Sikhism – Page 4 – Brown Pundits

The Golden Temple

Brown Pundits Archive · May 31, 2014 · No comments

As we peruse this report on Operation Bluestar by Hartosh Singh Bal we find even more reasons why religion should stay out of South Asian politics (but then as a liberal atheist we are expected to believe that). At the minimum what is required right now are decent politicians who will not exploit heavenly matters for earthly gain.

…..
The dismal story of Bluestar had been set on its tracks by Sanjay
Gandhi, but it now appears that its disastrous conclusion was the work of his
brother Rajiv, who swept to power with the biggest mandate in Indian history
following his mother’s assassination.

Operation Bluestar was not just Indira Gandhi’s last battle; it was the
first, and perhaps the most disastrous, of Rajiv’s blunders.
By the time the smoke cleared over the Darbar Sahib, hundreds of
innocent bystanders had died.

Bhindranwale lay murdered, and the Akal Takht, where he had set up his
final defiance of Delhi, stood shattered. The operation was followed by the
assassination of Indira Gandhi by her Sikh bodyguards, and the organised
massacre of thousands of Sikhs by Hindu mobs, led mainly by Congress
politicians.
…….. ….

Our opinion (as informed by our relatives who survived in the war zone) is that 1984 was a great crime and happened as part of an action-reaction story (Hartosh does not account for the Hindus who were forced out of buses and summarily shot to death). But as he makes it clear like never before, the desperation of the Royal Family to get back into power in Punjab and how Rajiv Gandhi and his cronies played with fire (which later consumed the family as well). It is clear also that ordinary people matter very little in the scheme of things, with dynasties looking to survive (through a policy of divide and rule) or outstanding egos looking to be fed (by human blood). Justice in its own fashion has been handed out after more than 30 years have gone by. It is too little, too late.

There is one thing also that Hartosh does not tell us about (he is correct in his opinion that the election of the BJP and the destruction of the Congress party is not a good omen for India). If it comes to a full fledged battle, the Sikhs will lose out badly and not just in India. The holy shrines of the Sikhs are spread out all over India and Pakistan. At present there are protests that the shrines are being desecrated in Pakistan. There was a major security incident whereby Sikh protestors converged on the Pakistan Parliament.

Matters have become so polarized in South Asia that it may come to this that minority communities will not be able to survive outside of ghettos (and even imperfectly inside them). Case in point is Rabwah in Pakistan (Ahmadis) and Juhapura in Gujarat (Muslims). It will require statesmen of extra-ordinary stature to overcome the politics of polarization (the Aam Admi Party won in Punjab by associating with a Sikh militant group, see below). Politics for short term convenience and reliance on ideological extremists to get rid of moderates is the bane of South Asia. It must stop right now. We must have peace just to survive (Hartosh talks about the drug menace in Punjab threatening to derail another generation of youngsters after a previous generation has been lost to militancy), if not to prosper.
…………………………..

Following
the Punjab insurgency, which extended from the early 1980s to the mid
1990s, the number of pilgrims to the Darbar Sahib has increased rapidly.
The queues to enter the shrine now extend beyond the causeway; but the
sense of quiet calm remains, though it is at odds with the shrine’s
history. Perhaps no place of worship so central to a major religion in
India has seen as much violence within its premises.
The sarovar was constructed in 1581 by Ram Das, the fourth Sikh guru.
The tank was lined and the shrine completed by the fifth guru, Arjan
Dev, in 1601. By that time, the Sikh congregation had grown large enough
for the Mughal emperor Jehangir to see Guru Arjan as a threat to his
sovereignty. He was arrested in 1606, and tortured to death when he
refused to convert to Islam. For his followers, this first martyrdom in
their incipient faith would become the paradigm for Sikhism’s
relationship with the durbar in Delhi.
The sixth guru, Hargobind, donned two swords to represent a change in
the nature of his leadership—he would be not only a spiritual guide to
his disciples (piri), but also a preceptor in their temporal lives (miri). The weapons form Sikhism’s central symbol, the khanda—a
pair of linked swords. The guru ensured the same symbolism was
reflected in the architecture of the Darbar Sahib. Across from the
causeway, facing the central shrine, which represents spiritual
authority, he constructed the building known as the Akal Takht, the
timeless throne, from where he administered justice like any temporal
authority.
Once the line of living gurus ended with Guru Gobind Singh in 1708, this authority over the Sikhs came to be vested in the jathedar,
or custodian, of the Akal Takht. Through the eighteenth century, as
centralised authority broke down in the Punjab, the Sikhs grew in
strength. Dispersed, led by various men, groups of Sikh warriors would
gather periodically at the Akal Takht to plan and direct their course of
action. Those seeking to contain them would target the Harmandir Sahib
and the Akal Takht.
Each person who has desecrated the shrine occupies an oversize space
in the collective memory of the community. Every Sikh can recount the
story of Massa Rangar, who was appointed the kotwal or ruler of
Amritsar in 1740 and proceeded to host nautch parties in the Harmandir
Sahib, having first removed the holy book, the Guru Granth Sahib, from
its place. He was beheaded by two Sikhs, Mehtab and Sukha Singh, who
claimed to be revenue officers coming to deposit a large sum of money.
Even better known is the story of a defender of the faith, Baba Deep
Singh. In 1757, the Afghan emperor Ahmad Shah Abdali, having sacked
Delhi for the fourth time, was waylaid by a Sikh contingent near
Kurukshetra. Angered, he left his son Taimur Shah behind as the governor
of Lahore to take care of this menace. Taimur demolished the Harmandir
Sahib, but the seventy-five-year-old Deep Singh led a contingent of five
hundred Sikhs to take back the complex. By the time he neared Amritsar,
their number had swelled to five thousand. Clashing with a much larger
Afghan army, Deep Singh was injured by a blow to the neck, but continued
to fight his way to the Darbar Sahib, eventually succumbing to his
injuries by the sarovar. On the parikrama, the spot where he is believed
to have fallen is marked by a portrait of him carrying his decapitated
head in one hand, still holding a sword aloft in the other.
The martyrdom of Baba Deep Singh resonates through Sikh history. Two
centuries later, in June 1984, when the Indian Army went into the Darbar
Sahib on orders from prime minister Indira Gandhi, it was to disarm and
dislodge Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, who according to tradition was the
fourteenth head of the Damdami Taksaal, an orthodox Sikh seminary once
headed, it is said, by Deep Singh. In the mythology of a faith where the
stories of Massa Rangar and Deep Singh arouse intense and contrary
emotions, Sikhs memorialised both Bhindranwale and Gandhi in accordance
with the roles they had assumed—one the defender, the other a
desecrator.
The trajectory of those two lives, both of which ended violently
thirty years ago, intersected for the first time in 1977, when
Bhindranwale assumed charge of the Damdami Taksaal, and Gandhi was swept
out of power after the Emergency. Nowhere was Gandhi’s decision to
suspend the constitution as strongly contested as in Punjab, and no
party resisted it with quite the ferocity of the Akali Dal, which
represented Sikh interests in the state. Over the next seven years,
Gandhi, Bhindranwale and the Akali Dal would lead three fronts in a
battle in which they faced off, realigned with and schemed against each
other until the very end.
From the moment an Akali Dal government, in alliance with the Janata
Party and the Communist Party of India (Marxist), took charge of Punjab
in 1977, Gandhi’s politics were guided by her desire to cut the Akalis
down to size. The execution of her wishes was left to her son, Sanjay
Gandhi, and her loyalist, the canny Sikh politician Giani Zail Singh,
who chose Bhindranwale as their weapon. Bhindranwale saw no reason to
refuse their aid; any support for his brand of Sikh orthodoxy was
welcome.
By the time the Congress returned to power in the state in 1980,
Bhindranwale was well on his way to becoming a popular icon,
accumulating so much power that the Akalis, whom he was supposed to be
undermining, ended up turning to him for help. He became the dominant
political force in Punjab: by 1983, he was running a parallel state from
within the Darbar Sahib complex, handing down death sentences and
dispensing rough justice before adoring supplicants. Even the policemen
in Punjab tasked with arresting him were reduced to seeking his
protection.
Bluestar, the military operation to remove Bhindranwale from the
Darbar Sahib, ended this regime—but at the cost of hundreds of lives,
and the credibility of the Indian Army, which subsequently had to deal
with mutinous troops for the first time in the history of independent
India. Although the action has been examined in close detail in the
years following the attack, the lack of planning and intelligence, and
the hurry to carry it out, have never been properly explained.
In February this year, the declassification of intelligence documents
in the UK revealed information about a commando operation inside the
Darbar Sahib that was planned but never executed. Given this evidence, I
revisited several people who had witnessed the events leading up to
Operation Bluestar. In light of these interviews, it is possible to
assemble a more coherent picture than ever before of the Gandhi family’s
political calculations, which were central to the nature of the final
operation. The dismal story of Bluestar had been set on its tracks by
Sanjay Gandhi, but it now appears that its disastrous conclusion was the
work of his brother Rajiv, who swept to power with the biggest mandate
in Indian history following his mother’s assassination. Operation
Bluestar was not just Indira Gandhi’s last battle; it was the first, and
perhaps the most disastrous, of Rajiv’s blunders.
By the time the smoke cleared over the Darbar Sahib, hundreds of
innocent bystanders had died. Bhindranwale lay murdered, and the Akal
Takht, where he had set up his final defiance of Delhi, stood shattered.
The operation was followed by the assassination of Indira Gandhi by her
Sikh bodyguards, and the organised massacre of thousands of Sikhs by
Hindu mobs, led mainly by Congress politicians. In Punjab, militancy
against the Indian state reached levels unprecedented in the years
before Bluestar; it took a decade for a semblance of peace to return.
Over the last thirty years, the debate over Bluestar has played out
between two extreme points of view: that of radicals in Punjab and
abroad, who dwell on the Congress’s role while overlooking
Bhindranwale’s complicity, and that of people in the rest of India, who
tend to focus on Bhindranwale with little sense of the Congress’s
contribution to the tragedy. Many Indians may believe the events of that
June can be consigned to the history books, but their memory remains
alive in Punjab. Many Sikhs continue to view the operation, and the
figure of Bhindranwale, in a markedly different light from the rest of
the country. Without understanding how such distinct perspectives came
to exist, it may be impossible to come to terms with the history of
Bluestar.
– See more at: http://www.caravanmagazine.in/print/4423#sthash.VRumZKHB.dpuf

Following the Punjab insurgency, which extended from the early 1980s to
the mid 1990s, the number of pilgrims to the Darbar Sahib has increased
rapidly. The queues to enter the shrine now extend beyond the causeway; but the
sense of quiet calm remains, though it is at odds with the shrine’s history.
Perhaps no place of worship so central to a major religion in India has seen as
much violence within its premises.
….
The sarovar was constructed in 1581 by Ram Das, the fourth Sikh guru.
The tank was lined and the shrine completed by the fifth guru, Arjan Dev, in
1601. By that time, the Sikh congregation had grown large enough for the Mughal
emperor Jehangir to see Guru Arjan as a threat to his sovereignty. He was
arrested in 1606, and tortured to death when he refused to convert to Islam.
For his followers, this first martyrdom in their incipient faith would become
the paradigm for Sikhism’s relationship with the durbar in Delhi.
…
The sixth guru, Hargobind, donned two swords to represent a change in
the nature of his leadership—he would be not only a spiritual guide to his
disciples (piri), but also a preceptor in their temporal lives (miri).
…
The weapons form Sikhism’s central symbol, the khanda—a pair of linked
swords. The guru ensured the same symbolism was reflected in the architecture
of the Darbar Sahib. Across from the causeway, facing the central shrine, which
represents spiritual authority, he constructed the building known as the Akal
Takht, the timeless throne, from where he administered justice like any
temporal authority.
Once the line of living gurus ended with Guru Gobind Singh in 1708, this
authority over the Sikhs came to be vested in the jathedar, or custodian, of
the Akal Takht. Through the eighteenth century, as centralised authority broke
down in the Punjab, the Sikhs grew in strength. Dispersed, led by various men,
groups of Sikh warriors would gather periodically at the Akal Takht to plan and
direct their course of action. Those seeking to contain them would target the
Harmandir Sahib and the Akal Takht.
…
Each person who has desecrated the shrine occupies an oversize space in
the collective memory of the community. Every Sikh can recount the story of
Massa Rangar, who was appointed the kotwal or ruler of Amritsar in 1740 and
proceeded to host nautch parties in the Harmandir Sahib, having first removed
the holy book, the Guru Granth Sahib, from its place. He was beheaded by two
Sikhs, Mehtab and Sukha Singh, who claimed to be revenue officers coming to
deposit a large sum of money.
…
Even better known is the story of a defender of the faith, Baba Deep
Singh. In 1757, the Afghan emperor Ahmad Shah Abdali, having sacked Delhi for
the fourth time, was waylaid by a Sikh contingent near Kurukshetra. Angered, he
left his son Taimur Shah behind as the governor of Lahore to take care of this
menace.
…
Taimur demolished the Harmandir Sahib, but the seventy-five-year-old
Deep Singh led a contingent of five hundred Sikhs to take back the complex. By
the time he neared Amritsar, their number had swelled to five thousand. Clashing
with a much larger Afghan army, Deep Singh was injured by a blow to the neck,
but continued to fight his way to the Darbar Sahib, eventually succumbing to
his injuries by the sarovar. On the parikrama, the spot where he is believed to
have fallen is marked by a portrait of him carrying his decapitated head in one
hand, still holding a sword aloft in the other.
….
The martyrdom of Baba Deep Singh resonates through Sikh history. Two
centuries later, in June 1984, when the Indian Army went into the Darbar Sahib
on orders from prime minister Indira Gandhi, it was to disarm and dislodge
Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, who according to tradition was the fourteenth head
of the Damdami Taksaal, an orthodox Sikh seminary once headed, it is said, by
Deep Singh.
…
In the mythology of a faith where the stories of Massa Rangar and Deep
Singh arouse intense and contrary emotions, Sikhs memorialised both
Bhindranwale and Gandhi in accordance with the roles they had assumed—one the
defender, the other a desecrator.
…
The trajectory of those two lives, both of which ended violently thirty
years ago, intersected for the first time in 1977, when Bhindranwale assumed
charge of the Damdami Taksaal, and Gandhi was swept out of power after the
Emergency. Nowhere was Gandhi’s decision to suspend the constitution as
strongly contested as in Punjab, and no party resisted it with quite the
ferocity of the Akali Dal, which represented Sikh interests in the state.
…
Over the next seven years, Gandhi, Bhindranwale and the Akali Dal would
lead three fronts in a battle in which they faced off, realigned with and
schemed against each other until the very end.
….
From the moment an Akali Dal government, in alliance with the Janata
Party and the Communist Party of India (Marxist), took charge of Punjab in
1977, Gandhi’s politics were guided by her desire to cut the Akalis down to
size. The execution of her wishes was left to her son,
Sanjay Gandhi, and her loyalist, the canny Sikh politician Giani Zail Singh,
who chose Bhindranwale as their weapon. Bhindranwale saw no reason to refuse
their aid; any support for his brand of Sikh orthodoxy was welcome.
….
By the time the Congress returned to power in the state in 1980,
Bhindranwale was well on his way to becoming a popular icon, accumulating so
much power that the Akalis, whom he was supposed to be undermining, ended up
turning to him for help. He became the dominant political force in Punjab: by
1983, he was running a parallel state from within the Darbar Sahib complex,
handing down death sentences and dispensing rough justice before adoring
supplicants. Even the policemen in Punjab tasked with arresting him were
reduced to seeking his protection.
…
Bluestar, the military operation to remove Bhindranwale from the Darbar
Sahib, ended this regime—but at the cost of hundreds of lives, and the
credibility of the Indian Army, which subsequently had to deal with mutinous
troops for the first time in the history of independent India. Although
the action has been examined in close detail in the years following the attack,
the lack of planning and intelligence, and the hurry to carry it out, have
never been properly explained.
….
In February this year, the declassification of intelligence documents in
the UK revealed information about a commando operation inside the Darbar Sahib
that was planned but never executed. Given this evidence, I revisited several
people who had witnessed the events leading up to Operation Bluestar. In light
of these interviews, it is possible to assemble a more coherent picture than
ever before of the Gandhi family’s political calculations, which were central
to the nature of the final operation.
….
The dismal story of Bluestar had been set on its tracks by Sanjay
Gandhi, but it now appears that its disastrous conclusion was the work of his
brother Rajiv, who swept to power with the biggest mandate in Indian history
following his mother’s assassination.
….
Operation Bluestar was not just Indira Gandhi’s last battle; it was the
first, and perhaps the most disastrous, of Rajiv’s blunders.
…
By the time the smoke cleared over the Darbar Sahib, hundreds of
innocent bystanders had died.
….
Bhindranwale lay murdered, and the Akal Takht, where he had set up his
final defiance of Delhi, stood shattered. The operation was followed by the
assassination of Indira Gandhi by her Sikh bodyguards, and the organised
massacre of thousands of Sikhs by Hindu mobs, led mainly by Congress
politicians. In Punjab, militancy against the Indian state reached levels
unprecedented in the years before Bluestar; it took a decade for a semblance of
peace to return.
….
Over the last thirty years, the debate over Bluestar has played out
between two extreme points of view: that of radicals in Punjab and abroad, who
dwell on the Congress’s role while overlooking Bhindranwale’s complicity, and
that of people in the rest of India, who tend to focus on Bhindranwale with
little sense of the Congress’s contribution to the tragedy.
….
Many Indians may believe the events of that June can be consigned to the
history books, but their memory remains alive in Punjab.
Many Sikhs continue
to view the operation, and the figure of Bhindranwale, in a markedly different
light from the rest of the country. Without understanding how such distinct
perspectives came to exist, it may be impossible to come to terms with the
history of Bluestar

…….
Link: http://www.caravanmagazine.in/print/4423#sthash.VRumZKHB.dpuf
…………..

regards

Shri Hemkunt Sahib

Brown Pundits Archive · May 26, 2014 · No comments

Guru Govind Singh meditated at this spot, high up on the Garhwal Himalayas.
The nearby valley of flowers is an unforgettable place to visit as well.

While the fact is that lakhs of pilgrims would love to visit the place, we wish they take all appropriate precautions. We forget easily even the most horrible events (it is probably a defense mechanism, else we all will go mad). But last year’s tragedy must still be fresh in people’s minds.

If any BPeeps are headed that way we will appreciate if you share your travel experiences.
………………………
The portals of the famous Hemkund Sahib Gurdwara located in snow-capped Garhwal Himalayas were thrown open to pilgrims today. Shri Hemkunt Sahib, where Guru Gobind Singh meditated before his incarnation
as the 10th Sikh guru, is one of the most revered places and attracts
lakhs of pilgrims every year.

Braving chilly weather, over
3,000 Sikh pilgrims offered their prayers at the star-shaped Gurdwara
situated at a height of 16,000 ft in Chamoli district.

The
shrine opens for four months in a year as the area remains snow-bound
during the rest of the period. It had remained closed since October 10
last year. …………………………….

………………………
Link: http://shrihemkuntsahib.com/home.html
………..

regards

Sikh stereotypes

Brown Pundits Archive · May 22, 2014 · 4 comments

In South Asia the small minority communities have it difficult (always the danger of getting swallowed by the majority) and easy (they are lionized for some or other outstanding qualities). When we see the high social indicators of Jains, Sikhs, and Christians (but not the neo-Buddhists) then we subconsciously connect the good in the J/S/C philosophy and link it back to the indicators. Simply put, J/S/C good, H/M bad.

There is a good and bad part of this “boosting.” The good part is that the value of being a minority, of increasing diversity is not (often) questioned. The bad part is that well, things are really not what they seem to be. The most egalitarian ideology fails the acid test of the caste system/biradiri. And the most useful test is to observe how behavior patterns change when the minority becomes a (local) majority.

The best (worst) example is the case of the North-East (Naga) Christians who have often led blockades of Manipur valley (mostly Hindus) including one mega-blockade which went on for 250 (+) days. It was part extortion and part black-mailing and full-scale terrorism. Sick people could not reach hospitals, children could not get to schools and the common people suffered terribly. Of course these incidents barely ever reach the national press let alone international press.

“The life has reached its most difficult stage without food and
essential commodities. There is acute shortage of fuel, which has
affected students not being able to go to schools and colleges.
Hospitals have run out of oxygen, there is shortage of medicines,” it
said.

http://www.christiantoday.co.in/articles/christians-urged-to-pray-for-peace-in-manipur/5373.htm

Then there are the Sikhs, who in our opinion are the most outstanding people on earth. They have been horribly victimized in Partition I and again due to Mrs Gandhi’s machinations in the 1970s culminating with the high crimes of 1984 (we tend not to over-use the word genocide).

Frankly speaking our (wrongly held) opinion of the Akali Dal was that it is a grass-roots organization run by a passionate and close-knit circle. But we had no idea that it is basically just one family which controls every switch on the switch-board. At this level it is akin to Shiv Sena, one organization we are a bit more familiar with. Stereotypes are still mostly true, but the Akali Dal is just another SAsian “family business.”

……

Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal runs the
northern Indian state of Punjab from his office in the secretariat
building. His son, a wealthy businessman, works next door as deputy
chief minister. A few floors away, the
deputy’s two brothers-in-law run key ministerial offices. Together, the
four men sit atop half of Punjab’s governmental departments, including
home affairs, justice, taxation and food supply.

Politics
in Punjab, a relatively affluent, agrarian state of 28 million, is
largely a family-run operation, which isn’t uncommon in a country
governed for decades by the Indian National Congress, the party of the
Nehru-Gandhi clan.

But frustration with family politics has
surfaced in India’s national elections, which end with the announcement
of results Friday. Political analysts and voters say this frustration is
an important reason why prime-minister candidate Narendra Modi—a critic
of dynastic politics who said he gave up family life for public
service—is the front-runner. He was leading in exit polls Monday. The father, grandmother and great-grandfather of his opponent,

Rahul Gandhi,

all served terms as prime minister in India’s postcolonial era.

While
the U.S. has its own dynastic family names—Kennedy, Bush and
Clinton—none match the depth of India’s family ties. A British historian
in a 2011 study found that two-thirds of India’s national
parliamentarians under 40 were related to other politicians. And voters
here have grown increasingly suspicious that such family networks use
policy-making and executive authority to enrich themselves and their
protégés.

In Punjab, a Wall Street
Journal review of financial and government documents, as well as
interviews, found Mr. Badal’s relatives have benefited financially
during his administration, with government decisions on transportation
and electric power favorable to family enterprises. Badal family
connections in regional TV news broadcasting, meanwhile, have had the
effect of squelching voices critical of the arrangement, according to
political opponents.

A spokesman for Mr.
Badal, Harcharan Bains, said, “there is no unwritten convention or
written law” in India that people in public life can’t have business
interests. The Badals say their business deals are kept at arm’s length
and deny any abuse of power. Voters support them, they say, because they
improve the lives of constituents, expanding infrastructure and
development, for example.

“This family system runs because of
credibility,” said deputy chief minister Sukhbir Singh Badal, age 51.
“Why do people want to buy a Mercedes car? Or a BMW car? Because they
know the credibility of that car. You come out with a new car that
nobody knows, nobody will buy it.”

The
Badal family hails from southern Punjab, where members have long been
affluent landowners. Mr. Badal, the 86-year-old patriarch, is an
energetic man with a long white beard who rose through the ranks of
Shiromani Akali Dal, an influential regional party formed in 1920 to
protect the interests of the Sikh community, who make up a majority of
Punjab residents.

Mr. Badal served two
brief stints as chief minister in the 1970s, and then a five-year term
from 1997 to 2002, earning a reputation as an effective grass-roots
politician. During visits, he would sit under a tree and ask villagers
their problems, residents recalled, then press officials to respond.

Badal
family fortunes turned up in the months after Mr. Badal’s re-election
to chief minister in 2007. The state cabinet, which he heads, overhauled
Punjab’s transportation policy, making it less expensive to operate
luxury buses.

Air-conditioned buses had
always been taxed at higher rates than ordinary buses. But a new
transportation policy slashed levies on air-conditioned buses and set
taxes—charged per kilometer—for a new category of luxury buses that was
lower than the tax paid by ordinary buses.

A
bus company owned by Sukhbir Singh Badal, the deputy chief minister,
saw profits grow to more than 105 million rupees, or $1.7 million, in
2013 from 2.5 million rupees, or $41,000, in 2007, according to the
company’s financial statements. He said his company, Dabwali Transport,
grew by acquiring other bus companies, and acknowledged the lower tax
rate helped his business.

The transport minister at the time, Master
Mohan Lal, told the Journal the change was made to improve services.
Sukhbir Singh Badal, who wasn’t in office when the change was made, said
it was designed “so that even the common man can travel in luxury
without paying high rates.”

The number
of air-conditioned buses has since grown, offering fares that are only
slightly higher than ordinary buses, according to transport department
officials. Fares of luxury buses are roughly twice the cost of ordinary
buses.

Since the tax cut, the family’s
business has grown to dominate luxury-bus travel in Punjab, particularly
in Bathinda, which has more than a million residents.

More
than half the permits for luxury and air-conditioned buses granted to
private operators by the regional transport authority statewide—and more
than 90% of those in Bathinda—belong to two transportation companies
owned by the family, according to government documents, and a third
company, Taj Travels, which is owned by a man who is a director in hotel
and real-estate companies also controlled by the family.

Sukhbir
Singh Badal’s declared assets have grown to more than 1 billion rupees,
or about $16 million, from 130 million rupees, about $2.1 million, in
2004, according to documents filed to India’s election commission. In
2009, his wife won a seat in the national Parliament.

Indian
government guidelines require ministers to fully disclose business
interests and step away from management after taking office. The
guidelines also say ministers must divest themselves of all interests in
businesses that supply goods or services to the government or rely on
official permits or licenses. In states, chief ministers are charged
with making sure the guidelines are met but, according to an official in
the home ministry, the guidelines are rarely followed.

The
elder Mr. Badal, in a written response to the Journal, said he doesn’t
take an active role in any family related business. If family businesses
have grown, he wrote, “it is only a part of the success story of all
Punjabis over the past 60 years.” After another re-election in 2012, Mr.
Badal’s term goes to 2017.

In 2008, two
months after Mr. Badal’s 80th birthday, party delegates elected Sukhbir
Singh Badal as party president to succeed his father. Mr. Badal said
his son was promoted for helping return the party to power.

A
year later, Mr. Badal appointed his son as deputy chief minister.
Sukhbir Singh Badal, who has a master’s degree in management from
California State University, Los Angeles, had previously served in
India’s national Parliament. He was later voted into the state
legislative assembly, a requirement for deputy chief minister.

Mr.
Badal said “it was natural” to give his son the job because of support
from voters and the party. Sukhbir Singh Badal said his father “wanted
me to take over, to share his responsibilities.” He also didn’t want to
abandon hundreds of thousands of party workers who feel more secure
under the Badals’ leadership, he said.

Mr. Badal’s daughter, Parneet Kaur, has also prospered during her father’s time as chief minister.

From
2009 to 2013, state-owned power enterprises awarded contracts valued at
3.9 billion rupees, about $64 million, to consortia that included a
company majority-owned by Ms. Kaur, her husband and her mother-in-law,
documents show. The contracts were first reported by the Tribune, a
regional newspaper, and viewed by the Journal, which verified them with
the Punjab State Power Corp.

Mr. Badal,
Ms. Kaur’s father, chairs the state’s power department, and Ms. Kaur’s
husband, Adesh Partap Kairon, works as Mr. Badal’s minister for food
supply and information technology.

Sukhbir
Singh Badal sought to revitalize Punjab’s power sector through policy
directives that resulted in bids for a government contract to install
and upgrade electrical infrastructure. A 2.3 billion rupee deal, or
about $38 million, was awarded a year ago to a team of three companies
that included Shivalik Telecom Ltd., which manufactures and installs
electrical infrastructure, and is owned by Ms. Kaur and her relatives.

Ms.
Kaur’s declared assets grew to $2.7 million in 2012 from less than
$800,000 in 2007. Ms. Kaur and her husband didn’t respond to requests to
comment.

“We have never favored any
company,” said K.D. Chaudhri, chairman of the Punjab State Power Corp.
The bids were judged on well-defined criteria, including technical
expertise, and the contract awarded to the lowest bidder, he said. He
didn’t identify the companies in contention.

Mr.
Bains, spokesman for Mr. Badal, the chief minister, said, “No law, or
even established rules of propriety have been violated, nor has there
been undue favor,” in contracts awarded to Shivalik Telecom.

The
Badals have also expanded their media interests. In 2006, they started a
local TV company with a 24-hour news channel, PTC News, which has
become one of the most popular in the state, according to residents.

Local
journalists say they also believe the family has tried to squeeze out
competition through close ties with Fastway Transmissions, which handles
the technical work of transmitting programs.

Fastway
and two other companies control about 85% of the market, according to
the Competition Commission of India, a national government watchdog
agency. All three companies are co-owned by a man with close ties to the
Badal family.

Punjabi journalist
Kanwar Sandhu said he and his backers decided to launch their own news
channel, Day and Night News, in 2009. They hired Fastway and the two
other companies to broadcast the channel. The
program would be disrupted during the broadcast of news critical of the
government, Mr. Sandhu said, with the sound sometimes overlaid with the
audio track of cartoon shows.

Within
seven months, Fastway and the two other companies terminated their
contracts with Day and Night News, and the channel was taken off the
air. Fastway said the disruptions were caused by technical problems, and
the agreements severed for commercial reasons.

The
company that owns Day and Night News complained to the competition
commission, saying Fastway was establishing a monopoly and abusing its
position. In its complaint, the company alleged Gurdeep Singh, who had
ownership stakes in all three TV transmission firms, was “closely
affiliated” with the ruling establishment of Punjab.

Mr.
Singh has bought and sold buses from Badal-controlled transit
companies, according to Mr. Singh and public records. He has also done
work for the family’s political party, according to two party members
and two other people familiar with the matter.

A
person with firsthand knowledge of the formation of Fastway in 2007
said Sukhbir Singh Badal helped set up the firm and asked Mr. Singh to
run it. Mr. Singh said he knows Mr. Badal, but wasn’t influenced by him
or the Punjab government. Mr. Badal said he knows Mr. Singh, but denied
any connection with Fastway.

A probe
ordered by the competition commission found in 2012 that Fastway and the
two other companies had snapped up a number of smaller companies and
“eliminated free and fair competition” in Punjab, amassing more than
four million subscribers, leaving its next biggest competitors no more
than 10,000. The commission’s
investigation also found the disruptions of Day and Night News were
frequent and deliberate. The body ordered Fastway and the two other
companies to pay a fine of 80 million rupees. A lawyer for Fastway and
the other two companies said he has filed an appeal.

The commission’s report didn’t address any alleged ties between Mr. Gurdeep and the Badals.

For
the family, it is business as usual. Billboard images across the state
show chief minister Parkash Singh Badal; his son, Sukhbir Singh Badal;
and Sukhbir’s brother-in-law, Bikram Singh Majithia. Official cards that
entitle Punjabis to subsidized grain bear the photographs of the chief
minister and his son-in-law, Adesh Partap Kairon, who is the minister of
food supply. An oval cutout of Mr. Badal’s face was added to the
baskets of thousands of free bicycles given to female students.

At
a recent rally in Amritsar, Gurudev Singh, 35 years old, said he was
voting for the coalition run by the Badal family’s party for a national
Parliament seat in the current election. “I come from a family of
shopkeepers,” he said. “Their career is politics. It’s a one-family
rule, yes, but that’s how politics works in India.”

……
Link: http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702303417104579544033543762254
……
regards

Sikhs (15th Ludhiana infantry) save Sahibs

Brown Pundits Archive · April 14, 2014 · No comments

In all the talk we hear about how advantageous it was for India to have been a British colony (no one doubts that) we never hear how Britain benefited enormously from having an Indian colony- as it marched to victory in the World Wars on the back of Indian soldiers. There will be no reparations but even a few words of gratitude (and a few paragraphs in British history books) is still better than nothing.

….

An
Indian soldier, immortalized by his act of selfless heroism and valor
while fighting for the British armed forces in World War I has come in
for heavy praise from UK Prime Minister David Cameron.

Cameron
has also floated the proposal that British children must be taught “in
the years to come about the role that the 1.2 million soldiers from the
Indian subcontinent played in World War I”.

The soldier Cameron
was referring to was Manta Singh, who served with the 15th Ludhiana
Sikhs, an infantry regiment of the Indian Army who was seriously injured
during the Battle of Neuve Chapelle in March 1915 – one that saw a
large number of casualties for the Indian Army – over 4000 in just three
days.

During the battle, Manta Singh witnessed an English
comrade Captain Henderson who had suffered. Singh himself was hit by
machine gunfire in his left leg but that didn’t stop him from rescuing
his fellow officer Captain Henderson. Manta pushed him to safety in a
wheelbarrow he found in no-man’s land.

Singh and his wounded
comrades were later shipped to Brighton’s Royal Pavilion which was
turned into a hospital for Indian soldiers. Here, his wounds
became infected with gangrene. He was told his legs would have to be
amputated to save his life, a thought which filled him with despair. He died from blood poisoning a few weeks later.

Remembering the soldier, Cameron said “This year, as we commemorate the
100th anniversary of WW1, it is also perhaps worth saying something
specific about how British Sikhs have served in our armed forces with so
much devotion, bravery and courage over so many years”.

Cameron added “Stories like that of Manta Singh, who fought at The
Battle of Neuve Chapelle, that massive battle on the Western Front in
1915, and when his English colleague was wounded alongside him, he
picked him up, carried him, took him to the dressing station while being
wounded himself, and then sadly, tragically died afterwards. Stories of
heroism, stories of valor – the Sikhs have always had this
extraordinary courage and bravery, and it’s been demonstrated so often
in the British Armed Forces”.

Interestingly Manta Singh and the
injured man he rescued, Captain Henderson, had become firm friends as
well as brothers in arms.

When Manta Singh died, Henderson
ensured that Singh’s son Assa, was taken care of. He encouraged him to
join the Sikh Regiment too. Throughout the Second World War, Assa Singh
and Henderson’s son, Robert served together, in France, Italy and North
Africa.

To this day, the Singh and Henderson families remain close friends.

Assa and Robert have passed away but their sons Jaimal and Ian are in regular contact.

Singh was born in 1870 near Jalandhar and as soon as he left school he joined the 15th Ludhiana Sikhs.

At the start of WW1, the regiment was sent to reinforce the British
Expeditionary Force fighting in France. By late autumn of 1914, one in
every three soldiers under British command in France was from India.
After long months of trench warfare, in March 1915, Manta Singh’s
regiment prepared to engage in the first major British offensive on the
Western Front, the Battle of Neuve-Chapelle. Half of the Commonwealth fighting force, 20,000 men were Indian Army soldiers.

General John French, commander-in-chief of the BEF in France at this
time, planned to take the village of Neuve-Chapelle, which formed a
German salient (bulge) in the British line.

On March 10, four
divisions, comprising 40,000 men, gathered on a sector of the front
which was only three kilometres wide. The infantry attack was preceded
by heavy but concentrated shelling from 342 guns. In 35 minutes, the
bombardment consumed more shells than the British Army used in the whole
of the Boer War 15 years earlier.

While the British and the
Indian Corps advanced rapidly through the lightly-defended village, the
Garhwal Rifles suffered heavy losses as they attacked a part of the
German line left untouched by the bombardment.

After an initial
success, in a matter of hours, the British became paralyzed by poor
communications and a lack of munitions, and their advance ground to a
halt.

It was in this chaotic field of battle that the 15th Ludhiana Sikhs fought.

Records say “Fighting ceased on March 13 with British gains limited to
an area two kilometres deep and three kilometres wide for a loss of
7,000 British and 4,200 Indian soldiers, either killed or wounded. The
Germans suffered similar losses and 1,700 of their soldiers had been
taken prisoner”.

….

regards

the 14th Ferozepur Sikh regiment…and some others

Brown Pundits Archive · March 14, 2014 · No comments

Continuing the tradition of posting Dr Hamid Hussain’s occasional emails about Indian military history (and very sad at having lost the previous posts that were in the old Brown Pundits):

Dear All;

A good friend from India asked questions about details of 14 Sikhs in WWI and role of Indian Medical Service (IMS); not much written about IMS. There were some other questions about Sikh recruitment in British Indian army especially caste issue. Following piece was consolidation of answers of these queries. My digging of military archeology is only for those interested in history. I personally have a lot of fun doing this though quite tiring.

Hamid

14th Ferozepore Sikhs

Hamid Hussain

14th Ferozepore Sikhs was raised in 1846 after First Anglo-Sikh War from demobilized soldiers of Sikh army. It was raised by Captain G. Tebbs and recruits came mainly from cis-Sutlej area. Regiment recruited local Sikhs and Punjabi Muslims. Initially, Oudh Rajputs from other regiments were posted to the regiment. In 1852, Tebbs died and Captain T. E. Colebrooke took command. In 1857 Mutiny, regiment was in Mirzapur. Few days before the uprising about four hundred men under the dynamic command of Lieutenant Jeremiah Brasyer were sent to Allahabad and few days later they were instrumental in saving the fort. Brasyer was the founding father of the regiment. He spoke Punjabi and in 1846, he toured cis-Sutlej area and was instrumental in encouraging Sikhs to join the new regiment. He was an amazing character. He was a gardener and enlisted in Bengal artillery. Few years later he was appointed Sergeant Major of 26th Bengal Native Infantry. He fought in First Anglo-Afghan War of 1842 and First Anglo-Sikh War of 1846. He was given commission and appointed Ensign at the age of thirty-three and served as interpreter during the raising of 14th Ferozepore Sikhs. The regiment was later known by his name as Brasyer’s Sikhs.

During mutiny, with the breakdown of general order, soldiers of 14th Ferozepore Sikhs got hold of all the liquor from cantonment and city of Allahabad. They periodically got drunk and discipline was seriously compromised. British position was still precarious and they have to act tactfully. They bought all the liquor from Sikhs at asking price and later transferred them from the fort to a nearby building. During Mutiny, regiment joined Henry Havelock’s relief of Cawnpore and Lucknow. In the hot weather, soldiers discarded their regular uniform and donned red turbans. British officers including their commander Brasyer also wore red turbans. In honor of this service, regiment was allowed to wear red turbans and later the whole Sikh regiment adopted the red turban; a tradition still continued in Sikh regiment of Indian army.

Regiment participated in many expeditions on North West Frontier. In 1863 Ambela Expedition, regiment under the command of Major Ross and Subedar Major Sikandar Khan participated in some sanguine battles. In 1877, regiment participated in Jowaki Expedition operating in Bori valley. In 1878, regiment participated in Second Anglo-Afghan War under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Williams. Regiment was decimated not by enemy fire but by an epidemic of typhoid fever killing 200 men. In 1881, regiment participated in Waziristan operation. In 1884, Lieutenant Colonel George Nicholas Channer V.C. took command of the regiment. He was originally from 1st Gurkha Rifles. Channer family had long association with Indian army and especially Sikhs. His father Colonel George Girdwood Channer served with Bengal Artillery. His brother Colonel Bernard Channer DSO served with 2nd Native Infantry and Rajput Light Infantry. Bernard’s three sons served in Indian army. Guy Channer DSO served with 14th Sikhs and commanded the battalion in 1918, Bernard Gordon with 54th Sikhs (later 4/12 Frontier Force Regiment and now 6 Frontier Force Regiment of Pakistan army) and Keith Francis with 30th Jacob’s Horse. In 1888, regiment fought in Black Mountain expedition under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Ellis, Chitral expedition in 1895, Tochi Field Force in 1897 and went to China in 1900 during Boxer rebellion.

In 1866, Punjabi Muslims were phased out and regiment became a single class regiment of Sikhs. It is important to understand Sikh recruitment in British Indian army. Sikh religious and social transformation in nineteenth century resulted in retreat of Khatri and rise of Jat Sikhs. There is no caste system in Sikh religious doctrine and all are considered equal. However, in reality there existed a clear class hierarchy in descending order of Jat, Khatri, Arora, Lobana, Ramgarhia and Ahluwalia. Jats were sitting on the top of the pyramid and didn’t mingle with other classes. British had to consider this during recruitment therefore only Jat Sikhs were recruited for single class regiments as well as class companies. Other Sikh castes were recruited in separate regiments.

Lobana Sikhs were recruited mainly in pioneer regiments (48th Pioneers) as well as some Punjab regiments. British policy of insisting on strict adherence to Sikh religious code for its military recruits resulted in solidification of Sikh identity. This also helped in significant conversion of Lobana Hindus to Sikhism with resultant marked reduction of Lobana Hindus in Punjab. Twin benefits of military service and allotment of agricultural lands helped in upward social mobility of Lobanas. Due to their first class performance in First World War, in 1922 reorganization, it was decided to have at least one company of Lobana Sikhs in each pioneer battalion. In 1932, when pioneer regiments were disbanded, Lobana Sikhs were recruited in mountain batteries of artillery as well as constituting machine gun platoons of some infantry regiments. Some Lobanas from disbanded pioneer regiments were transferred to Bengal and Bombay Sappers & Miners.

Low caste Sikhs called Mazhabi and Ramdasia (M & R) Sikhs were at the bottom ring of the social ladder and they also looked towards army for upward social mobility. They were mainly recruited in 23rd, 32nd and 34thPioneers. A very small number served with Royal Bombay Sappers & Miners. Pioneers were a specialized infantry that was extremely useful in frontier expeditions. 34th Pioneers earned the ‘Royal’ title for their stellar performance in First World War. In 1932, when pioneer regiments were disbanded, only a very small number of M & R Sikhs remained in army. About 320 M & R Sikhs were transferred to Bengal and Bombay Sappers & Miners. Initially, all Sikhs were mixed in Sappers & Miners regiments but problems between high and low caste Sikhs especially the tricky issue of M & R Sikhs attending Jat Gurdwaras of the regiments resulted in segregation. All Jat Sikhs went to Bengal Sappers & Miners while Lobana and M & R Sikhs to Bombay Sappers & Miners.

In Second World War Mazhabi & Ramdasia (M & R) Regiment was re-raised from elements of earlier disbanded pioneer regiments. Several old British officers of disbanded pioneer regiments were instrumental in raising M & R regiment. 1st M & R regiment was raised in Jullundur in October 1941 by Lieutenant Colonel C. H. Price. Price was from 32nd Pioneers and after disbandment went to 2/12 Frontier Force Regiment. Second in Command Major E. P. F. Pearse was from 34th Pioneers and had gone to 3/2 Punjab Regiment. Subedar Major Jewan Singh was from 32nd Pioneers. 9/15 Punjab Regiment and 7/17 Dogra Regiment provided initial lot of native officers and other ranks for the raising of the regiment. 1st M & R fought in Burma theatre. Later two more M & R battalions and some garrison companies were raised. M & R Regiment was later re-named Sikh Light Infantry (SLI).

In First World War, 14th Sikhs served in Gallipoli and Mesopotamian theatres where battalion suffered heavy casualties. In Gallipoli, 14th Sikhs was part of 29th Indian Brigade (other battalions were 69th and 89th Punjabis and 1/6th Gurkha Rifles). Lieutenant Colonel Philip C. Palin was CO, Lieutenant Cremen Adjutant, Lieutenant Meade Quarter Master and Lieutenant Matthew Machine Gun Officer. Indian officers included Subedar Major Jaswant Singh and Subedars Thakur Singh, Prem Singh and Kartar Singh. Battalion’s Medical Officer was Cursetjee and sweeper Channi. Battalion suffered heavy casualties in the Third Battle of Krithia in June 1915 with over three hundred and seventy killed and wounded. At one time, all officers were killed and wounded and only Second Lieutenant Reginald Arthur Savory remained unscathed and took temporary command of the battalion (he was wounded later and at Lt. Colonel rank commanded the battalion by then renamed 1/11 Sikhs and retired as Lieutenant General). Battalion was reinforced with two double companies of Patiala Imperial Service Infantry, drafts from India and from other Punjabi regimens and Burma police battalions. Battalion earned the distinction of winning 35 Indian Distinguished Service Medals (IDSMs) in Gallipoli campaign.

In Mesopotamia, battalion guarded line of communications of I Corps and served with 51st Brigade. Commanding Officer was Lieutenant Colonel Earle and Subedar Major Sham Singh. They were succeeded by Major Guy Channer and Subedar Major Narain Singh. Battalion suffered 61 killed in action and 250 wounded. Among the wounded was Captain George Francis Bunbury whose father Lieutenant Colonel W. E. Bunbury (originally from 28th Punjabis) had commanded the battalion from 1902-6. Influenza epidemic decimated the battalion killing 300 men; a de ja vu of 1878 when Typhoid fever took more toll than enemy’s bullets. Battalion has a unique distinction of having winners of gallantry awards even among its medical officers. Battalion’s Medical Officer Captain Cursetjee won a DSO while Sub Assistant Surgeon Bhagwan Singh won Indian Order of Merit (IOM) in Mesopotemia. Heerajee Jehangir Manockjee Cursetjee was awarded DSO in 1918 for gallantry and devotion to service when he attended to wounded soldiers despite being wounded himself. He retired as Major General.

Indian Medical Service (IMS) was the first branch of Indian army that opened its doors to Indians as King Commissioned Officers. One the eve of First World War, many Indian officers were serving with IMS. In addition to Cursetjee, two other IMS officers; Captain (later Colonel) Phirozshah Byramji Bharucha and Captain (later Lieutenant Colonel) Nilkanth Shriram Jatar also won DSO in Great War. Jatar is the most decorated IMS officer. He won his first DSO in June 1917 in Mesopotamia when serving as medical officer of 16 Cavalry. He won bar to DSO during Waziristan operation in 1920 when serving as medical officer of 2/76th Punjabis. He was severely wounded at Kotkai (in 2008 Pakistan army fought battle at the same location. In fact, Pakistan army and paramilitary scouts fought many battles with militants at almost all previous battlefields of frontier warfare a century ago) during the withdrawal and lost his leg. IMS officers introduced their young children to military life and children of many of these pioneer officers of IMS joined Indian army. Jatar’s three sons joined armed forces; Major General Sudhir Jatar, Brigadier Arvind Jatar (Central India Horse) and Air Vice Marshal Jairam Jatar. Children of another IMS officer Lieutenant Colonel Mohamed Abdur Rahman also opted for army after their education in England. Atiq ur Rahman ‘Turk’ joined 4/12 Frontier Force Regiment, opted for Pakistan in 1947 and became Lieutenant General in Pakistan army. Turk’s brother Attaur Rahman after serving with a Frontier Force Regiment battalion joined Indian Foreign Service. He decided to stay in India and served as Indian ambassador to several countries.

In 1922 reorganization, 14th Ferozepore Sikhs was designated Ist Battalion of 11th Sikh Regiment. Ist, 2nd and 3rd battalions of 11th Sikh Regiment were single class Jat Sikh battalions while 4th, 5th and 10th battalions were composed of two Jat Sikh and two Punjabi Muslim companies. In 1945, Naik Nand Singh of 1/11 Sikh Regiment won Victoria Cross (VC) in Burma.

In 1947, Indian army was divided between India and Pakistan. Most battalions were composed of class companies or squadrons and they were exchanged between two countries. Ist Battalion of Ist Punjab Regiment was assigned to Pakistan and it consisted of Sikh A Company, Hazarawal Muslims B company, Punjabi Muslims C Company and Rajput D Company. Sikh and Rajput companies of the battalion went to India. Sikh A company was assigned to 1/11 Sikh then stationed at Gurgaon. In the terrible times of communal hatred when Muslims and Sikhs were killing each other, it is amazing to note that the regimental bond was still vibrant and solid as a rock. Former Commanding Officer of 1/1 Punjab Colonel Sher Ali Khan Pataudi was in Delhi waiting to go to Pakistan to join Pakistan army. Battalion’s former Subedar Major Feroz Khan was also in Delhi. When they came to know that the Sikh company of 1/1 Punjab was in Gurgaon in the process of joining 1/11 Sikh, they decided to visit their former comrades. While their fellow co-religionists were killing each other Pataudi and Feroz were entertained by Sikhs of 1/1 Punjab with the farewell dinner and karha parsad (a sweet offering to visitors as a sign of hospitality) and many wet eyes.

1/11 Sikh played crucial role in securing Kashmir for India in 1947-48. Pakistani tribesmen and some regular troops had captured the town of Baramula and were on the doorsteps of Srinagar. On October 26, Indian leaders decided to send Indian troops to Kashmir. 1/11 Sikh was the first battalion air lifted to Kashmir. Commanding Officer Lieutenant Colonel Dewan Ranjit Rai was informed to bring his troops to Palam air filed in Delhi for air lift on early morning October 27. Two companies of the battalion were on internal security duties. Rai took C and D companies along with battalion headquarters with instructions that remaining two companies follow later. Rai had no idea about the task and at the airfield he was given operational orders. Ground situation was very fluid with very limited information and no one even knew the extent of Pakistani advance. Rai was instructed to land at Srinagar airport and secure the airfield. In case, there was no response from Srinagar tower or if it had already fallen, then he was to go to Jammu and grab any kind of transport and try to go as close to Srinagar by road.

On landing at Srinagar, Rai sent C company under the command of Captain Karamjit Singh towards Baramula and it reached Mile 32. D Company under Major Harwant Singh did a flag march in Srinagar and then sent reinforcement to C company. Rai had no communication with his troops as the plane carrying battalion’s signal platoon developed a problem and had to divert to Jammu (signal platoon joined three days later). Faced with this dilemma, Rai decided to join his forward troops. At Mile 32, tribesmen failing to dislodge the Sikhs outflanked them and tried to cut off their rear. Rai arranged for the extrication of his troops and was killed in action. Major Harwant Singh took temporary command and later Colonel (later Lieutenant General) Harbkhash Singh (originally from 5/11 Sikhs) took command of the battalion. Rai was a firs rate officer originally commissioned in 5/11 Sikhs. He was from the Pakistani town of Gujranwala. His grandson Shivjit Shergill and great grandson Fareed Shergill served in Indian armored corps (Central India Horse).

In December 1947, battalion lost its Victoria Cross (VC) winner Jamadar Nand Singh in Kashmir. His body was never found. He was awarded Maha Vir Chakra (MVC) posthumously making him the most decorated soldier of Indian army. 1 Sikh was instrumental in saving Srinagar for India and rightfully earned 59 gallantry awards. Their valor was acknowledged by declaring October 27 as ‘Infantry Day’ for Indian army. In 1962 Indo-China war, 1 Sikh fought in Towang sector. Battalion had over 170 casualties including 132 killed in action. Among the dead included their Commanding Officer (CO) Lieutenant Colonel B. N. Mehta and Subedar Jogindar Singh. In 1965 Indo-Pakistan war, 1 Sikh was in Titwal sector of Kashmir and involved in some minor operations.

In 1979, Mechanized Infantry Regiment was raised and many old infantry battalions were converted to mechanized infantry and allotted new numbers. 1 Sikh became 4th Mechanized Infantry regiment. Mechanized Infantry regiments are mixed class and 1 Sikh lost its all Sikh character on its re-incarnation as 4th Mechanized Infantry. 1 Sikh traded its red turban for black beret in transformation to 4th Mechanized Infantry regiment; however it is carrying on 170 years of traditions.

Notes:

– The 14th, King George’s Own Sikhs : the 1st Battalion (K.G.O.) (Ferozepore Sikhs), the 11th Sikh Regiment, 1846-1933 by Colonel F.E.G. Talbot, 1937

– 1st King George V’s Own Battalion, the Sikh Regiment. The 14th King George’s Own Ferozepore Sikhs. 1846-1946 by Lieutenant-General P. G. Bamford, 1948

– M & R: A Regimental History of the Sikh Light Infantry 1941-1947 by J. D. Hookway.

– The Sikh Regiment by D. S. Sandhu, http://www.bharat-rakshak.com/MONITOR/ISSUE3-6/sandhu.html

– The Story of Soldiering and Politics in India and Pakistan by Major General Sher Ali Khan Pataudi, 1978

Hamid Hussain

February 28, 2014

coeusconsultant@optonline.net

Sikh-Baha’i nuptials go (semi) viral

Brown Pundits Archive · March 14, 2014 · No comments

Raja Harmeet Singh: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10200840163961145&set=a.3301275465467.108443.1675351134&type=1&theater

Wedding of my niece Sahar Haghighat with Donesh Anwari in Jaipur — with Aastha Haghighat, Harmeet Singh, Donesh Anwari, Farnaz Parast, Mona Haghighat, Sahar Haghighat Anwari, Gurpreet Kaur, Arsheen Kaur, Shekoofeh Moghaddas, Er Tarandeep Singh, Japjot Singh, Ash Mass Moghaddas, Soolmaz Haghighat, Shide Moghaddas, Haleh Nabiollahi and Siavash Haghighat.

It seems the Sikh side is also Baha’i(esque) since Mr. Harmeet Singh has the Shrine of Baha’u’llah as his cover profile. It’s a nice glimpse into a Baha’i future, the different peoples of the world (or in this case North India- Iranis) clustered together under the symbol of the Greatest Name (the 100th Hidden Name of God), Baha’.

Institutional Racism affects Sikh Marathon Runner

Brown Pundits Archive · February 26, 2014 · No comments

http://espn.go.com/espn/story/_/page/Fauja-Singh/fauja-singh-runner

Fauja agreed to run the London Marathon again the next spring. He ran his third-fastest time ever, 6:07. He was back. Now Haramander approached Fauja with another proposal. “You’ve already set every marathon record you possibly can. There’s only one left to break, the record for the oldest marathoner ever.” At the time, that record was held by Dimitrion Yordanidis, who ran the original marathon course, from Marathon, Greece, to Athens, in 1976. Yordanidis had been 98. Fauja was 93. “You can’t break that record now,” Harmander said. “All you can do is wait.”

So Fauja waited, running shorter races to fill his time. Then, in April 2011, his 100th birthday arrived, and with it, an opportunity to break the record. Soon he received an invitation from the Toronto Waterfront Marathon, where years ago Fauja had run his fastest time. He accepted.

The race was set for October. In September, Harmander received an email from Vin Sharma, a London-based Global Talent Manager at Guinness. “What would be great,” Sharma wrote, “is to start by acknowledging ‘Oldest Marathon Runner’ title which rightfully belongs to Fauja-ji.” (Ji is an honorific suffix used in Indian languages.)

“He’d used running to pull himself out of the depression he fell into after his son died. What was he going to do without it? ”

– Harmander Singh

The email from Sharma continued: “Birth certificate or passport to verify his age would also be useful.” Fauja, of course, did not have a birth certificate. But he did have a passport. He’d gotten his first when he visited his children abroad, decades prior. On that passport, and on each one he’d received since, there was listed the same date of birth: April 1, 1911.

Sharma attached a document with official guidelines for the record. “Where a birth certificate is not available,” it said, “a copy of a relevant ID should be submitted.”

They submitted the documents, and weeks later they flew to Toronto. Fauja finished in 8:25. In his mind, and in the minds of everyone present at the race, Fauja had done what no man had done before.

“100-YEAR-OLD MARATHON RUNNER not recognised by Guinness,” read the BBC News headline after the event. In an interview with the network, Guinness editor-in-chief Craig Glenday said, “We would love to give him the record. We’d love to say this is a true Guinness World Record, but the problem is there is just no evidence.”

By no evidence, Glenday meant that there was no birth certificate. “We can only accept official birth documents created in the year of the birth,” Glenday told the BBC. “Anything else is really not very useful to us.” In September, a Guinness representative had sent guidelines suggesting a passport would be sufficient. Now in October, the company said only a birth certificate would do. It didn’t matter that Fauja had received his first passport before he began running, negating any significant possibility of a plot to break the record. Nor did it matter what the Guinness official had told Harmander.

Cara Kilbey, Fauja Singh, Billi Mucklow and their friend Lulu pose for a photo during the London Marathon in April 2012.

Christopher Lee/Getty Images

“This is a case of institutional racism,” Harmander said, after learning of the news. The thinking was simple. Guinness had decided its age records could be held only by people with birth certificates. The vast majority of people with birth certificates in the early 20th century came from Europe or North America. Fauja could not have the record. And for that matter, neither could most anyone else from Asia or Africa or other parts of the developing world.

Now came the follow-up stories. “Marathon man Fauja Singh runs into racism row,” said the headline in London’s conservative paper, The Daily Telegraph. Members of the Sikh community, both at home in Punjab and across the diaspora, signed a petition and set the Internet aflame with angry comments. “BROWN PEOPLE OF TUMBLR,” one person wrote on the popular blogging platform about Singh, “I SUMMON YOU TO RIGHT THE WRONGS. TO BRING JUSTICE TO THE INJUSTICES.”

Yet it would do no good. Guinness remained firm. “Passports may be used as proof of identification, NOT of birth. …” Guinness spokeswoman Jamie Panas wrote to ESPN The Magazine in an email. ” … Passports and other mid-to-late-life representations of age are notoriously unreliable when unaccompanied by original proofs of birth.” Panas emphasized that Guinness never guaranteed that a passport would be sufficient. She also said that Sharma, the Guinness talent manager who advised Harmander, is no longer with the company. Sharma could not be reached for comment. His personal website says he left Guinness at some point last year.