The Sikhs in Indian Polity

8/3/2019 The Sikhs in Indian Polity

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/the-sikhs-in-indian-polity 1/3

The Sikhs in Indian Polity

Rajinder Singh Vidvarthi (Singapore)*

* 8 Gray Lane, Singapore. 438940. [Phone: 7443494]

Article 25 of the Constitution of India gravely errs where it stipulates that Buddhists, Jains andSikhs are all sects of the Hindus, for this has been roundly refuted by all three communities.Since 1949, when the constitution was adopted, the Sikh representatives refused to affix theirsignatures. Ever since the Sikhs have, from time to time demanded its deletion.

When India was to be partitioned, the ruling Congress leaders lied to the Sikhs, promising themthat they would have the final say in Punjab, which they recognized as the ‘Homeland of theSikhs’. However, after the division, when the new Constitution was ratified with the said article

25, the Sikhs were informed, in the words of Pandit Nehru, that " Now the circumstances have

changed" and the Sikhs must accept the will of the Majority Community. This is how they

rewarded their saviours by categorizing the Sikhs as a ‘Sect’ of the Hindus.

The following are quotes from the records of some Muslim Historians, which have beencollected by a staunch Arya Samajist Hindu, Daulat Ram, in his book entitled " Sahib-e-kamaal

Guru Gobind Singh", (written in Urdu in 1901, and subsequently translated by Pritam SinghBaura of Southall, U.K. into Punjabi. Therein, he has described the times before and after theadvent of Guru Gobind Singh and his bold steps taken to save the Hindus from completeextinction.

1. The early Muslim conquerors were so tyrannical and fanatical that they playedhavoc on the Hindus. Having disgraced their places of worship, they crushed the temple

idols into pieces and laid them at the doors of their mosques. Countless people weremercilessly murdered or forcibly converted to Islam, their wealth was looted and theirfemales snatched and sent to the homelands of the Muslims and sold as slaves for as lowas two Dinars ($2/-).

2. Amir Khusro, on page 9 of his book "Twarikh-e-Hindustan", writes that the wholeof Patna was destroyed and Kauladevi was forcibly brought into his Haram (Household).Jalaludin Khilji looted the Malwa province so extensively that the Hindus were left withhardly enough clothing to wear. Hundreds of idols brought from temples of Daccan in theSouth at the order of Feroze Shah were scattered in front of his fort to be bathed in thefresh blood of the Hindus who were murdered there.

3. According to Abdulla Khan’s narration, Allaud-Din Khilji massacred so manyHindus that a stream of blood flowed. Almost twenty thousand women and children weresent as slaves back to his country. A 105-foot temple of Behlsa was brought to the groundand a mosque was raised in its place.

4. On page 12 of the "Twarikh-e-Farishta", it is stated that Feroze Shah, afterconquering Kot Kangra, took the idols of the temples, broke them into small pieces, and



put them around the necks of the Brahmins as garlands. He further made them eat beef byforcing it into their mouths.

5. An English historian, Elphinston has written in his book that Muslim bands of Khalifa Umar used to enter India by sea from Sindh for procuring young girls, as the

Arabians were fond of them. Mohamed Kassim took over the fort at Dewal and when hisorder to convert them all to Islam was not obeyed, carried out a general massacre. He alsocheated the Raja Mahaban into sparing him, but later started a fight. The Raja believinghe could not win, murdered his entire family and then committed suicide.

There are many more similar references. Daulat Ram added further: "the utter timidity,shameless, selfish and foolish attitude of the Hindus was such that they offered absolutely no - orvery ineffective - resistance, which in fact encouraged the brutalities of the greedy invaders to goon. They not only let them plunder their wealth and gold, etc, but also silently paid the Jazia (levy) for performing their religious ritual of cremating their dead, bathing at pilgrimages andeven worshipping at their temples".

Guru Nanak, as an eye-witness, openly criticized the ways of the demoralized and depressedHindus in many of his sermons, such as "Antar puja parheh kateba sa‘njam Turkan bhaa-ee’ (Within, you perform worships, while outside you read Semitic books and adopt Mohamadanways). For the barbaric Muslim rulers he said, "Rajey Shee’n mukadam kuttey" (The kings aremaneating tigers and their ministers, the dogs).

Dr. Ganda Singh writes in his book edited by Dr. Taran Singh, "....sword and fire of Babar’s

invading hordes had terrified the Hindus into political surrender.... They had been reduced to

abject slavery by blood-thirsty adventures..."

Aurangzeb’s aggressive zeal surpassed his forefather s. He issued strict orders that all the Hindusmust be converted to Islam forthwith. When one of the highest seats of Hindu learning inKashmir (from where preachers were sent throughout India) was demolished, lots of terrifiedPandits (who were his first target) began to convert voluntarily.

This tyrannized the Brahmin leaders so much that they found no other option but to approach theSikh Guru Teg Bahadur to shelter them. Aurangzeb, although he respected the spiritualsuperiority of the Gurus and had given an honourable chair to the son of Guru Har Rai in hiscourt, also hypocritically wished to bring the Sikhs under the grouping of Islam, which the Guruswould not accept. Being compassionate to the oppressed Hindus, Guru Teg Bahadur sent achallenge to the king to try and change his faith. Losing his temper, Aurangzeb hurriedly orderedthe Guru to be beheaded. The Guru gave his head but not his faith, which the monarch took ashis defeat, causing his reign of terror to slacken. Consequently, a zealous desire arose among theSikh disciples, whose heroic struggle ultimately put an end to Aurangzeb’s tyranny.

This was a great act of benevolence by the Sikh Gurus, which could have attracted the whole of the Hindu community to gratefully merge into the Sikh-fold. But on the contrary, takingadvantage of their majority in the vast country (where Sikhs were a tiny minority), the Hindusarrogantly brought up the disheartening Clause in the new Constitution of the partitioned India,



that the Sikhs are a "sect" of the Hindus. And simultaneously, they started many other unjustways to deprive the brave Sikhs of their glorious heritage.

Any simple-minded person would realize that the said Clause is unjust and that its inclusion is amischievous act. Also their disagreeing to its deletion is illogical and injurious to the patriotic

Sikhs, who not only have served the Hindu community so compassionately, but whose sacrificestowards achieving the independence of India have been unacknowledged.

It has been fifty-two years since the Sikhs have been struggling to get the status of their separateidentity re-instated, and although no hopeful sign of success has been seen, the people at thehelm fully realize the justification of the Sikh’s cause. Moreover, the whole world is now wellaware of how zealously the Sikhs 300th birthday (of the Khalsa Community) is being celebratedeverywhere. That is the greatest evidence of their uniqueness, something which has beenacknowledged by most world-nations. For example, the Canadian Government issued astrikingly beautiful postal stamp (showing the Khalsa emblem Khanda as a souvenir, incommemoration of these celebrations.

Documents

The Sikhs in Indian Polity