa rdar logendra Singh, Sardar Partap Singh Kairon , Sardar Ha rnam Singh, Sa rdar Ujjal Singh and Gia ni Kartar Singh induded ill the co mOl ittee of 50 . Sardar Baldev Singh was a minister and took no part. Soon after the constitut ion of the adv isory committee, Sardar Hamam Si ngh became a judge of the high court: Sa rdar Jogendra Singh could not take any inte rest ; Partap Singh concentrated his energies on cOJ1 soEdating hi s power in Punjab Congress, Sardar 'Ujjal Singh and G ian i Kartar Singh , though diverted to Punjab Assembly, did not participate in advisory committee p[Qceedings but had ceased to be member o f the constituent assembly. Hukam Singh and Bhupinder Singh Mann were sworn in on April 10, 1948, as members of the assembly but were never included in the advisory committee which took all decisions and which were to be approved by the Assembly at the instance of Sardar Patel. The Advisory Committee recommended: 1.

Elections on joint electorates, with reservations of seats acco rding to population . No reservation in cabinet, but conventions to be created for adequate representation o f minori ties.

In services, claims of minorities to be kept in view .

An officer to be appointed by the President at We centre, and by each Governor for his state to report to tbe legislatures about the \vo rking of the safeguards.

The advisory committee submjtted a supp lementary report regarding Anglo-Indians and providi ng for spcdal concessions .

In the rep OTt of 8th August, 1947, the case of Sikhs was held over in view o f the uncertainty of the position of the Sikhs pending tile Radcliff Award . But when this report was considered in the constituent assembly on August 27, 1947, the awaTd had been announced on August L7 , the movcmCllt from West Punjab of Hindus and Sikhs had begun, but the relat ive proportion of Sikhs and Hindus could only be kll.oWll after migration wcs completed . There were fears that the Sikhs :'may comprise, after the migratio]1, some fIfty per cent of the h.l tal population of the new East Punjab" , the leaders felt concerned more for the Hindus, and turned the deferred case of the safeguards for til" Sikhs (a minority) into an issue of East Pnnjab (a state). For this manoeuvre, Mr. K . M. MUTIsm moved an amendment approved by constituent assembly on August 27 (C.A.D . August 1947 , p . 246). " In vjew of the special sjtuat.ion of East Punjab , the Whole question relating to it would be considered later."

\Vben a Mus'l1m member raised a point of order bow can a questioll of minority (Sikhs) be cOl1verted into a question of territory (East Punjab), he was over-ru led by the President that there Were other minorities also in East Punjab. It was Hindus alone, beside the Sikh minority. This became evident that the change was intended to protect Hilldus if by chance according to misapprehensions thus entertained, the Sikhs became a majority in East Punjab."