Indira Gandhi killers families ‘honoured’ by SGPC, demands for another memorial

By Dilip -
Amritsar, Oct 31 (ANI): After the construction of the controversial memorial dedicated to separatist Sikh leader Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale and other ‘martyrs’ of Operation Blue Star at the Golden Temple Complex in Amritsar, demands are now being made for another memorial in memory of assassins of former Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi .
Shiromani Gurdwara Parbhandhak Committee (SGPC) the premier body of the Sikhs with Dal Khalsa and SAD (Panch Pardani) on Thursday observed the martyrdom day of Beant Singh, who assassinated late Indira Gandhi the then Prime Minister of India 29 years ago on this day. The head of Akal Takht Gaini Gurbachan Singh honored Sarbjit Singh the son of Beant Singh, Satwant Singh the son of Kehar Singh and Waryam Singh the brother of Bhai Satwant Singh.
The law of killing: a brief history of Indian fascism
1948: Assassination of Gandhi

Kanwarpal Singh, the spokesperson of Dal Khalsa, said that they observed the martyrdom anniversary of Beant Singh who had punished a person who was responsible for attack on Golden Temple. “We along with Harnam Singh Khalsa, Akal Takht and SGPC honoured son of Beant Singh and gave him a silver plaque. We also gave a memorandum to Akal Takht to construct a memorial in memory of Beant Singh, Kehar Singh and Satwant Singh in Golden Temple complex,” he added.
While talking to ANI, Gaini Gurbachan Singh, Jathedar Akal Takht, the highest temporal seat of the Sikhs, said that the 29th anniversary of Beant Singh is being observed who killed Indira Gandhi who had engineered attack on Akal Takht and Golden Temple. Beant Singh, Kehar Singh and Satwant Singh couldn’t bear attack on Golden Temple and Akal Takht so they punished Indira Gandhi of her mistake. Sikhs have no personal animosity with anyone, her own mistakes came before her. He said that they are pride of Sikh Panth. SGPC had always been observing their anniversaries.
The radicals present there urged the SGPC to construct the memorial in memory of all the three in the Golden Temple Complex in any shape and at any place. As the sacrifice of Beant Singh, Satwant Singh and Kehar Singh was meant to uphold the rich traditions and glory of Darbar Sahib and Akal Takht, it was the desire of the Sikh Panth that SGPC should build a memorial in their memory at suitable place within the complex said the radical leaders.
Sarabjit Sigh Khalsa, son of Beant Singh said, “My father had achieved martyrdom while taking revenge for attack on Golden Temple and Akal Takht. There should be a memorial in his memory in the Golden Temple complex”. Echoing with Sarabjit Singh, the son of Kehar Singh, Satwant Singh said, “Whenever Golden Temple or Akal Takht was attacked in past, Sikhs have taken revenge; so my father also took revenge with the help of Beant Singh and Satwant Singh for attacking Sikhs most religious place. To honour their martyrdom there should be a memorial and annual Panthic gatherings should be held there.”
A resolution to this effect was adopted today on the occasion and the heads of Damdami Taksal, Dal Khalsa and Panch Pardani besides the kin of all the three martyrs signed the copy of the resolution, which was handed over to Jathedar of Akal Takht for implementa-tion. Notably it took more than two decades to give nod the SGPC after it constructed the 'Martyrs memorial' of Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale in the Golden Temple Complex. Jathedar said, ” I have received a memorandum from Dal Khalsa, I will contemplate with other Sikh high priests but already a memorial of all the ‘martyrs’ exists in the Golden Temple complex.” By Ravinder Singh Robin (ANI)
Delhi gurdwaras to hail Indira Gandhi 's killers as martyrs? Why complain when Mahatma Gandhi's killers are lionised? : NB: It is indeed offensive that men who assassinated someone in their protection should be given a sacred aura by the SGPC. This is not a sign of religious faith, but a tragic lack of it. It is yet another sign that religion has become less a source of wisdom and more a badge of identity. However, the ongoing politics of hurt sentiment extends beyond the matter of Rushdie's or Taslima's books, beyond Valentines Day. At the topmost political levels we hear of outrage at the bestowal of martyr-dom upon persons guilty of terrible crimes. Thus, when Omar calls Afzal Guru ‘sahib’, this draws flak from Congress. It is considered to be an act of 'glorification' by those who are offended.  
I am not offended, but bemused at the differing standards we exercise in our public life. V.D. Savarkar was a prime accused in Mahatma Gandhi's assassination. Yet he is acclaimed & honoured with a portrait in the Central Hall of Parliament. Those of us who object to this risk being dubbed anti-national elements. Yes, Savarkar was an extreme patriot. So was Charu Mazumdar, founder of the Naxalite movement. Why not place a portrait of him too, in the Lok Sabha? (See The Other side of Maoism). As long as Gandhi's assassination is celebrated by the Indian Parliament, no one speaking in the name of the Nation (whatever that is), need complain about Sikh 'martyrs' and Kashmiri 'martyrs'. Lets be honest with ourselves for a change - DS
Communal brinkmanship in Punjab: "Bhindranwale was no thinker. He had no coherent position on any complex issue, but was willing to mouth the rhetoric that ensured the Akalis were afraid of losing their own constituency, and he was willing to do something the Akalis had never done, use violence to achieve political ends. His hitmen, such as Surinder Singh Sodhi, assassinated a number of people who earned his wrath. He had also dabbled in politics, openly supporting Congress candidates against the Akalis at one point and then trying to put up his own candidates for elections to the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC), the Sikh body that controls all gurdwaras in Punjab, with little success. This man, a terrorist who thought nothing of using violence to terrorise and kill his opponents, whether Sikhs or Hindus, a man who never enjoyed popular support within the Sikh community (despite the impression being sought to be conveyed today), was truly converted into a sant (holy man) by the stupidity of the Indian State.." (Hartosh Singh Bal).
Rajdeep Sardesai - Confront these painful truths about communalism: ...whether you travel to the outskirts of Ahmedabad to Citizen Nagar to meet 2002 riot victims living next to a garbage dump, or to the overflowing drains of Tilak Vihar where the widows of the 1984 anti-Sikh riots live, or the makeshift homes for Kashmiri Pandit families in Jammu, the one common factor that binds these groups is the fact that their condition represents the utter failure of the Indian State to uphold the rule of  law. This is not about being Muslims, Sikhs, Hindus: it is about a society that doesn't protect and provide justice to its own..
The law of killing: a brief history of Indian fascism
1948: Assassination of Gandhi

1948: Supreme Court, RSS and Gandhi

Popular posts from this blog

Third degree torture used on Maruti workers: Rights body

By Dilip -
The People’s Union for Democratic Rights on Tuesday alleged that third degree torture methods were used by the Gurgaon Criminal Investigation Agency while interrogating workers of Maruti Suzuki India Limited’s Manesar plant who are accused of involvement in the killing of an HR manager and the violent attack at the plant on July 18. The PUDR alleged that the Gurgaon CIA investigation “did not seem” to be directed at solving the crime or probing the involvement of the arrested workers in the incidents and crimes recorded in the FIR but instead was based on their involvement in trade union activities. Grave doubts  “The use of third degree torture in police custody, and the securing of arrestees’ signatures on blank papers by the police, gives rise to grave doubts regarding the ability of such an investigation in effectively identifying or arresting those guilty. The police and the State seem keener to reassure Maruti Suzuki Ltd. and ensure that production continues,” the PUDR stat
Read more

Haruki Murakami: On seeing the 100% perfect girl one beautiful April morning

By Dilip -
According to Murakami, “1Q84” is just an amplification of one of his most popular short stories,   which (in its English version) is five pages long. “Basically, it’s the same,” he told me. “A boy meets a girl. They have separated and are looking for each other. It’s a simple story. I just made it long.” One beautiful April morning, on a narrow side street in Tokyo's fashionable Harujuku neighborhood, I walked past the 100% perfect girl. Tell you the truth, she's not that good-looking. She doesn't stand out in any way. Her clothes are nothing special. The back of her hair is still bent out of shape from sleep. She isn't young, either - must be near thirty, not even close to a "girl," properly speaking. But still, I know from fifty yards away: She's the 100% perfect girl for me. The moment I see her, there's a rumbling in my chest, and my mouth is as dry as a desert..." read the story: http://www.youmightfindyourself.com/post/22131227
Read more

The Almond Trees by Albert Camus (1940)

By Dilip -
Image
'Do you know', Napoleon once said to Fontanes, 'what astounds me most about the world?  The impotence of force to establish anything.  There are only two powers in the world: the sword and the mind.  In the end, the sword is always conquered by the mind' Conquerors, you see, are sometimes melancholy.  They have to pay some price for so much vainglory. But what a hundred years ago was true of the sword is no longer true today of the tank. Conquerors have made progress, and the dismal silence of places without intelligence has been established for years at a time in a lacerated Europe. At the time of the hideous wars of Flanders, Dutch painters could still perhaps paint the cockerels in their farmyards. The Hundred Years War has likewise been forgotten, and yet the prayers of Silesian mystics still linger in some hearts. But today, things have changed; the painter and the monk have been drafted - we are one with the world.  The mind has lost that regal certainty which a c
Read more

Albert Camus's lecture 'The Human Crisis', New York, March 1946. 'No cause justifies the murder of innocents'

By Dilip -
The morning after a great historical crisis, you feel as sad and sick as after a heavy night. But there is no aspirin for historical hangovers .. The world is no longer divided into the just or unjust, but into masters and slaves. He who is right is he who enslaves.  Albert Camus     La crise de l'homme : THE HUMAN CRISIS   (Text read by Viggo Mortensen on March 28 2016)   Ladies and Gentlemen: when I was invited to give a series of lectures in the United States of America, I felt some doubt and hesitation. I am really not old enough to give lectures, and I am more at ease with the process of thinking than I am making categorical statements... since I don't feel I have any claim on what is generally called the truth. I shared this reservation and was very politely told that my personal opinion didn't matter. What mattered was that I'd be able to offer some facts about France so that my listeners could form their own opinions. It was then suggested that I might
Read more

Etel Adnan - To Be In A Time Of War

By Dilip -
NB: Etel Adnan, writer, poet, artist and musician was born in 1925 and raised in Beirut, Lebanon. Her mother was a Greek from Smyrna, her father, a high ranking Ottoman officer born in Damascus. This prose poem is the final chapter of her book  In the Heart of the Heart of Another Country .  Read more about her here  - DS To Be In A Time Of War To say nothing, do nothing, mark time, to bend, to straighten up, to blame oneself, to stand, to go toward the window, to change one’s mind in the process, to return to one’s chair, to stand again, to go to the bathroom, to close the door, to then open the door, to go to the kitchen, to not eat nor drink, to return to the table, to be bored, to take a few steps on the rug, to come close to the chimney, to look at it, to find it dull, to turn left until the main door, to come back to the room, to hesitate, to go on, just a bit, a trifle, to stop, to pull the right side of the curtain, then the other side, to stare at
Read more

After the Truth Shower

By Dilip -
Dear Readers Thank you for reading my blog for the past eleven years. (This is a link to the new one) During this time it has had nearly 1.7 million hits; and I have posted over 9500 posts covering a variety of themes. From July 11 to 19, 2022, my blog was withdrawn by the Blogger administration on account of what its machinery suspected to be 'Impersonation'. It took over a week and the efforts of several well-wishers to get it back online I thank them all for their kindness and goodwill  My blog has always been - and remains - non-commercial. I have used it for academic purposes; and to foster a culture of debate and informed commentary in civil society. Because it contains a large amount of material gathered and collated for over a decade, I cannot afford to lose its contents. I hope it will remain undisturbed now and function as an archive. However, I have decided to use a new blog on WordPress as a platform for my newest comments and posts The new blog is titled After the
Read more

Rudyard Kipling: critical essay by George Orwell (1942)

By Dilip -
Mother of Cities to me, For I was born in her gate, Between the palms and the sea, Where the world-end steamers wait  Rudyard Kipling , To the City of Bombay "Few people who have criticized England from the inside have said bitterer things about her than this gutter patriot" : George Orwell IT WAS a pity that Mr. Eliot should be so much on the defensive in the long essay with which he prefaces this selection of Kipling's poetry, but it was not to be avoided, because before one can even speak about Kipling one has to clear away a legend that has been created by two sets of people who have not read his works. Kipling is in the peculiar position of having been a byword for fifty years. During five literary generations every enlightened person has despised him, and at the end of that time nine-tenths of those enlightened persons are forgotten and Kipling is in some sense still there. Mr. Eliot never satisfactorily explains this fact, because in answering the shal
Read more