28th September Birth Anniversary of Shaheed Bhagat Singh

Today is Birth anniversary of a young martyr from Punjab.

Remembering Bhagat Singh ^{(in site link)}.
Shaheed Bhagat Singh ^{( wikipedia )}, the revolutionary young mind, India ever saw in her history of struggle for independence from British colonial rule. He was of such an extra-ordinary, strong and sharp mindset that even the colonial learned judges were astonished at his sight. Incidentally, I am blessed that my native place in Doaba area (two river belt), which is Shaheed Bhagat Singh’s birth place also. Shahid Bhagat Singh was out and out a Nationalist in his karma, but as one reads his notes from Jail dairy he comes out as one universalist rather than restricted in locality boundaries.

When I see full page public address by state government on Shaheed Bhagat Singh’s Martyr or Birth anniversary, I just get amused how such politically motivated people try to take claim on such a noble soul. Recently the prejudiced men of a particular “cult” rejected Shaheed Bhagat Singh’s photograph in which he has been wearing a British hat with his hair cut short and beard shaved. I really wonder whether they have read even a single line from his writings. Imagine, if young Bhagat Singh would have been living in present times, he would have been harsh critic of both Congress and Akali’s. These neta people, who we see garlanding his turbaned statue, would have put him into jail. These days, the young guys who were born after the incident of 84, equate Shaheed Bhagat Singh with the one terrorist (whom they also honor with Shaheed title) and every “gundagiri” guy (Kaurian nigahan wale) flaunts stickers of Shaheed Bhagat Singh’s photo on their bikes, as if they were justifying their gundagiri, parallel with heroism of noble freedom fighter. Their families have spoon-fed them with poison of separatism. Ask them about Shaheed Bhagat Singh and they proudly speak about the assembly bombing incident, less they know that, it was just a smoke bomb and the main objective was to protest against exploitation of Indians under colonial rule.

The black days of 1984.
People who were badly affected in riots, that resulted after the assassination of prime minister Ms. Indira Gandhi, they were displaced form Delhi and moved to different pockets of Punjab were the the fire of hatred against other community was already burning. Communal divide was marked and fueled in the name of religion by the politically motivated separatists. Those who didn’t go to temples and mosques were Sikhs and those who wore black turbans, were considered even more Sikh than those who wore turban of a different color. In early 90s, I was middle school and some class mates form Sikh community use to say that Guru Nanak Dev is not their guru anymore, only “Dasham Pita” and “sant akali baba ji” we consider our gurus. Some were even carrying photos of “sant baba” in their pockets. I use to tell them, that its not like the way they were ill thought. I use to tell them, that in our Mohyal Brahmans community, it was considered moral duty to decorate elder son as “Guru ka Sikh”. Most of the Martyrs at the time of Aurangzeb tyrant rule were Sikhs from Mohyal Brahmin community. Sikhism is not about the size and color of turban and length of beard nor its about the hateful eyes (kaurian nigahan). A Sikh is one you surrenders his ego and keeps faith in the teachings of Gurus documented in Sri Guru Granth Sahib. Mostly Congress workers were responsible for riots of 84 in Delhi and some other parts of India, but communal radicals used it to fulfill their political agenda and spread hatred against all “Hindus” ( the ones who did not have long hair and beard also who were not turbaned). Those were the black days of Sikhi.

Those were the days when Britain and USA were exercising their foreign policies. England and USA were already critical of Ms. Gandhi’s strong stand with USSR. BBC was very much exploiting 1984 insurgency news feeds. BBC radio and TV was propagating news about Indian insurgency to corner India in UN. In those days UK gave patronage to many Sikh radicals who fled from India to evade arrest. Back in early 90s some exploited this anti-India feeling to get easy emigration pass to USA and UK. This was the world order that sucked up some amount of happiness from my childhood days, otherwise it was beautiful just like “Wonder days”.