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Picture of Shaheed Bhai Beant Singh & Satwant Singh JiNew Delhi (KP) – In their latest attempt at direct interference into Sikh affairs, right-wing Hindu organizations and the mainstream Indian media have now criticized the commemoration of Shaheed Bhai Satwant Singh and Shaheed Bhai Kehar Singh by the Sikh Panth.
Not long after publicizing slanderous remarks about the portrait of Baba Jarnail Singh Bhindrawale at the Ajaib Ghar Museum in Amritsar Sahib, the Bharatiya Janata Party along with the Indian media have released more controversial words insulting the status of Akal Takht Sahib. This past week in Amritsar Sahib met with a clash of words between the BJP party and the ‘Akalis’ as the right-wing Hindu organization criticized the announcement of Bhai Satwant Singh and Bhai Kehar Singh as martyrs of the Sikh Faith.
A great surprise to many, the BJP received strong support from its chief rival, the Congress (I) party, in condemning the move by Akal Takht Sahib. In the past, both parties have shown strong disagreement over various issues. In fact, the BJP remains a big threat to the Congress ‘regime’--but the reality that both organizations joined together to interfere with the internal affairs of the Sikh Community raises eyebrows.
Speaking to the press, Jayanthi Nataranjan (Congress) joined with the BJP leadership and termed the 'equalizers' of Indira Gandhi, who pre-planned genocidal attacks against Sikhs, as “violent killers.” She further declared moves by the SGPC and Akal Takht Sahib as being in direct violation of the Indian Constitution. Rajiv Partar Rudi of the BJP also stated that the declaration of Bhai Satwant Singh was unacceptable to Indian Citizens.
Sikh leadership however, has taken a strong stance against the remarks by the BJP and the Congress party. A faction of Damdami Taksal from Mehta Chowk has asked the Indian Government to keep itself out of the internal affairs of the Sikhs. Baba Harnam Singh Dhumma, who is close to the Shiromani Akal Dal (B), told the press that the execution of Indira Gandhi was a necessity of time and that her assassins were not killers, but martyrs of the Khalsa Panth. If she had not been stopped, there could have been a massive genocide against Sikhs, worse than that which actually did take place.
The function held at Akal Takht Sahib to commemorate the martyrdom of Bhai Satwant Singh and Bhai Kehar Singh was attended by various eminent organizations and individuals. The declaration, which is receiving criticism from the BJP and Congress parties, came from Akal Takht Sahib's appointed Jathedar himself.
Recently Panthic Weekly published pictures of many of these eminent leaders mingling with right-wing Hindu supremacists, including those belonging to the BJP hierarchy. These pictures were shot at the 2007 ‘Prerna’ Program which took place awhile after the BJP had taken a stand against the installation of Baba Jarnail Singh Ji’s portrait.
What is in common or in contrast between these organizations-- BJP, Congress, SGPC and SAD (B) - is yet to be discovered, but the Sikh Nation remembers which groups stood with and against it during Operation Bluestar and other Government organized pogroms. One thing certain is that the moves by the Hindutva organization needs special attention from Panthic ‘watchdogs’.
