Friends, thanks to Punjab Today for carrying my recent The Hindu Businessline piece with some additions on the discussion in Panjab Assembly over the Ranjit Singh Commission report on the series of sacrilege in the state and the new Blasphemy Law. I hold that the Congress has handed over a draconian, regressive law to BJP on a platter.
‘While Punjab looks to heal from the scourge of sacrilege, the new law now forces not only the Granth Sahib but even other religious texts behind three locks. To some extent one can understand the law in the context of monotheistic religions like Sikh, Islam and Christianity but how will it work for polytheistic Hinduism with a hundred Ramayanas, a thousand Mahabharatas, a million other revered texts and icons? My aging aunts, who find it hard to walk a few steps, habitually ask a younger cousin or their kids to get them the Gutka Sahib from the shelf at home. They sit in their chairs and doze off while praying. As they nap, they leave the Gutka Sahib in their laps, or next to the pillow. Are they committing blasphemy per the new law? Aunts and uncles in Panjab carry the Gutka Sahib, the Hanuman Chalisa, the Holy Bible in their leather purses or kurta pockets. Is that blasphemy? At village Chakklan itself, a samadh – shrine on a grave – of an unknown village elder has recently become a temple with a trishul and a shivling. Is that blasphemy? On the Pakistan border in Amritsar, at village Naushera Dhaala, the 16th Century saint Baba Jallan ji’s samadh has recently turned into an elaborate Gurdwara. Have the followers committed blasphemy? When Captain Amarinder Singh took his famous oath at Damdama Sahib in December 2015 promising to eradicate drugs, he held a Gutka Sahib in his hands. Everyone on the stage were wearing shoes. Was that not blasphemy? What exactly is a ritual, a prayer, a way of life and a blasphemy? Merely inserting names of texts into a revision of law, without due deliberation, is going to be detrimental to the way of life of the people in Punjab and the nation.’
Read full story here …
Tags: Badal, Blasphemy Law, IPC 295A, Ranjit Singh, sacrilege, Sikh, Sumedh Singh Saini, Tript Rajender Bajwa
Friends, on Tuesday when the news of activists being arrested drove the country into an uproar, a lot was going on in the Panjab Assembly. A marathon discussion took place on the Ranjit Singh Committee report that probed 157 incidents of sacrilege in between 2015-17 and focused on the role of the Badals and the police in the state – a force that has enjoyed unparalleled impunity ever since the days of militancy.
While the Akalis walked out, the Assembly (Congress and AAP) passed two historical resolutions unanimously – one on SGPC and another on taking back cases from CBI. To my mind these will have great ramifications in robbing the Akalis of the Panthic (Sikh religious) agenda and centre-state relations.
These developments were important for Panjab. However, at the same time, for the nation, the Congress committed a blunder by passing an amendment to the Blasphemy Law – Indian Penal Code 295 and placing texts from Hindu, Muslim and Christianity in it. The amendment to the law was an Akali face-saver in 2016, this Congress government could have just let it slide. But it did not.
Thus the Congress has now handed over a ready-made, draconian revision of law to the BJP on a platter. Beats me why Congress shot itself in the foot. The Bill only needs the Presidential nod now to become a nation-wide law. Its ramifications are massive and dangerous.
Here is my piece. I have tried to sketch the background but print media with word restrictions does limit how much one can say at a time.
Please read more here …
Tags: Badal, Blasphemy, Ranjt Singh, sacrilege, Sikh
Friends, my short piece in The Hindu in which I argue that in the last two years I have noticed a small, tremulous, change in Punjab given the stereotype in the nations and worlds’ mind – the region has a propensity towards violence. Whether it was the sacrilege incidents of 2015 or the recent Dera Premi fracas, Punjab held its pain in restraint.
That does not mean Punjab has no disquiet. Disquiet is ripe and the region is marked by distrust. Punjab thirsts for justice. Yet, I feel by not giving in to easy violence the region is sending out a different message if we were to listen to it and act on it to resolve many past grievances in this post-conflict land.
Please read here …
Tags: Dear Sacha Sauda, Premi, Punjab, sacrilege, Saint Dr. Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh Insaan
India does find it hard to understand Punjab. That is why I like it when journalists travel and come back and seek to understand issues by talking to who they think are experts. At least, there is an attempt. Recently the Hindustan Times team travelled and asked me for my comments on their experiences. Now I am no expert but as a learner I am able to figure out a few things which I suppose can help them.
For example, the word agency. It is used everywhere in Punjab when the matter of politics comes up. Politics comes up everywhere, anyway. ‘The word agencies originates in the 80s and reveals deep-rooted mistrust in shadowy government officials and outsiders. It signifies death, disappearances and unclaimed bodies.’
This was an article on sacrilege that rocked Punjab in October/November 2015.
Please read …
Tags: Bargadi, Punjab, Rail-roko, sacrilege, SAD
Friends my piece in The Hindu Business Line special edition BLink on the recent move by the Punjab Assembly to call for an amendment to the Indian Penal Code section section 295A by seeking an increase in the quantum of punishment to those found guilty of religious sacrilege to the Sikh holy book Guru Granth Sahib, popularly known as the Blasphemy Law. I find the move populist and retrograde.
Please read …
Tags: Blasphemy Law, Granth Sahib, Punaj, sacrilege, Section 295 A IPC
Friends, time is truly cyclical in Punjab. Old issues re-surface to become new issues, but nothing gets solved on the ground.
My story on the proposed blasphemy law and river waters in Scroll.in – with timeline so at least we know what happened when.
At this stage, all political parties are fishing in troubled waters.
Read more here …
Tags: Amarinder, Badal, Blasphemy, Guru Granth Sahib, Punjab, Rivers, sacrilege, Sutlej, SYL Canal, Waters, Yamuna
I missed the fact that this piece was actually published. I notice how it is a fluid piece because the realities of protest were unraveling very quickly in those days. Yet, I notice, this is the only piece which will have the names of the two who died or suffered grievously the violent aspects of the protests against the sacrilege of the Sikh holy book.
Please read …
Tags: desecration, protests, Punjab, sacrilege, Sikh holy book
Here is Daljit Ami’s recent column on the Sikh protest in Punjab and how it is shaped, where it is headed. Translated by me.
We need more and more voices to articulate the two independent protests in Punjab: farmer-worker Unions and the intra-community Sikh struggle against the hegemony of the SGPC. Both are against the same Akali government.
Please read …
Tags: Badal, Punjab, sacrilege, SGPC, Sikh protest