Social and National Reasons

Bijla Singh

In this section we look at some of the social and educational reasons for having Khalistan. This section covers Sikh image in Hindi movies, Indian education system, modern Sikh youth problems, and social and cultural reasons. After reading this article a person will have a better understanding of why Khalistan is the utmost need for Sikhs in today’s world.

Sick Sikh Jokes

The wide dissemination of Sikh Jokes by the Indian official media is a result of a systematic Brahmin conspiracy. This conspiracy was hatched by Brahmin government employees working under Indira Gandhi, who saw this as an ideal way of marginalizing the minuscule and defenseless Sikh community. These Brahmin Imperialists viewed Sikh Jokes not as a tool of humor, but as a means of spreading hatred and laying the groundwork for their well pre-planned annihilation of Sikhs. Sikh jokes were thus spread by various Hindu organizations affiliated to the Congress - the infamous Congi-Sanghi combine. Union soldiers brainwashed into blind hatred with tons of Sikh Jokes would be more willing to kill Sikhs than those not subject to such propaganda.

It is for this reason that no Sikh joke is found to pre-date 1980. It is for the self-same reason that there was such a wide dissemination of Sikh jokes by the Indian media just prior to the attack on the Golden Temple of Amritsar. The horrible mass extermination of more than 300,000 Sikhs by Indira Gandhi can never be forgotten by the Sikhs. Virtually all the masterminds behind this carnage were Brahmins. Indira Gandhi was a Brahmin, being the daughter of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, whilst General Vaidya, the Commander-in-Chief of the forces which stormed the Golden Temple, was also a Brahmin. That the Sikh community thus cherishes the deepest suspicions about Brahmins is only natural. Although it took time for the Sikhs to realize the actual sinister hand behind the spread of Brahmin jokes, the Sikhs have now turned into some of the most ardent proponents of this genre of humor.

Many have asked me what to do when Sikh jokes are recited in the group they are in? Just respond with Brahmin jokes. In the group there will be two types of responses. If the persons telling the Sikh jokes are indeed lovers of humor, then they enjoy the Brahmin jokes. If they are instead hate-mongers, then such persons have a different reaction. Telling a good Brahmin joke is often enough to stop a barrage of Sikh jokes. It is often challenged that the jokes are distortions of Sikh jokes. But the fact is that all Sikh jokes are distortion of Brahmin and Pandit jokes. For a good start go to http://jokebook.com/brahmin_jokes.htm and memorize some jokes.

Sikhs in Movies

Mockery of Sikh character has been an integral part of the Indian movies for the last couple of years. The image of a Sikh character is shown as a clown, joker, uneducated, backward, drunk and apostate from Sikh principles. There are many movie producers and directors in Bollywood, Mumbai who have always presented the Sikh image as a joker, drunken driver and an uneducated person. They never even think about the affect of such movies on Sikhs and their image in the society. These movies are not only hurting the sentiments of Sikhs but also playing an important role in alienating the Sikh nation from India. These movies are sending clear signals to Sikhs that they do not belong to India. Sikh image is always twisted and misrepresented in the movies. Sikh character is portrayed as a joker who seeks sympathy of the audience.

In movie Raja Hindustani, Johni Leevar played a role of a Sikh in which he wore turban but had no beard. In the entire movie he was shown as a no beard “Sikh” just walking around like a clown. This was a direct attack on the Sikh image. Movies like Bdhayee Ho Bdhayee and Apna Sapna Money Money make mockery of the Sikh image by not having the characters cover their heads properly. In movie Kuch Kuch Hota Hai joke of “12 ‘o clock” was played on a complete Amritdhari Gursikh. In movie Dil manager of Amir Khan is shown as a senseless tempered Sikh. In a popular movie Gadar Sunny Deol played a role of a Sikh who sometimes wears a turban and sometimes becomes clean shaven. Being a Sikh he chooses to give up his religion. He is shown fighting couple of Sikhs dressed as Nihungs. His companion is shown as a grown Sikh man covering only the hair knot. Pop singer Daler Mehndi in one of his songs depicted Sikhs as cartoons. Sikhs became the target of jokes. The list of such movies is endless. More the movie mocks Sikhs, more popular it becomes due to protests. It is evident from the movies that an Amritdhari, a true image of Sikhs, is always mocked but a trimmer and drunkard turban wearing person is shown as a “true hero”. This is being done to encourage the Sikh youth to trim their beards and abandon Sikh way of life. If Sikhs are equal citizens in India then why is their religion and identity being insulted and demeaned in the Indian movies? Why isn’t Hindu religion insulted? Why isn’t a Hindu Brahmin portrayed as a clown? The simple answer is because Hindu is the ruler and Sikh is the slave which is why slaves become the target of humiliation.

Movie Jo Bole So Nihal is the master of all other movies that misrepresented, and mocked the Sikh character. The title misleads people in thinking that it is a religious film but Sunny Deol is shown as flirting and engaging in sexual activities. Using a Sikh religious name for a movie that in no way is connected with Sikhism is nothing but insulting. On one hand Sikh population was protesting against the movie and on the other hand SGPC and jathedar of Akal Takhat Sahib saw nothing wrong with it and approved it to be filmed in theaters without any hesitation. One of the members of SGPC Karnail Singh stated that “A true Sikh does not cut or trim his beard, he does not believe in caste, and neither does he dance with half naked women nor engages in sexual affairs with them.” On the contrary the main character in the movie is doing everything.

Bollywood insulted the Sikh religion by misusing the Sikh “Jaikara” (a war outcry), an announcement and a declaration of Sikh victory. The literal translation would be “He be blessed who says God is truth”. Furthermore, it proves itself to be a salutation to Waheguru (God) which is a form of thanking Him for his help in the battlefield. Khalsa being the army of God gives all the credit to Waheguru, the Truth, who is always victorious. Therefore, one who remembers the absolute truth is always blessed. Thus it plays a significant role in Sikh religious and political affairs.

This Jaikara was introduced by Guru Gobind Singh Ji on 18 September, 1687 after handful of Sikhs won their first battle of Bhanghani against Hill Kings. This victory empowered Sikhs and instilled great confidence in them to fight for freedom. Later on the Jaikara depicted the victory of Sikhs in all the battles Guru Gobind Singh Ji fought against the hill kings and the Mughal army. Later on, Sikh army used this Jaikara under the leadership of Baba Banda Singh Bahadur when they took over Sarhind and established the first Sikh Kingdom. Sikhs used this Jaikara when they fought against Farkhushear army. This Jaikara was a terror to the army of Ahmad Shah Abdali. Even British army accepted this Jaikara to be a powerful source of Sikhs which provided them with enough inspiration and confidence to fight and win battles.

After 1947 Indian government accepted this Jaikara to be used by Sikhs even though they personally despised it but its historic significance could not be overlooked. The army of fascist Indian government had very clearly seen the power of this Jaikara in 1984 when only 250 Sikhs with less and old weaponry fought thousands of Indian soldiers equipped with modern Russian weapons. Just by hearing the Jaikara, Indian army men would drop their weapons and show their back in the battlefield. Their dream of conquering Akal Takhat Sahib within 24 hours was crushed in a matter of minutes.

Sikh Jaikara is a victory declaration of Sikhs. This means that Sikhs are fearless people, above any man made law and love to live life of freedom. But Bollywood has shown its conspiracy against the Sikh religion by trying to malign this pure Jaikara. The movie shows a person with hair cut, trimmed beard, getting drunk and dancing with half naked women which is a direct attack on the Sikh religion. This movie was delayed for many weeks due to protest of Sikhs. During this delay the movie directors and producers met SGPC and many other Sikh organizations to get them approve the movie so that the protests of Sikhs could be controlled. During these meetings Hardeep Singh from Mohali and Amarjeet Singh from Ludhiana sued the movie in Punjab-Haryana High Court. The movie directors tried to bribe Hardeep Singh to get him on their side but Hardeep Singh did not change his position and stood by Sikh principles. Then they turned to Amarjeet Singh but had no success. Subsequently, they went to Bibi Jageer Kaur and asked her to settle the dispute. At the same time they went to so called Jathedar of Akal Takhat Joginder Singh Vedanti and convinced him to approve the movie.

After couple of days, Joginder Singh misused the power of Akal Takhat by giving “clean chit” to the movie and claimed it to be perfectly acceptable. This decision not only surprised all the Sikh organizations but also became the main cause for the beating and harassment of the Sikh youth protesting against this movie. It is the same Akal Takhat Sahib where Guru Ji used to sit and preach to Sikhs to worship and follow only Akal Purakh. This is the same place under the authority of which Sikhs made up their minds to establish Khalsa Raj. In today’s times, this same place was misused to approve an anti-Sikh movie. After the movie was released, Vedanti openly lied to the public and gave a statement to the newspapers saying that he did not approve this movie. But this lie could not be concealed for long. At last the approval letter of Vedanti was printed in the newspaper and Sikhs started protesting against Vedanti more than they protested against the movie. SGPC and Vedanti failed to do their job by showing irresponsibility toward Sikh community. This is the situation of our so called leaders. The movie producers offered to cut out some anti-Sikh scenes but the main reason for the protest was not the scenes but the misuse of the Jaikara. A song named Jo Bole So Nihal being sung by a naked woman is praising a character named “Nihal Singh” played by Sunny Deol. This is an insult, misuse and a direct attack on Sikh religion. Our leaders and institutions are all controlled and infiltrated by the government. Why such interference when there is so-called “Freedom of Religion” in India?

In a “democratic” country India, Sikh religion has become an image of mockery. Movies are playing a major role in misrepresenting the Sikh image portraying them as jokers, weak minded, defenseless and ugly looking people. Clean shaven people are shown as the heroes fighting bad guys and the wanting source by women. Sikhs are depicted as resistive to women. History is a full of examples that prove Sikhs to be people of charming and charismatic personality. Sikhs are heroes of India who have fought foreign powers ever since the Sikh religion came into existence. Sikhs are the true warriors not clean shaven men who can easily look like women by putting on a dress. According to Muslim historians during British empire Sikhs were known to have most beautiful women in India. Furthermore, one of the main reasons that attracted Mughals to invade India was its beautiful women especially in the north.

For how long will we keep quiet about it? For how long will these protests go on? Sikhs need to boycott Bollywood all together. Stop watching and/or renting Hindi movies and boycott Indian channels. They not only misrepresent our identity but badly influence young kids. Sikhs have done a good job in educating people about the Sikh faith in western countries. But what about in Punjab, where we want to see the Sikh kingdom? Do we not need to have our own TV channels, and our own movie industry that would show the true image of Sikhs and educate people about uniqueness of saint-soldier? Standing against Indian media at such large scale is not possible without Khalistan. We need our own government taking a stand against it because then it becomes an international issue between two countries. As of now, this problem is only an issue with some 20 million Sikhs. We need to start our own channels and Sikhs must have their own media. Sikhs have lots of money that can be used to start our own newspapers and print Sikh magazines. Sikhs in foreign countries have done this very successfully but the same must be done in Punjab.

Punjab is our land where we originated from. It is our responsibility to make sure that we carry forward the mission of Guru Nanak Dev Ji and spread His message of true way of life. Sikh channels should show documentaries and katha covering Sikh history and their role in freedom movements starting from Mughal Empire. Sikh newspapers and magazines should print articles on Sikh philosophy educating Sikh population and other communities about the Sikh faith. It is our responsibility to educate the world that we are a separate nation distinct from Hinduism and Islam. The world should know about the sacrifices made by the Sikh Gurus and Sikhs. Sikh history needs to pay another visit in the homes of the people. They need to be taught the truth and sacrifices the Sikhs have made for freedom. When the clean shaven men of Hinduism were helpless, defenseless and unable to protect their women from Mughals and Pathans it was Sikhs who came forward to fight for dignity and honor of women of the country. Sikhs had no resources, hills to hide behind, help from other kingdoms and no army fighting for them on monthly salaries. All they had was faith in the Guru and determination to free the country or die fighting for it. Handful of Sikhs beat thousands of Mughal army men who were considered to be invincible. Indian government and its media can try its best to brain wash women into not wanting to marry Sikhs but Sikhi always survives. Sikhs will continue to live as liberators, sons of the true Guru and true freedom fighters. Sikhism will flourish in Punjab and Sikhs will enjoy the freedom in the land of the Gurus. Sikhs are the soul of Punjab. Punjab is where Sikhs fought, died, sacrificed and spilled their blood. Thus Punjab belongs to Sikhs and Sikhs belong to Punjab. Punjab shall be ours.

Bibliography

Jo Bole So Nihal by Mahinder Singh, published in Fatehnama

Sikhs in Movies, published in Punjab News