Arya Samaj Doctrines and Slander on Sikh Gurus
Posted by Surinder K Singh
Arya Samaj Doctrines and Slander on Sikh Gurus
Posted by Surinder K Singh on Friday, 8/14/1998 2:54 PM MDT
| Chapter 10 - Arya Samaj Doctrines and Slander on Sikh Gurus Prof. Mansukhani was hesitant to blame Hindus or Sikhs as such and put most of the responsibility on the Arya-Samaj's imposing their anti-Sikh communal views on the Hindus of Punjab, Haryana and neighbouring states and also adversely influencing the R.S.S. The Samaj has since recently started fanning anti-Sikh feelings in Maharashtra as well. He explained to us the history of Punjab Arya-Samaj and the role it has played in influencing Government decisions and in worsening Hindu-Sikh relationships. Of late some of them have started a shocking new anti-Sikh campaign, saying that since the wars arc now fought with guns and not with swords any more, a Sikh is no better soldier than any one else and the Indian army can do without Sikhs if need be. Even the most ridiculous anti-Sikh invention of this kind seems to have possibly influenced some Government and political circles. Anti-Sikh policies and activities of Arya-Samaj are responsible for alienating the Sikhs from Hindu Society and pushing more Sikhs into saying that they are not Hindus. Arya-Samajis themselves during the last 100 years many a time proclaimed not to be Hindus. Veer Savarkar wrote that even in rigorous conditions of Kalapani, the Arya-Samaji prisoners refused to be called Hindus in the 1921 census and also refused to attend the Hindu temple and made their own, thus also adversely influencing their Sikh colleagues in Kalapani. Arya-Samaj have many times savagely criticised Sanatana Hindu Dharma and the word 'Hindu' itself. By any measure or yardstick, a Sikh is more of a true and valuable Hindu, than the Arya-Samajist, who in an attempt to hoodwink the other Hindus of India, pretend to champion the cause of Hinduism against Sikhism, by promoting Hindu Surakhsa-Samiti and the Sangathan against the Sikhs, who have sacrificed countless lives for protecting the Hindu religion itself. Due to irresponsible support from some popular news-media, the cry-wolf clever tactics of Arya-Samaj seem to have succeeded in influencing many Hindus across the country which is a very unfortunate development. Prof. Mansukhani branded Arya-Samaj as India's most fanatical cult, which according to him was a serious embarrassment to the tolerant and broad-minded religion of Hinduism and other religions of Hindu origin. He then quoted us the Arya-Samaj bible, written by Mr. Dayanand the founder of the cult. In it the author has savagely attacked Islam, Chrisitianity, Buddhism. Jainism and the lot. He has directly slandered Mohammed, Kabir, Buddha, Christ, Nanak, Gobind Singh and many others, all in the name of Hinduism. We found it difficult to believe that any text purporting to be religious could be so derogatory to other religions. We studied "Satyarath Prakash" for ourselves. This is what it contains. Sikhs: Page 443 (chapter IX) Guru Nanak did not possess any learning . . . he wanted to show that he had some pretensions to the knowledge of Sanskrit . . . anxious to gain public applause, fame and glory . . . He was vain . . . resorted to gain reputation and acquire fame. Page 446 . . . if Sikhs were to read vedas, they would no doubt embrace vedic religion Hinduism: It too has not been spared by him. On page 434 (Chapter Xl) he explains how Vaishnavites are as bad as Shivites. Buddhists: Page. 517 . . . Buddhist assertion is as valueless as the mutterings of a patient suffering from delirium Jainism: Page 557 (Chapter XIII) . . . it appears that the Jainees are perverse and ignorant . . . Page 559 . . . we do not think that there exists a religion more idiotic than Jainism . . . Page 561 . . .Idol worship with its evils originated with the Jainees and therefore the Jain religion is at the root of all fraud . . . Christianity: Page 634-635 Chapter Xlll) . . . Jesus was neither an enlightened man nor was he possessed of any miraculous power . . . he pretended to be the Son of God and those savages (around him) believed him to be such. No wonder he was so clever in dividing people and causing discord and dissensions among them. Islam: Page 670 (Chapter XlV) . . . Quran is not the word of God but of some bigot . . . The Quran, its God and the Muslims are embodiment of bigotry and ignorance. Page 680 . . . Quran's author must have been a hypocritical and deceitful person . . . Page 684 . . . Quran is the production of minds steeped in savagery and destitute of all knowledge of God. The above are only a fraction of the slander inflicted by Dayanand on all other religions, in the current edition of his bible. In the 1st edition he has called Guru Nanak as (dhurta) crafty and dishonest. The Sikh scriptures Granth Sahib as (Mithya) falsehood and Sikhism as (jal) a trap for the innocent. Half of his seven hundred page bible has been devoted towards attacks on other faiths. We could never believe it until we ourselves looked into the original work of Dayanand, who has named his book as "Satyarath Prakash" meaning Light of Truth. In the publishers note, Mr 0. P. Tyagi (MP) says, "This book is Magnum Opus of Maharishi Dayanand Saraswati, founder of Arya Samaj. This book is regarded as the Bible of Arya Samaj and is as immortal as the truth is. We are particularly tempted to call it a 'Cult' because we hate to see it identified with our ancient (and yet modern) highly philosophical and tolerant religion of Hinduism. We were really amazed to hear that over half of the Punjab and Haryana Hindus are followers of this fanatic cult. How members of this kind of hateful sect can co-exist with other religions is indeed hard to understand. After studying their slander on Guru Nanak and his humble teachings, we became inclined to look at the causes of Hindu-Sikh conflict in a different perspective: Arya Samaj support for the Nirankaris and the object of their similar other anti-Sikh activities became self explanatory. We wondered how many Arya Samajists in the garb of Hinduism have helped influence Hindu national opinion through some of their own controlled media and also perhaps affect the Government's judgement and its decisions through the positions they may occupy in the ruling party and the senior posts they hold in the Civil Service. The anti-Sikh mentality of former Home Minister Gulzarilal Nanda, and former Prime Minister Charan Singh are perhaps due to their origin in Arya Samaj and also responsible for influencing the usually impartial attitude of the Congress towards minorities. Chapter 11 - Demands, Views and Recommendations From our study we could infer that Sikhs still had a lot of appreciation and warm brotherly feeling for the Hindus from outside the Hindi belt. There was plenty of justifiable admiration for our prime minister Indira Gandhi and Rajiv, but obvious resentment against her advisers, supposedly influencing her decisions. We both got along very well with the warm-hearted and hospitable Sikhs. Most of their sorrowful complaints made a lot of sense e.g. why is the Central Government investment in Punjab lowest among all the states? (less than 1%). Even though Punjab's contribution to the central revenue is among the highest, opposition from local Hindus and many years of denials from the Government even on the trivial demands (such as the re-naming of one of the Punjab trains as Golden Temple Express) seemed most incredible. We encountered many genuine issues of this kind which deserve national exposure and serious probing. Is it really due to the discrimination as the Sikhs complain? Or is it a deliberate exercise for causing annoyance, frustration and dissention among this virile and distinguished community in our country? Revelations in S. Hukum Singh's article are worth reading. It is now well-known that Sant Bindranwale and his Dal-Khalsa were especially promoted with a purpose to establish an opposition within Akali and Sikh politics. The present agitation of Akali party under Sant Langowal, is based on well-defined justifiable demands, and grievances and hence attracts sympathy or support from almost all Sikh masses. Any deliberate suggestion of Pakistani hand behind this massive Satyagraha is bound to hurt and deeply upset this highly patriotic minority of less than 2% with their most incredible record of over 70% sacrifices during Gandhi's freedom struggle and their important role in defence and development of our country after the freedom. During the linguistic agitation in 1953, over 50,000 Sikhs had courted arrest. In the current Satyagraha of 1982-83 over 100,000 volunteers have been arrested. This high number of arrests is undoubtedly a national record and so has been the peaceful nature in which the Satyagrahas (morchas) of this magnitude have been handled by the Sikhs, with extreme tolerance insipid of over hundred lives sacrificed by them in the current agitation. The possibility of some interference in the Sikh politics and the religious affairs cannot be ruled out. The Press has not done itself any justice by failing to expose the basic issues of the conflict and have frequently hurt the patriotic Sikh sentiments, misrepresenting their cause and the case by dubbing them as separatists and unwisely highlighting the issue of Khalistan, a name we did not hear even once from any of the Sikhs we met in Punjab and Delhi. We however, observed a lot of genuine Sikh support for most of the Akali demands and not necessarily for the Akali party. We studied their demands. which appeared to be fair, democratic and within the framework of Indian constitution. While only two religious demands have only been partly conceded by the Government, in the main there appeared to be six major demands: 1.Chandigarh to be declared capital of Punjab. (Like Bombay was returned to Maharashtra in 1960 after depriving them for 4 years). 2.River-water dispute should be referred to the Supreme Court. 3.Appointment of a commission of linguistic experts to go into the territorial claims by Punjab and Haryana, treating each village as a unit and the language actually spoken and contiguity as the sole criteria. 4.Return of 3 Punjab thermal-head-works back to Punjab administration. 5.Removal of discrimination in the Armed Forces by lifting the limit of 2% on Sikh recruitment. 6.Enactment of All India Gurdwara Act, covering historical Gurdwaras. In absence of any initiative from the Congress Sikhs, Akalis got the opportunity to champion the cause of Punjab and the Sikhs, based on certain demands, most of them being for the welfare of Punjab and eventually found support from several opposition parties. Langowal's letter of appeal (23.7.83) to all the M.P.'s. titled, "You Owe Us Justice," is an impressive and humble document, that talks of reason and is thought-provoking. Today, the official director of Akali Morcha, Sant Langowal has plenty of following among the Sikh community. He has handled his morcha peacefully and his anti-Khalistan and anti-violence views are well established. Now that the Nirankaris have finally agreed to expunge from their books the offensive references made against the Sikh religion, it should further help to reduce tension. One fails to understand the motive of Arya-Samaj to support and champion the cause of Nirankaris. Extremist activities have emerged mainly after the police atrocities, especially those at the Asiad and Rasta-Roko satyagraha with 24 shot dead by the police. It seems unfair and unfortunate to blame Langowal for occasional violence stemming from few radical splinter groups, not belonging to his Akali party. On the other hand Bindrawale and his own Dal-Khalsa party were created for opposing the Akalis in 1979. Yet any harsh statements made by this non-Akali leader receive undeserving attention by the press and the Government, frustrating the official Akali satyagraha for certain constitutional demands. Akalis have always maintained that they are not shielding any criminals in Gurdwaras. This now seems to be substantiated by the recent statement from the Inspector General of police - P. S. Bhinder, saying there was no clear proof with the Government that the men wanted by the police were hiding in Gurdwaras including the Golden Temple Complex. Almost all the non-Congress leaders have already supported the Akali demands. In a recent article in Indian Express Mr. Rajmohan Gandhi says, (1) There is truth in Akali charge that some of their supporters have been killed by police by fake encounters. (2) There is truth in Akali accusation that Congress has fostered and backed some extremists Sikhs in order to weaken the Akalis. (3) Akalis have repeatedly disowned and disavowed Khalistan slogan. (4) Akalis have emphatically stated that communal harmony must be maintained at all costs. (5) Past record of Akali struggle shows an admirable degree of non-violence. While paying the above tribute, he advised Akalis to condemn all killings, no matter who is murdered or by whom. Akalis complain that their condemnation of violence does not receive publicity and for that they blame the media including the UNI and PTl. Recently (11.11.83) the official news agency U.N.I. has once again released the news of yet another anonymous Sikh leader, threatening a Hindu Temple and once again the responsible newspapers like Times of India (12.l l.83) published the same and that too in bold type on the front page. This incredible way of publicising highly volatile and unverified annonymous letters is not aimed at communal harmony but it certainly maligns the Sikh community for some isolated letters which may not even have come from a Sikh. It is a tragedy that the problem has been branded as Hindu-Sikh instead of calling it as Arya Samaj-Sikh or better still naming it as Punjabi: non-Punjabi conflict, since Hindus in Punjab have time and again claimed to be 'Not Punjabi Speaking'. Since none of the Akali demands are anti-Hindu or are likely to hurt Hindu sentiments in any way and most of the demands are for the welfare of Punjab State, one fails to understand why should this agitation (directed towards the Government) attract Hindu opposition and cause communal conflict? Instead of joining the movement and uniting the Hindus and the Sikhs, Arya-Samaj has unfortunately chosen the path of direct confrontation with the Sikhs by mobilising the Hindu-Suraksha-Samiti and the Sangathan and seeking the undeserving sympathy and support from Hindus outside the Hindi-belt by misleading them with false and exaggerated information e.g. while Hindu population in Punjab is as high as 49% yet it is highly publicised as a small minority. It is remarkable that the 3 communal incidents of Punjab happened in Hindu majority cities of Amritsar, Jullunder and Patiala, with over 60% Hindu population and no similar incidents in the villages, where Sikhs are in majority. Extremists of both the communities should be dealt with equally firmly and impartially. A recent report in Blitz (14.5.83), named an extremist Pawan Kumar Sharma, (President of Hindu Suraksha Samiti in Patiala) from whom huge stocks of arms, explosives and hand grenades were recovered. On 11.11.83 the "Tribune" reported that police has recovered, 3 pistols, cartridges and 2 turbans and yellow cloth from the car used in the major Bank robbery on 9. I I .83 in Chandigarh. This startling piece of information (discovery of Turbans) confirms the involvement of dacoits and antisocial elements using turbans during the time of their crimes. This report provides credibility to strong Akali feelings that the recent inhuman killings near the border, of innocent Hindu passengers in the bus were not carried out by the Sikhs but by some non-Sikh criminals wearing turbans. Possibility of foreign agents in this particular case can not be ruled out. Time and again Sant Langowal, the Morcha director has requested for the appointment of a committee to study the much publicised violence and atrocities and to discover the truth and expose the people behind such activities, whether Akalis or Arya-Samajists or both. It is very unfortunate that occasional violence should be used by the Government as a reason to deprive Punjab of its legitimate demands. Arya-Samaj leader Virendra alleges over 30 Hindus killed and Akalis claim that 250 Sikhs have been liquidated. Both figures seem somewhat exaggerated. It is of paramount importance that an independent fact-finding committee should sit-in without any further delay. The overseas Indian bodies strongly recommend appointing of about 5 member Hindu Committee from non-Hindi speaking states comprising of retired prominent judges and senior journalists. Sant Langowal had no objection to my proposal of all Hindu members and promised his full support. An unprejudiced and objective report on the situation may go a long way towards re-establishing the age-old traditional relationship of brotherhood between the Hindus and the Sikhs. |
