The Bright And Colorful Canvas Does Have Some Dark Secrets

Editorials News | Aug-11-2019

The Bright And Colorful Canvas Does Have Some Dark Secrets

The inside story of Khalistan Movement

India is a vibrant colorful canvas of unique assimilation of different ethnic groups displaying their varied cultural practices and religions. This uniqueness in the ethnicity makes India different from any other country in the world. The large spectrum of religious and cultural extravaganza makes this country a platform for major world civilization and not merely a nation state. From the ancient times, this great land has displayed varied hues of culture, religion, race, language and a plethora of other attributes and the most amazing is the fact that despite being a melting pot of cultures and ethnicity they have managed to live within the sanctums of one single nation. Regional territories in India have a great role to play when it comes to differentiating these ethnic groups with their own social, cultural and religious identities. The major religions that are prevalent in this country are Hinduism, Christianity, Islam, Sikhism, Buddhism, Jainism and several others with the freedom for citizens to practice any religion they choose to.

However, this diversity, especially the religious part of it has been the reason for many turmoil, massacres and bloodshed in this country. Though every religion teaches tolerance, acceptance and peace, love and brotherhood but as we have experienced through ages, religion is also used as a weapon to polarize. Unfortunately, politicians who are supposed to work for the betterment of this country have been taking advantage of religion to garner votes, polarize people and this was the case with “Khalistan Movement” as well. The seed of this divide between Hindus and the Sikhs of Punjab was sown by none other than the British in the 1860’s. The British were grateful to the Sikh princes for their assistance during the mutiny of 1857 and to use their prowess and bravery the British replaced the Bengali soldiers with loyal Sikhs and Punjabi Muslims to create a buffer between Afghanistan and India. Sikhs, who sported the five "K" or the symbols of Sikh, were the ones who could join the British Army. Thus started the conflict between the Hindus and the Sikhs of Punjab who once lived in total harmony. In 1898 Kahan Singh Nabha's published book "Ham Hindu Nahi Hain" appraised Hinduism in the most vitriolic manner. In 1905, Idols that once were part of the Golden Temple were removed. A large number of Hindus converted to Sikhism. In 1925 the Sikh Gurudwaras Act was pact which began the enter twining of religion with politics. This was followed by the demand for Punjabi, in Gurumukhi script to be the state language which only created a divide between the Hindu and Sikh. A large number of people speak Hindi and as such in 1966, Haryana consisting of the Hindi speaking areas was carved out of Punjab while the rest remained Punjab.  

The "Khalistan Movement" was purely a result of political interest. In 1977, a coalition of the Alkalis and Jan Sangh (now BJP) ruled Punjab. Sanjay Gandhi, son of Indira Gandhi wanted to break this coalition and senior Congress leader Zail Singh advised him to look for a new religious leader to discredit the traditional Akali Dal leadership. It was the Congress who had zeroed in on Jairnail Singh Bhindranwale. The rest is a history that led to many wanted events, like "Operation Blue star"assasination of Indira Gandhi, The Anti-Sikh riots of Delhi.

In short for the ambition of a few the nations, its people suffer, not to forget the fact that the creators of the "Frankenstein" always cannot escape and often get devoured by the evil that they had created.

 

By: Madhuchanda Saxena

Content: https://www.esamskriti.com/e/History/Indian-History/What-happened-during-the-Khalistan-Movement-1.aspx

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