Sant Jarnail Singh's speech about this Pawna of Paitala

Excerpts From The Speeches of Sant Jarnail Singh Bhinderanwale

Here are a few excerpts from the speeches of Sant Jarnail Singh Bhinderanwale on various issues, which came up during his interviews with many journalists and visitors, who met him in the Golden Temple Complex.

• Religion and Politics
• In Sikhs religion and politics are inseparable. Religion and politics are synonymous in Sikhism. This concept is a great contribution of Guru Hargobind Sahib to Sikhism.”

• The Stories of Oppression and Atrocities

“A Sikh girl was forced to strip herself naked and her father was ordered to indulge in the sexual act with her. Is it an instance of justice to Sikhs? The incident relates to village Kahal Khurd in Moga tehsil. The name of the father is Jagmir Singh. He is a Harijan.

* The policemen took out a Sikh girl without clothes in a procession in village Dau, district Amritsar. Have the Hindu girls been ever treated like this?

The policeman caught hold of a Sikh priest. One of them sat on his chest and while doing so the policemen smoked a bin, spat into the mouth of the Sikh priest and also thrust tobacco down his throat. The name of the priest is Jasbir Singh who belongs to village Chupkiti, tehsil Moga.

* The police men nabbed another Sikh. Though he turned out to be innocent, yet his thigh was cut and salt poured into it. His name is Jagir Singh and he belongs to village Ittanwall and lives at Moga.

* When we demand that the culprits who denude our women folk, should be handed over to us, why is our demand not met’? Is the same law not applicable to us which Is meant for the State? It is the duty of the government to track down the culprits and produce them before the court. Let the judge give his judgement whether the culprit be released or not. Does the law not provide for this’?

Again where is it provided that the police should seek permission for the medical examination of the so called offenders and, on the contrary, it should thrust red hot iron bars into the abdomen of the falsely accused, place them on their foreheads and shoot them with a bullet? May I know which law grants such a right to the Government? Kulwant Singh Nagoke was killed through such tortures. Sukhdev Singh of Ise Khan was likewise shot dead after his stomach was ripped apart and his flesh removed from his body and eyes taken out of the face. Can they state as to what was recovered form the so called accused? What was the evidence against him? -

* The 80 year old Lala Jagat Narain was murdered on 9.9.198 1. My warrants were issued in this connection on 12.9.1981. The Punjab Police reached Chando Kalan to arrest me. Not finding me there, they set on fire two buses belonging to our Jatha which carried two volumes of Sri Guru Granth Sahib and other articles valued at rupees three lakhs.,On 16.9.198 1, 1 was informed at Chowk Mehta that warrants of my arrest were issued. Which law provides that before the issuance of the warrants of the suspect, his religious scriptures and valuables should be set on fire.

* The police handed over the dead body of Lala Jagat Narain to his son Ramesh, but on the other hand when it killed 18 of our men at Chowk Mehta, the dead body of not a single person was returned to us”.

• Injustice and discrimination against the Sikhs
• “In 1978 when the brahmin girl namely Indira Gandhi was sent to jail, one of her supporters Pandey went to the extent of highjacking an airplane. What was the punishment awarded to him? Instead, he was made an MLA.

But when some Sikhs highjacked a plane as a protest against the burning of Guru Granth Sahib, why were they ousted from the country? A highiacker for the sake of the daughter of a Pandit is rewarded with membership of State Assembly but for the same crime committed for the sake of religion by another person, he is deprived of his one leg. While the former is regarded as a patriot, the latter, is shot dead. It happened on 20.8.1982 at Raja Sansi airport with Manjit Singh alias Museebat Singh. Is the value of Sikh religion not even at par with the daughter of Pandits?

* During the Asian Games, a line was drawn which could not be crossed by any person whose name ended with “Singh” to enter into Delhi. Was any one else also checked like this? Again during the Asian Games, while the Hindus in America were permitted to visit India, restrictions were imposed on the Sikhs. Is it not an injustice to the Sikhs? Pictures of Mosques and Temples were exhibited over the Doordarshan during the Asian Games but no picture of any Gurdwara was displayed. Is it not a discrimination?

* For the sake of Punjabi Suba and Punjabi language as many as 57,000 Sikhs were sent to the jails and several Sikhs like Kaka Inderjit Singh were martyred. He was thrown into a well by the jats. Has even a single Hindu been sent to jail during the last 36 years on such a charge?

The ‘jats’ got Haryana and ‘Paharias’ got Himachal Pradesh free of cost whereas we had to pay a very heavy price in terms of 57000 arrests. Now that we wish a train to be renamed after the Golden Temple or demand the setting up of radio transmitter in the Golden Temple complex, we are condemned as extremists.

* One lakh Sikhs were sent to jail ‘in connection with the struggle in support of the demand for recognition of Sikhs as a separate nation and other demands. As many as 200 Sikhs laid down their lives for this cause. We are condemned as communalists due to this struggle. May we ask the Hindus if any one of them went to jail for getting a train renamed after the name of a temple? Why are they not characterized as communalists? I wonder why the houses of the Sikhs alone are burnt in Punjab. Never has a house, shop or a factory belonging to a Hindu been set on fire. Why so?

* The instance of Pawan Kumar, president Hindu Suraksha Samiti of district Patiala comes to the mind at once.Despite the fact that 130 grenades were recovered from his house, he did not spend even an hour in jail. He however, got the ‘punishment’ in the shape of promotion from district president to the state level president of the Samiti.

* As against this, a Sikh suspect is shot dead even if an empty cartridge is recovered from him. For example, Balwant Singh was shot dead while sitting in a rickshaw by DSP Lajwant Singh. Nails of Gurmit Singh were plucked, salt was sprinkled on his wounds, his hands were burnt with candles and finally he was killed. But it was given out that he was killed in a police encounter. They say that the Sikhs kill the policemen through resistance. Barring the Daheru episode, was any policeman injured in such a resistance Where are the cartridges that were fired on the policemen by the Sikhs?

At Patiala 8 shops were burnt, 5 of them belonging to Sikhs and 3 to Hindus. They allege that the shops were set on fire bN Sikhs. But where is the evidence in support of this charge?

I was held responsible for this incident of arson but when the actual culprits were caught they turned out to be Congress (1) men.

* There were bomb explosions. These were ascribed to Bhinderanwale. But when the detective dogs were released they found their way to a police station. From here the dogs were taken out and released again but they again went back to the police station. They later took away the dogs in a jeep saying that the dogs were not of superior breed.

*A Nrinkari’s house was ransacked. The dogs were released again and interestingly they instead of going to any other person. caught hold of the owner of the house from his leg. The dogs are condemned as inferior if they catch hold of the legs of policemen or Nirinkari’s, but they are termed genuine if they catch hold of sonic Sikhs. A Government that depends on dogs can only act like dogs.

* Some 300 Sikhs of our Jatha are being detained and each one of them charged with 10 to 12 false cases. These detenues do not include the Sikhs arrested in the ‘Rasta Roko’ agitation. Tile SHO of Fazilka, Bichhoo Ram rounded up a baptised Sikh. He shaved his beard with the remarks, ‘Now go and tell Bhinderanwale’.

* The Sikh youth are removed from service. They are arrested under ‘MISA. Has a Hindu ever been meted out such a treatment’! Is it not discrimination against the Sikhs?”

* Why is it that a Sikh has always to offer a glass of blood for getting a drop of water’? Why is it that we get nothing Without making sacrifices’? The Sikhs are living like slaves in independent India. To-day every Sikh considers himself as a second rate citizen. Baptised Sikh is looked down upon. His handsome looking dress and his observance of Sikh tenets is ridiculed. How can the Sikhs tolerate all this?
My Questionnaire
“I have presented to Bibi Indira a 32-point’questionaire’ She would do well to answer each one of my questions. If she proves wrong even a single question put by Bhinderanwale, then I would sever my head and place it at the feet of the Si kh Panth.”

• Ungrateful.Hindus

“The Hindu community is so ungrateful that in a state of powerdrunken-ness they have forgotten the sacrifices made by the Sikh Gurus for the sake of Hindus, Only recently when Indira Gandhi imposed Emergency, the opposition leaders were rounded up and were sent to jails. There was little reaction to the arrests among the Hindus. Not a single Sikh leader was arrested on the occasion of proclamation of Emergency, all Hindu leaders were imprisoned.

However, the Sikhs launched a ‘Morcha’ against the Emergency. What was the particular demand for the Sikhs? The common demand of a] I count~en at that time was the demand for restoration of civil rights. But the Morelia was launched by the Sikhs. No other party did so. The Sikhs not going got restored the civil liberties but also secured power for the Hindu leaders. It Is a different story that they were ousted from government due to their mutual rifts.

• Let Hindus Reply

“We raise a slogan of Hindu Sikh Unity’. Has any Hindu ever raised a slogan of ‘Sikh Hindu unity’

• At a Hindu Sammelan in Amritsar the slogans raised were

• -”Hindu Hindu-Bhai Bhai”

• -”Kacha Kara Kirpan , Ihnu BheJo Pakistan”

• -”Dukki Tikki Khahen nahin deni,Sir te pagri rahen nahin deni.

• My Mission
• My mission is to ensure that everyone-Hindu, Sikh, Muslimremains true to one’s religion, there is unity among all sections of people, that the modesty of women is not violated, that the people are weaned away from the use of narcotics, that all social evils are cured and to see that the Sikhs mobilize themselves under one banner by strengthening their faith in Guru Granth Sahib. If all this, which is the mission of my life, is termed as ‘extremism’, then I don’t mind being known as an extremist.

I don’t take tea, nor do I eat eggs and meat and don’t even touch liquor. A false propaganda about me is made to project me as a murderer who shoots the Hindus at sight and who does not permit a Hindu to be around him.

I am accused of extremism because I propagate against social evils and persuade the people to get themselves baptised by observing the ceremony of taking Amrit, the sacred water used for baptism.

• If I am a criminal, then why was I released after my arrest?

I do not believe in violence. Yet to me putting an end to atrocities and the evil forces is no violence at all.

• Be a True Hindu or Muslim or Sikh 
  
• I would like a Hindu to be a true Hindu by supporting a ‘bodi’ (tuft of hair) on his head, by wearing a cap, a dhoti, ajaneyu (sacred thread), displaying 12 tilaks on the fore head, reciting the Gita, worshiping the Shiv-lingam, visiting Hindu temples and tolling the bells … and abstaining from the use of ‘biris’ and cigarettes. A Hindu observing all these tenets of Hinduism is regarded like a brother by me. I would present him a ‘Siropa’ if such a true Hindu comes to meet me.

Likewise, a Muslim ought to be a true Muslim-, he must recite ‘Kalma’, offer ‘Nimaz’, study the holy Quran and regard Mohammed Sahib as the prophet of God. Such a Muslim would certainly deserve to be treated like a brother by me.

On the same analogy, a Sikh should strive to be a true Sikh; he must keep unshorn hair and beard, keep intact the hairs on his body, support a turban on his head, wear a sword, take the Amrit, keep 5 ‘Ks’ and recite Nitnem daily.

•  That is all I preach and propagate. 
  

• Anti-Oppression, Not Anti-government

“I am not opposed to the Government; I am opposed to oppression. If the Government indulges in oppression, I am opposed to it. If the oppression is committed by some one else, I am opposed to him also. And if I do so, I am also subject to punishment”.

• Indira’s White Lie Of Foreign Hand
• “Indira is telling a lie when she alleges that we are in receipt of it external aid. One wonders why should such a top personal induldge in such utter falsehood. If she has any proof in support of her allegations, then why does she not take legal action against us.
• Violence

“The Sikhs do not believe in violence. The murder of Avtar Singh Atwal was the result of a pre-planned move to sabotage the Dharam Yudh Morcha. It was designed to pave way for entering into the Golden Temple. The incident deserves to be condemned absolutely. It was a deep conspiracy hatched by the government to denigrate the sanctity of the Golden Temple and malign the Morcha launched by the Akali leaders”.

• The Indian Press

“Several newspaper representatives have interviewed me. But what I tell them is not published and what I do not tell them is ascribed to me. Problems can be solved if the writers muster courage to speak the truth and write the truth.

* Newspapers carry distorted versions of in), speeches because they have to make out their living. I never say in my speeches even a word against Lord Krishna, Lord Rama, Christ and Mohammed Sahib. On the other hand, the newspapers of the late Lala Jagat Narain publish, day in and day out, references derogatory to Guru Gobind Singh and other Sikh Gurus.

* The newspapers write a lot about Sikh extremists, why don’t they write about the Hindu extremists? At the same time, they continue to say that Sikhism is a part of Hindu religion. If that is a fact, why don’t they talk of Hindu extremism?

If the press continues to harp on Sikh extremists, it will have to admit that ‘Sikhs are a separate nation’.

When they characterize us as extremists, we are considered separate. But when we demand something, we are treated as Hindus. What is this logic?