Why the Panth has already won...
Why the Panth has already won...
The power and undying spirit of the kisaans is rooted within Sikhi. Our response has, and always will be, dictated by Gurmat and the purpose of the Khalsa.
Moninder Singh
February 16, 2021 | 21 min. read
ਸਰਦਾਰ ਬਘੇਲ ਸਿੰਘ ਇਮ ਗਢ ਮਾਰਾ ।
ਰਹੂਗੁ ਪ੍ਰਿਥੀ ਉਸ ਨਾਮ ਉਜਾਰਾ ।
ਐਸੀ ਕਰੀਂ ਉਸ ਗੁਰ ਕੀ ਕਾਰ ।
ਪਾਊ ਜਗਾ ਵਹਿ ਗੁਰ ਕੇ ਦੁਆਰ ।੮੭।
Sardar Baghel Singh established victory (sidhantic, ethical/moral);
His name will shine in history forever more;
He provided such a great service to the Guru Granth/Guru Panth;
That he found his place at Vaheguru's door (87).
-Bhai Rattan Singh Bhangu, Prachin Panth Parkash (1841)
In recent weeks, the Indian state has churned out propaganda and disinformation around the world, reactivated divisive fault lines between communities, and silenced dissent by criminalizing journalists and human rights activists. With this, we have seen a renewed wave of forced disappearances, torture, and sexual assault. The list is endless, but the pattern is decades old.
All of this is only shocking for those who have bought into the illusion of “India” as the “world’s largest democracy.” Despite the consistent repression, many will likely write it off as an aberration as they return back to their sphere of “Indian-ness” when this morcha is finished. The sad reality of the Indian state’s recent violence is that many of us who have engaged in Punjab’s struggle (in one way or another) were not shocked at all. This was normal to us.
This is the real India.
How we perceive the ongoing kisaan “morcha” (battle) within the larger context of Punjab and its majority Sikh population’s centuries old “sangarsh” (war) against Delhi is a crucial starting point for our understanding of what has unfolded, is unfolding, and will unfold during the course of this morcha. The removal of Sikhi from this morcha is impossible. Sikhi is the spirit and identity which the vast majority of kisaans from Punjab identify with. They take strength and instruction from Sikh ideals and history and it has been evident in every struggle Punjab has engaged with Delhi for centuries. This current morcha is yet another response to more than seven decades of discrimination, oppression, violence, rape, pillage, plunder and genocide of Punjab and its Sikh population. The frustration, anger, power, and undying spirit of the kisaans is rooted within Sikhi and our response has always been and always will be dictated by our Gurus, Gurbani, Gurmat, and the purpose of the Khalsa:
ਪ੍ਰਤਯਖ ਕਲਾ ਪਾਰਬ੍ਰਹਮ ਧਣੀਛੈ, ਗ੍ਰੰਥਿ ਪੰਥ ਖਾਲਸ ਵਰਤੰਤਾ ॥
The visible power of God is manifested in the Khalsa as [the doctrine of the Guru] Granth and [the embodiment of the Guru] Panth
ਦਾਸ ਗੋਬਿੰਦ ਫਤਹ ਸਤਿਗੁਰੂ ਕੀ, ਖਾਸ ਗ੍ਰੰਥ ਗੁਰੁ ਰੂਪ ਬਦੰਤਾ ॥੨॥ਦੁਪਦ ੧॥
The Servant, Gobind [Singh] says, all victory is Paramatma's, the true Guru's form is now the [Guru] Granth.
-Sri Guru Gobind Singh Ji, Sri Sarbloh Granth
Sikh Spirit and Indian Nationalism
It was kisaans invoking “Bole So Nihaal” and “Raj Karega Khalsa” as they tossed barricades and police personnel aside in their march to Delhi. It was kisaans invoking the great Sikh humanitarian Bhai Khanaiya Ji as when the dust would settle in a clash with Police that the same kisaans would be feeding them food and water with no enmity. It was kisaans invoking the Guru’s sidhant of “Sarbat da Bhalla” as tens of thousands of those in need attended the morcha site daily in Delhi and were fed, educated, and provided with basic survival necessities without discrimination and without expecting anything in return. Like it or not, it was hundreds of thousands of the same kisaans that invoked the great Sikh General, Sardar Baghel Singh, as approximately 238 years later they followed his footsteps to the Lal Qila (Red Fort) in Delhi and raised the Khalsa Panth’s Nishan Sahib.
The confusion and conspiracy theories that have been spread on social media about the events at the Lal Qila for the past several weeks, find their roots in the cult of Indian nationalism and Hindutva. It is important to understand the nature and dynamic of these forces and how they inherently justify Sikh genocide.
Indian nationalism (represented equally by both the Congress and BJP) is firmly tied to the cultural project of assimilation into Hindutva and the political project of centralizing power in Delhi. Immediately following India’s so-called independence in 1947, any community or political movement that expressed an identity outside of Indian nationalism has been subject to widespread state violence and genocide. From the Punjabi Suba Morcha, to the Sikh jujharoo lehar for Khalistan, the current Kisaan Morcha and everything in between, explicitly Sikh political expression has been criminalized and demonized in India. It is on the basis of this demonization that right-wing fascists and so-called progressives in India immediately join forces to justify genocidal state violence against Sikhs. This commitment to Indian nationalism and fear of genocide is also one of the key reasons for the union leadership’s attempts to erase Sikhi from the morcha and their rapid condemnation of Sikh naujawans at the Lal Qila.
If we accept the nationalist identity imposed by the idea of being “Indian”, we will inherently be in conflict with the values that the Guru has prescribed for their Sikh and lose our ability to understand Sikh history or Sikh mobilizations today. A Sikh of the Guru will forever clash with the genocidal, oppressive, and discriminatory Indian state that is driven by Brahminical violence and Hindutva because there is no room for a Sikh of the Guru to exist within this political environment. This is why our primary allegiance must always remain with the Guru Granth / Guru Panth when we exist in this world or interpret the events around us:
“It was in 1609, that the Nanak VI, Guru Hargobind (1595-1644) erected the Akal Takht edifice opposite the entrance bridge-head of the Golden Temple, upon which the Guru sat in state, wearing two swords of dominion over the two worlds, the seen and the unseen and the peculiar Sikh doctrine of Double Sovereignty took birth, the essence of which is that a man of religion must always owe his primary allegiance to Truth and mortality, and he must never submit to the exclusive claim of the secular state to govern the bodies and minds of men and the whole of subsequent Sikh History must be seen as an unfoldment of this Sikh attitude, if it is to be properly understood…The main substance of this doctrine is that any sovereign state which includes Sikh population and groups as citizens, must never make the paranoia pretensions of almighty absolutism entailing the concept of total power, entitled to rule over the bodies and minds of men, in utter exclusiveness. Any state which lays such claims qua the Sikhs, shall automatically forfeit its moral right to demand allegiance of the, Sikhs and there is thus an internal antagonism between such a state and the collective community of the Sikhs, represented by the order of the Khalsa, and in this deadly duel the State shall never emerge out as finally victorious, for self-destruction is the fruit of the seed of nonlimitation, and the status and the prerogatives and the Khalsa are imprescriptible.”
- Sardar Kapur Singh, “The Theo-political Status of the Golden Temple, 1984
When we perceive this morcha within the terms of Indian nationalism and outside the domain and instruction of Sikhi and Gurmat, we are lost in regards to what our Guru’s perception of “Fateh” (victory) and “Haar” (defeat) actually is. Fateh for a Sikh must be based on “sidhant” (principle; ethics/morality) and cannot limit itself to “duniyavi” (worldly) parameters. Within Sikh history, when we hear the following names what does it invoke within you? Do you feel a sense of dejection and Haar or upliftment and Fateh?
Sri Guru Arjan Dev Ji
Sri Guru Tegh Bahadur Ji
Sahibzaade Ajit Singh, Jujhar Singh, Jorawar Singh, Fateh Singh
Baba Banda Singh Bahadur
Bhai Taru Singh
Bhai Mani Singh
Bhai Bota Singh/Bhai Garja Singh
Baba Deep Singh
Baba Gurbaksh Singh Shaheed
Jathedar Akali Phula Singh
All of these shaheeds died at the hands of oppressive regimes either through being arrested and tortured to death or after clashing directly with the oppressor on the battlefield. In every Sikh home and Gurdwara across the world, tales of these historical figures are passed on from generation to generation amongst our people to invoke the same spirit the Gurus carried into this world and left imbued within the Guru Granth and Guru Panth. The Guru and our Shaheeds showed us that remaining steadfast on Sidhant (principle) was the true victory even in the face of death. There was no compromise of Sikhi, Gurbani, or Sidhant as death was the preferable choice.
This is what we have celebrated as a Panth for centuries.
We decide with the Guru’s instruction when to engage and how to engage an oppressor, and that engagement cannot be limited to the bounds of worldly laws or the impact of colonization upon our people. Our response must come from our own Sidhant and history. This is a frame of mind that many amongst us have unfortunately lost with the coming of the “Firangi” (foreigner/colonizer; i.e. British Raj) in 1849 and the constant attempts at annihilation and assimilation from Brahminvad/Hindutva since 1947. With every morcha we fight, the mask of India’s “democracy” is slowly peeling away as we see the violence of Brahminvaad and Hindutva in plain sight. With each of these morchay, our movement to reclaim what we have lost, both physical and philosophical, accelerates:
“Once their rage explodes, they recover their lost coherence, they experience self-knowledge through reconstruction of themselves; from afar we see their war as the triumph of barbarity; but it proceeds on its own to gradually emancipate the fighter and progressively eliminates the colonial darkness inside and out. As soon as it begins it is merciless. Either one must remain terrified or become terrifying—which means surrendering to the dissociations of a fabricated life or conquering the unity of one’s native soil. When the peasants lay hands on a gun, the old myths fade, and one by one the taboos are overturned: a fighter’s weapon is his humanity.”
― Frantz Fanon, The Wretched of the Earth
Sikh Naujawan And Union Leadership
Taking all of this into consideration, those who claim to have their primary allegiance with the Guru Granth and Guru Panth cannot ever remain silent as attempts are made to remove or erase Sikhi from this morcha. These attempts were subtle in the beginning and eventually reached a point of being blatant and malicious. A majority of the Kisaan Union leadership (especially Joginder Singh Ugrahan) was against removing police barricades in November even after kisaans had been protesting in Punjab for over 2 months with no response from the Indian State. In defiance of this cowardly “leadership”, the whole Punjabi/Sikh world cheered and watched amazed as average people clashed with police, broke barricades and tossed them aside with their bare hands, and chased away police personnel on their tractors and trolleys.
Once the people had opened the path to Delhi, these “leaders” quickly made their way to the morcha site and again assumed control. Let there be no doubt, it was the people that took the “leadership” to Delhi, not the “leadership” that took the people. Had the people listened to this “leadership” in November they never would have made it across the Punjab border and the first barricade. Once at the site, members of this Kisaan Union “leadership” went further out of their way to create discord and anger amongst the people. This was apparent when Bharti Kisaan Union (BKU) president, Balbir Singh Rajewal, openly advocated for the following and failed miserably in his malicious attempt to remove Sikhi from the morcha as the people rejected his words:
Remove all Khalsa Nishan Sahibs (Khalsa flags) from protest sites
Don’t use Khalsa language such as Vaheguru Jee Ka Khalsa Vaheguru Jee Kee Fateh, Raj Karega Khalsa, Bole So Nihal from protest stages
All Nihang Singh Fauja (Army of Nihang Singhs) to immediately leave the protest site
Despite this discouraging attitude, Sikh naujawans continued to defy the compromised positions of the official leadership and stormed the Lal Qila on January 26, 2021. This event should have breathed life back into a morcha that after 2 months on the streets of Delhi was losing energy by remaining stagnant. The same Kisaan Union leaders (Rajewal, Ugrahan, Rajinder Comrade, etc.) spent weeks calling the people of Punjab to come to Delhi for a massive tractor march into Delhi along the “Ring Road” (which encircles the core of the capital). After this “leadership” bowed to state pressure and abandoned the people by changing the route, these same individuals would call those naujawans “traitors” and “extremists” for following through on their initial declaration.
Everything unfolded rapidly right before us over the next few days as those with no allegiance to Guru Granth and Guru Panth screamed the loudest that the morcha had been “defiled” or “hijacked” by the actions of Sikh naujawan. Individuals like Deep Sidhu and Lakha Sidhana spent months working amongst the youth and galvanizing them for a drawn out fight with Delhi, but in moments this “leadership” tried to dismiss them as “traitors” and members of the “RSS/BJP” just so they could further strengthen their own control over the morcha. This same “leadership” for weeks had been making inflammatory speeches declaring that kisaans would ride on tractors into Delhi and put their “knee on the neck of Modi and his government” if they did not accept the demands of the kisaans. When the time came for them to lead and actually follow through on their rhetoric, they abandoned naujawans to prison and police bullets in order to save themselves from potential harm. Call it what it is…it was the cowardice and treachery of a new set of politicians (Kisaan Union leaders) that turned its back on hundreds of thousands of Sikh naujawans who descended upon the Lal Qila and gave the Panth a Sidhantic Fateh when they unfurled the Kesri Nishan Sahib over the Lal Qila. Rather than celebrate this victory however, the reaction of many was one based in fear and apology.
In the March 1925 edition of the Babbar Akali newspaper, anti-colonial Sikh revolutionaries made their positions clear in response to contemporary Sikh apologists disavowing the militant Babbar Akali movement in order to appease the British:
“We had reformed the enemies of the Panth and those who had deceived and harmed it. Our brothers were fighting a peaceful battle. We have fought battles as were fought by Sri Guru Hargobind Sahib and Guru Gobind Singh Ji. We have done nothing against the tenets of Sikhi.”
So what is it that occurred on January 26, 2021 at the Lal Qila that some are so “ashamed” of or that went against the tenets of Sikhi? The raising of the Khalsa Nishan Sahib at this site has occurred many times in our history (on another note, the Government of India itself raised the Khalsa Nishan Sahib at the Lal Qila on March 8-9, 2014 during celebrations of “Delhi Fateh Divas” commemorating Sardar Baba Baghel Singh’s conquering of Delhi in 1783). The commentary around this event questioning “what was the point of putting up a Nishan Sahib if it was going to be taken down?” comes from a place of misunderstanding. When Sardar Baghel Singh raised the Nishan Sahib at the Lal Qila and left Delhi do we actually think the Nishan Sahib stayed up longer than a few minutes before they were out of sight of the Mughal Empire? There are moments within our history where we have resorted to temporary guerrilla type tactics where we engage the oppressor to inflict as much damage as we can and then move back to relative safety to strengthen ourselves for the next battle. This can be seen when Sikhs living in jungles/forests would attack Afghan caravans who had plundered the northern portion of the subcontinent and were taking away monetary wealth and slaves. Sikhs would free the slaves and seize weapons, gold, and other valuables to strengthen their army and support those who had been robbed.
If we were to go back approximately three months, how many (especially in the diaspora) can truthfully say that they had any idea who Balbir Singh Rajewal, Joginder Singh Ugrahan, Rajinder Singh (Comrade), and others proclaiming to be the leadership of this morcha, actually were? Who knew their backgrounds and roles in Punjab’s various movements for the last several decades? What about knowledge of their alignment with certain political parties within Punjab and India (Congress, Akali Dal Badal, CPI or CPM etc.)? Then how is it that a peoples movement, fuelled by Sikh naujawans (youth) from Punjab, could fall under the full control of individuals that the people continuously defied during the course of this morcha? More importantly, how is it that many individuals in the diaspora blindly accepted this “leadership” and made every excuse, appeal, and eventually (in some cases) threat to those questioning this “leadership” when they themselves know next to nothing about their “leaders”?
People have been using the term “Ekta” (unity) as a weapon in an attempt to silence any analysis of this “leadership” and their approach to the morcha. Since when did people start to accept the definition of “Ekta” as inclusive of censorship and erasure? The “screams” of ekta seem to be coming loudest from those hell-bent on silencing active voices of dissent and revolution in our community which have existed for decades challenging the Indian state’s discriminatory, oppressive, and genocidal policies. Those that have come into Punjab’s decades old struggle with Delhi in the last 3-6 months need to re-evaluate the reasons for the conclusions they are drawing in regards to what this morcha represents in the larger sangarsh. Are their conclusions based on fact, history, and for the betterment of Punjab or are they coming from an incomplete understanding of Punjab and its majority Sikh population that has clashed with the forces of Hindutva over the last seven decades? This is an opportunity to learn (Sikh) for all of us. Ekta can never include censorship and erasure within its definition. The spirit of the term promotes unity and solidarity where space is created for various people, of various backgrounds, and various political views to focus on a common goal. If Ekta to you is the silencing of the Khalsa and the erasure of Sikhi from this morcha, then don’t be surprised when you are responded to in kind by the Khalsa Panth and its naujawans. At a state level we have Brahmanical/Hindutva forces letting loose BJP/RSS right-wing fascists to physically attack any form of diversity within the subcontinent and move towards a “forced unity” in the form of a Hindu Rashtra (Hindu Nation) and at the morcha level we have “our own” using calls for Ekta to drown out legitimate concerns and absolve their “leaders” of any wrong-doing.
“The clouds of forced unity are descending and diversity is crying out in agony.”
-Kavi (Poet) Santokh Singh, Gurpartap Suraj Parkash, 1843
Towards Victory And A Panthic Response
For those Sikhs who are committed to keeping their primary allegiance with the Guru Granth and Guru Panth, our way forward is to not fall prey to short term “gains” at the expense of our Sidhant in the long term. If the price for the repealing of these 3 laws is to remove and erase Sikhi from this morcha (removal of Khalsa Nishan Sahibs, removal of our Khalsa shabadavali, removal of the Nihang Fauja (who were created to be a walking/talking example of Sikh sovereignty, etc.) then the price is too high. By gaining some periodic economic relief in the short term we will have set a precedent that has never been set in Sikh history before where we have cowered at the feet of the oppressor and their agents for a monetary handout.
Perhaps one the most important victories we can refer to in Sikh history is that of Bhai Bota Singh and Bhai Garja Singh who came forward when the Mughal empire had declared the Khalsa annihilated and no more. These warriors defied the empire’s claims when they announced their presence by declaring Khalsa Raj over a key trading route controlled by the Mughals. For days, they collected tolls on the route as a reassertion of the Khalsa’s sovereignty. Their example reminds us that the Khalsa’s sovereignty (patshahi) forever remains in tact as long as its jujharoos refuse to submit to oppressive powers and continue the struggle. Every Sikh battle ends in victory when our primary commitment to maintain our sovereign honnd (existence) in the Guru’s charan is honoured. After multiple skirmishes with Mughal forces, Bhai Bota Singh and Bhai Garja Singh attained shaheedi, and in doing so provided the Khalsa with Fateh and inspiration for generations:
ਸਿੰਘ ਚਿੱਤ ਯਹ ਨਿਸਚੈ ਧਾਰੀ
ਸੀਸ ਲਗੇ ਬਿਨ ਗੱਲ ਨਹਿਂ ਕਾਰੀ
ਸੀਸ ਲਗਾਏ ਚਰਚਾ ਹੋਈ
ਜਗ ਯੌ ਜਾਨੈ ਖਾਲਸਾ ਸੋਈ
Singhs made a resolution in their hearts,
By sacrificing their lives they would restore the glory of the Khalsa.
By giving their lives the world would know,That the Khalsa still lives.
-Bhai Rattan Singh Bhangu, Prachin Panth Parkash (1841)
From Bhai Bidhi Chand to Bhai Sukha Singh/Mehtab Singh to Bhai Udham Singh to Bhai Beant Singh/Satwant Singh/Kehar Singh to Bhai Sukha/Jinda, Sikhs have continued to behave in a manner that is in line with the Guru’s ideals for their Khalsa while the world has consistently labelled us as terrorists, extremists, assassins, etc. All the names that we read within Sikh history (including references to Sri Guru Arjan Dev Ji and Sri Guru Tegh Bahadur Ji) were criminals in the eyes of the empire they were rebelling against and either died at the hands of the state in battle or were captured and executed. The simple question for a Sikh is, whose ideals are you trying to live up to… the state or the Guru? Fear cannot dictate this response because if it does, we are already lost:
ਜਹ ਅਨਭਉ ਤਹ ਭੈ ਨਹੀ ਜਹ ਭਉ ਤਹ ਹਰਿ ਨਾਹਿ ॥
Where the Divine dwells, there is no fear; where there is fear, the Divine does not dwell there.
-Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji, Ang 1374
Despite this, the recent arrests of Sikh naujawans, including Deep Sidhu, have created a space for so-called “Sikh liberals” in the west to continue their rhetoric that this morcha is “not about Sikhi or Khalistan” and that we need to remain focused on the “real goal”. This disingenuous logic needs to be recognized and called out for what it actually is. It is the “Sikh liberal’s” line of reasoning that any conversation about Khalistan will “derail” the morcha and therefore needs to be censored or removed from the conversation. This line of argument is actually driven by fear and personal discomfort.
As hundreds of Sikhs are detained and many more are missing, the “Sikh liberal” doesn’t want to speak about the political repression of a specific group of people (even though somewhere deep inside them they recognize they are a part of this collective). Instead, the “Sikh liberal” wants to traverse a middle ground where there is relative safety along with an opportunity to engage in some activism, or “advocacy.” In reality, their appeal to the “masses” with their (unthreatening) “universal” message of human rights is an attempt to depoliticize the struggle in order to facilitate their own personal comfort. Rather than clearly pointing to structures of power and violence that identify the political nature of our conflict, or sovereignty as a solution, they limit their contribution to critiquing “human rights violations” and “protecting” Indian “democracy.”
Critiquing Indian “democracy” while erasing political struggle does not empower our people or move us towards a solution. It positions us as perpetual “victims” who depend on justice to be served by the very structures of power that are oppressing us. Allowing this narrative to continue unchallenged will create confusion and chaos for Sikh generations to come as it has for other oppressed peoples as well:
“Many people want to know why, out of the entire White segment of society, we want to criticize the liberals. We have to criticize them because they represent the liaison between both groups, between the oppressed and the oppressor. The liberal tries to become an arbitrator, but he is incapable of solving the problems. He promises the oppressor that he can keep the oppressed under control; that he will stop them from becoming illegal (in this case illegal means violent). At the same time, he promises the oppressed that he will be able to alleviate their suffering---in due time. Historically, of course, we know this is impossible, and our era will not escape history.”
-Kwame Ture, The Pitfalls of Liberalism, 1969
The Khalsa Panth’s home was once on the back of horses, our “jewellery” was considered the chains, shackles and handcuffs of the oppressor, with no clothing on our backs and no food at our disposal, a few thousand of us stayed committed to our Sidhant at all costs and with our Guru’s bakshish (blessing) we rose from the ashes to establish our own rule within decades. Our struggle is continuous and never ending because the Khalsa was made for the world and to challenge oppressors everywhere. There is beauty in our sangarsh because our Guru demands our tann (body), mann (psyche), and dhann (worldly resources) in our commitment to uplift the enslaved and downtrodden peoples of the world just like Sri Guru Gobind Singh did with us. If we are descendants of that Guru, then their bachans (command) must resonate at our core in every word we speak and every action we take. It is in those actions of Sidhantic rebellion where regardless of the worldly result, the Panth has already won:
ਕਹਿਯੋ ਪ੍ਰਭੂ ਸੋ ਭਾਖਿ ਹੋ ॥
ਕਿਸੂ ਨ ਕਾਨ ਰਾਖਿ ਹੋ ॥
I speak and act only to which Akal Purakh has instructed,
I don’t yield to anything or anyone else.
-Sri Guru Gobind Singh Ji, Bachitar Natak
