2
I
On August 15, India became independent. Jawaharlal Nehru took over as Prime Minister with Sardar Vallabhai J.Patel as Deputy Prime Minister. Earlier, Jawaharlal Nehru at the instance of M.K. Gandhi had taken over in December 1946 as Premier of the Constituent Assembly. Both of them had shown immaturity. Sardar Patel had full control over the Congress Party’s Operations and had shown an iron will. Naturally, he thought that taking over as Prime Minister shortly after August 15, was only a stop gap arrangement. He had a maturity in outlook, whereas Jawaharlal Nehru was gullible. But Jawaharlal Nehru’s plus point was, apart from Gandhi’s patronage as a Father figure, during a visit to Singapore he had developed a rapport with Lord Louis Mountbatten, who was suggested by him as the next Viceroy of India, which worked out.
Gandhi was sore with mass migration of Hindus and Sikhs from West Punjab, and their endeavor to displace the Muslims, especially from Delhi and UP. Sardar Patel was blunt and wanted the Muslims in Northern India especially the cow belt, who were foremost in the demand for Pakistan, to cross over. Gandhi, screeching his teeth, was helpless before Patel. Gandhi met angry Hindus-Sikhs refugee camps in Delhi in early September 1947, and was accused of hardness of heart towards them. “He had not suffered as they had. He had not lost his dear ones as they had, nor had he like them soon rendered homeless and penniless”. Gandhi implored the refugees not to return evil for evil.1
Gandhi now started speaking on the subject in his evening prayer meetings on violence allegedly generating from the Sikhs. He even went to the extent of sequestrating Hindus from the ongoing violence in Delhi and its neighbourhood, and blamed the Sikhs as the sole blot on the fair name of India.
Gandhi lashed out against the Sikhs, charging them left and right:
But Gandhi’s continued outpourings were rattling the Sikhs mind. On December 24, 1947, some enterprising Sikhs took to him a bundle of press clippings of his anti-Sikh announcements to impress upon him the enormity of the pain and damage he was causing to the community.6 The most quotable quote frequently talked about during this period was Gandhi’s pronouncement in one of his prayer meeting, “Mane shuna hai, aaj Balimarran mei, ek Mushlman Bhai kele ke chhilke se phishl kar gir gya. Wo chhilka zaroor kisi Seekh ne pheka hoga” – I have heard today in Balimaran (off Chandini Chowk in Delhi), a Muslim brother slipped off a peel of a banana and fell. That peel must have been thrown by a Sikh.
Gandhi really was out of his mind when talking about the Sikhs. Instead of making amends, in his usual style he laughed at the anger of the Sikhs. He did not deny the veracity of the press reports, but added that “As the Sikhs were a virile race, he certainly expected more from them”, and that “Whatever he said, he had said as a staunch friend of the Sikhs.”7 The Sikhs said, they did not need such a friend, but he had imposed himself as one!.
In between, there was a raiders attack on the Kashmir Valley and accession of Maharaja of Kashmir to the Indian Union. One thought of the apostle of non-violence to face the Kashmir Valley: the raiders would read his fateha. In the mid-1940, he had suggested “every Briton” to face Hitler’s violence by non-violence.8 But here he sanctioned the use of armed forces. It were the Sikh soldiers of Maharaja of Patiala who were the first to be sent to Srinagar to face the raiders, supported by Pakistani troops. But despite the praise of all the nation, Gandhi continued his attacks on Sikhism.
Gandhi had outreached himself by making new propositions which eventually sealed his fate. He said, “It cannot be said that Sikhism, Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism’s are separate religions. All these four faiths and their off shoots are one. Hinduism is an ocean into which all the rivers run. It can absorb Islam and Christianity and all other religions and only then can it become the ocean”9 Also, whenever Dr. B.R. Ambedkar mentioned the word minorities in the Constituent Assembly, the Hindu Congressites cried in unison, “There are no minorities now.”
Gandhi by the time was thinking of dissolving the Congress which had functioned as an overarching body for disparate elements in struggle for freedom, and for reconstruction of India from the Village level. By the time, Jawaharlal Nehru and Sardar Patel were on breaking point and Gandhi had called both of them on January 30, 1948, to resolve their problem. This pointed to the end of the game so far as Jawaharlal Nehru was concerned, and perhaps Mulana Azad. That meant the end of the day. On January 30, 1948, before could Gandhi spell out his out-plan, he received four bullets - three from Nathu Ram Godse, an RSS worker, and one from someone else. No one wants to point out the source of the fourth bullet. Nehru was not unhappy, whereas Patel was deaf-mute at the turn of event. Lord Mountbatten made Nehru and Patel embrace each other and brought about a facade of reconciliation.10 Nehru went out to All India Radio to announce that the Light Had Gone Out. Thereafter, he buried Gandhiism deep. For about five decades no one from his family ever heard of, nor did he confer on him the title of “The Father of the Nation”. Nathu Ram Godse’s last testament was kept in secrecy for a long time and he was sentenced to death at Ambala. It was treated as a “murder case” because Nathu Ram Godse was Chit Bhavan Brahmin, whereas Gandhi was a baniya. This was in sharp contrast to killing of Indira Gandhi which was treated as an “assassination”.
Right from Nankana Sahib tragedy from 1921 to 1948, Gandhi never understood an iota of Sikhism. The first word in Digit 1 deciphered by Guru Nanak, or Guru Arjan Dev’s scripture “na ko Hindu, na ko Musalman”, we are neither Hindus, nor Muslims, or Bhai Gurdas’s declaration of Guru Nanak’s striking sovereignty in the World: “Maria Sikka Jagat Vich”, were beyond his comprehension. Gandhi was against the Khalsa of Guru Gobind Singh which he never understood. When Aurangzeb read out the Zafarnama, he was full of penitence at the wrong done to him at the instance of crook hill chiefs. So far as Sikhs are concerned Gandhi was an intolerant, capricious and a hard core fanatic who worked for annihilation of Sikhism. He was worse than Aurangzeb. It was not for nothing that E.M.S. Namboodiripad later called Gandhi a Hindu religious fundamentalist.11
One impact of Gandhi’s murder in the context of unrelenting hostility towards independent entity of Sikhism constituted a watershed in the Sikh attitude towards the Hindus, and put them to serious thinking of their place in Indian polity. One offshot was that the Sikhs completely dissociated themselves from the Hindus. From early 1948 onwards, the Sikhs were not involved on either side in Hindu-Muslim conflict.
1. G. D Tendulkar Mahatma: Life of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, (Ahmedabad ,1969 reprint) Vol. 8, Pp.139.
2. CW, Vol. 89, Pp. 274.
3. CW, Vol. 90, Pp. 72-73, 96.
4. CW, Vol. 90, Pp. 177.
5. CW, Vol. 90, Pp. 470.
6. G.D. Tendulkar, MAHATMA: Life of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, (Ahmedabad, reprint) n.9, Vol. 8, Pp. 268.
7. CW, Vol. 72, Pp. 299-31.
8. Emphasis added CW, Vol. 90, Pp. 187-89.
9. CW, Vol. 90, Pp. 177.
10.Sangat Singh, The Sikhs in History, 8th edn. 2014, (Amritsar, Singh Bros), Pp. 246.
11.Ibid, Pp. 247.
II
The demographic change gave a decisive edge in East Punjab to 28 percent Hindu’s vis a vis 13 percent Sikhs in undivided Punjab. For the first time after more than a millennium, Hindu’s became a majority in East Punjab as then constituted. It , firstly, started gloating over East Punjab having become a Hindu majority province for the first time in known history. They sought to link the fate of Punjabi Hindus with that of their co-religionists from Hindi belt who, in their quest to have Hindi language replace English as the national language, were in an expansionist mood. They were in a mood to devour the other akin languages to inflate the number of Hindu protagonists.
Secondly, it wanted suppression of all, what it termed, communalism. The touchstone applied was that since Hindu’s were in majority, all what they advocated constituted the national mainstream, as the Sikhs who were in a minority and who, per force, should be made to toe the line of the majority community.
The decision was not an act of isolation or a casual decision, but had the tactical approval, if not the active encouragement of the Congress leadership, especially of Jawaharlal Nehru who was carrying the big burden of legacy of Gangu Brahmin1. The Hindu Congress leaders took a calculated decision to confront and contain them.
The Sikhs, because of their concentration in cis-Ghaggar area, for the first time in their history constituted a majority in a compact area of East Punjab States and eight districts of Punjab Viz - Gurdaspur, Amritsar, Kapurthala, Jalandar, Hoshiarpur, Ludhiana, Ferozpur and Ambala.
Cut to the quick, Master Tara Singh considered the Hindu assertion of communal majority as a threat to the very existence of the Sikhs as an independent , vibrant, community. This forced him to drastically change his stance and declare on February 25, 1948, “We have a culture different from the Hindu’s. Our culture is Gurmukhi culture and our literature is also in the Gurmukhi script.” He asked for the formation of Punjabi suba, a Punjabi Speaking State, as a purely linguistic unit, and added, “We want to have a Province where we can safeguard our culture and our tradition”. He made it clear that he didn't want a Sovereign Independent State, but as part of the federal unit. He asserted, “I want the right to self-determination for Panth in matters - religious, social, political and others. If to ask for the existence for Panth is communalism , then I am a communalist, and I am willing to face repression.” The height of his agony was explained by his cryptic statement, “If the Panth is dead, I have no desire to live.”2 Tara Singh’s response was an emotional response , having fought shoulder to shoulder with National leaders of Congress in attaining freedom.
General Kulwant Singh wanted five days to clear the raiders from Kashmir, but Jawaharlal Nehru, under advice of Edwina Mountbatten, who unofficially was in control of Ministry of External Affairs, stopped the military operations. They left the area now known as `Azad Kashmir’ in Pakistan: it had eastern part, now known as Northern Area, a Shia occupied in Pakistan. It was alleged that these people had liberated themselves from Maharaja of Kashmir. The dispute relating to Azad Kashmir, apart from Northern Area occupied by Pakistan, as part of Kashmir.
The formation of Patiala and East Punjab States Union (PEPSU), a conglomeration of states in East Punjab , a Sikh majority territorial unit, on May 5,1948, with Maharaja of Patiala Rajpramukh or head, elated the Sikhs. However, inaugurating the Patiala and East Punjab States Union on July 15, 1948, Sardar Patel declared it as “homeland of Sikhs”. This was more reflective of the guilt complex in view of Patel’s candid admission that “Master Tara Singh had been a long life companion and a comrade in the fight for freedom against the foreign rule”.3
Things were coming to a head. Jawaharlal Nehru, candidly spoke to Sardar Patel on the Sikhs, and said “It was his government and one should work by his style.” He would not like him to quit, unless he chose to. In that case, he should have to tell the people that You have not been a success in safeguarding the Father of the Nation.” Sardar Patel had suffered a mild heart attack in May. He chose to fall in line. Sardar Patel wrote in his diary that whenever the question of Kashmir or that of the Sikhs arose, Jawaharlal Nehru reflected “emotional insanity”.
The U.N. General Assembly in December 1948 incorporated Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Guru Tegh Bahadur’s martyrdom4 was unique and unparalleled in the annals of human history. He laid down his life in defence of religious tolerance, of freedom of worship, and of freedom of conscience. Here was a martyrdom which was self sought for the defence of basic human values, which centuries later, were incorporated by the U.N. General Assembly. It would have been appropriate by India to have proposed a befitting Guru Tegh Bahadur’s martyrdom anniversary, to be universally celebrated all over the World as Freedom of Conscience Day. But Jawaharlal Nehru did not put forth the proposal, as it would have highlighted an aspect of Sikh history that was quite distinct in the World over, but was not upto his family’s liking.
In 1949, UN Commission on India and Pakistan (UNCIP) submitted its report. Sardar Patel said that if it were left to him he would have divided it in two part - Muslim and others. But it was not part of his concern. Jawaharlal Nehru was in charge of Kashmir Valley as his forefathers’ property - last occupier was Gangaram Kaul alias Gangu Brahmin who was a part of 17 member Kashmiri Delegation to Guru Teg Bahadur at Anand Sahib in May 1675 to plead against Aurangzeb’s religious policy to stand up against Mughal tyranny: he left a year or so before Anandpur Sahib faced disturbed conditions, to search for new pastures.
The general bias against the minorities was clearly discernible on the eve of the CA proceedings in May 1949. The CA on August 27-28 1947, had already abolished separate electorate and weightage for the minorities who retained reservation of seats on the basis of joint electorate.
By the time of Advisory Committee on Minorities meeting scheduled on May 11, 1949, Patel was openly advocating reversal of earlier decision on reservation of seats. Anglo-Indians and Christians did not want the reservation as it was of no use to them, and the Muslims had certain inhibitions as those who disagreed with Patel were told to pack up and go to Pakistan.
The Advisory Committee on Minorities, the following day, adopted a resolution for abolition of reservation of minorities other than Hindu Schedued Castes in legislatures. The Sikh demand for lumping together of the Sikh and Hindu scheduled castes was not agreed to. Instead Sardar Patel offered to accept four Sikh scheduled castes of Mazhbis, Kabirpanthis, Ramdasias, and Sikligars, out of total of 31 scheduled castes, and that only in East Punjab, for being granted the facilities extended to Hindu scheduled castes.5
A deputation of Sikh legislators of Punjab Assembly led by Giani Kartar Singh called on Dr. Rajendra Prasad and Nehru separately, to press lumping together of the Sikh and Hindu scheduled castes. It drew a blank. Nehru point-blank told Giani Kartar Singh to take the concessions being offered on four Sikh scheduled castes as the ultimate price being offerred for the Sikhs’ contribution to the freedom struggle! When reminded of the Congress pledges of 1929,19 46 and twice in 1947, Nehru without blinking eyelids said that those were part of their ploy and stratagems.6
Greatly disappointed, Giani Kartar Singh called on Maulana Abul Kalam Azad who told him, that in his reading the fountainhead of Hindu fundamentalism, katarwad, was none other than Jawahar Lal Nehru. When asked, how was he continuing in the Government and supporting Nehru vis-a-vis Patel, Azad reviewed the pitiable state to which the Muslims had been reduced and said that his only hope lay in Nehru’s being megalomaniac. It was his constant endeavour to pump that megalomania to ward off, as long as possible, the onrush of the Hindu fundamentalism, to which the Hindu Congressites after partition were rushing headlong.7
By now under pressure from Giani Kartar Singh, Bhim Sen Sachar was hammering the language formulae from East Punjab. This led to prolonged correspondence between Sachar, Nehru, and Patel. This yields some interesting facts.
The Sikhs were insistent that the whole of Jalandhar Division including Kangra District and two districts of Ambala Division, viz. Simla and Ambla, were Punjabi speaking areas. They wanted Ghaggar as the boundary between Punjabi and Hindi zones, but Hindu narrow interest stood in the way.
These confabulations in the announcement of the language formulae, known as “Sachar Formulae” on October 1, 1949. It was in the nature of a pact between two Arya Samajist Hindu Ministers, Bhim Sen Sachar and Gopi Chand Bhargava, and two Sikh Ministers, Ujjal Singh and Giani Kartar Singh, all members of the Congress. 8
It demarcated East Punjab into two linguistic zones. Punjabi speaking zone consisted of Jalandhar division minus Kangra District plus Ropar, Kharar Tehsil of Ambala District, and all portions of Hissar District lying to the east of Ferozepur and Patiala side of Ghaggar river. The Hindi speaking zone consisting of Rohtak, Gurgaon, Karnal and Kangra districts plus Jagadhari and Narainghar tehsil of Ambala district, and all portions of Hissar district lying to the south of Ghaggar river. Shimla district and Ambala Tehsil of Ambala district were declared bilingual areas.
Punjabi in Gurmukhi script9 was the main language or the mother tongue in the Punjabi zone and Hindi in Dev Nagri in the Hindi zone. However, parents or guardians were given the option to choose the medium of instruction in the two zones; and it was not applicable to unaided recognized schools which were required to provide for the teaching of Punjabi and Hindi as a second language.
Speaking on the third reading on the Constitution on November 21, 1949, Bhupinder Singh Mann referred “to the over-centralization of power at the centre”, questioned the wisdom “of not allowing Sikh backward classes in East Punjab and U.P. and other parts, the same benefits extended to their Hindu brethren. Hukam Singh concluded “Let it not be misunderstood that the Sikh community has agreed to this Constitution. I wish to record an emphatic protest here. My community cannot subscribe its assent to this historic document.” After the third reading followed the roll call for individual members to sign the Constitution. When Bhupinder Singh Mann and Hukam Singh were called upon to do so, they refused to append their signatures to this historic document saying, “ The Sikhs don’t accept this Constitution” and “The Sikhs reject this Constitution”, respectively. Both of them strongly felt that the Constitution, as framed, was designed to ensure the supremacy of Brahminism over other sections of society especially minorities and Dalits - backward sections of society.10
Marshal Stalin, for the first time in life met any Ambassador - the Indian Ambassador Dr. S. Radhakrishnan at Kremlin on January 15, 1950, at 9.00 p.m. He told him that Subhash Chandra Bose was in his custody and is held in Siberia. Earlier, Jawaharlal Nehru had written to the British and mentioned of his inimical activities. Though Jawaharlal Nehru had earlier paid a visit to Moscow, the decision to disclose about Subhash Chandra Bose came as a great relief to him. Later in 1955 when Khruschev and Bulganin visited New Delhi, some understanding about Subhash Chandra Bose was arrived at. A document was available at Calcutta Secretariate: it was destroyed by Jyoti Basu. As a matter of fact neither Congress nor BJP, as it seems, are interested to spell about Moscow.
The new constitution was inaugurated amidst chanting of Hindu mantras on January 26, 1950, when Dr. Rajendra Prasad took over as head of a so called secular state! How could the state be secular when the leadership was deeply imbued with the spirit of religious revivalism? Whatever the contours of the Indian brand of secularism, from its very inception it was inimical to Sikhism and maintenance of the Sikh identity. As inalienable rights proclaimed by the American Declaration of Independence 1776 did not impinge on Negro slavery for a hundred years, the Sikhs are yet to find an acceptable equation within the framework of Indian secularism.
The net result of the “religious game” played by Patel was that the Sikh Scheduled Castes not given the benefits in Punjab and PEPSU in several thousands and almost all Sikhs Scheduled Castes in U.P., about 2,00,000, reverted back to the Hindu fold.
Master Tara Singh was arrested, second time in independent India, on September 7, 1950 on charges of delivering objectionable speeches two months earlier. The High Court held that section 124A Criminal Procedure Code was violative of the Indian Constitution and restrictions imposed on Master Tara Singh’s speeches were ultra vires.11 He was released on November 20, 1950.
Nehru was by now rattled by judgments of Bombay, Patna and Punjab High Courts on freedom of speech and press, and detention of people without trial. Being basically an autocrat, wearing a democratic mask, he now (when the Constitution had run its course hardly for one year) wanted to subvert the wishes of the framers of the Constitution by taking recourse to amendments. Speaking at Amritsar on December 3, 1950, shortly after his release, Tara Singh accused the Congress of creating a rift between the Hindus and the Sikhs for political reasons. Later, speaking at Delhi on December 13, 1950, he stated that the “Sikh religion today is in great danger and in order to protect it, great sacrifices are needed.”
The death of Sardar Patel on December 15, 1950 brought an era to an end. It came as a great relief to Jawaharlal Nehru who was feeling ill at ease since Purushottam Das Tandon defeated Acharya J.B. Kripalani in the Congress Presidential elections. The last exchanges between Nehru and Patel were marked by “extreme irritation on trivial matters of administration”.12 Nehruites were on the run and Nehru himself remained uneasily perched as Prime Minister with the full knowledge that Patel was a dying man. The death of Sardar Patel led to elimination of his name from history books and merciless extermination of Purushottam Das Tandon and his collaborators. Jawaharlal Nehru emerged as the show boy of the Congress, to the extermination of Patel who did not find fresh life till 2014.
1. In a revealing passage about his `making’, Nehru wrote, “Behind me lie somewhere in the sub-conscious, racial memories of hundred or whatever the numbers may be, generations of Brahmin. I cannot get rid of that past inheritance…Jawaharlal Nehru, An Autobiography, (1936), (Delhi, 1980), p.596. In the words of Madhu Limaye, the socialist leader Jawaharlal Nehru practiced both racialism and casteism despite modern upbringing and outlook. See Madhu Limaye, “A Wealthy Bania and Socialist Brahmin “ in the Weekend Telegraph (Calcutta November 21, 1987.
2. Tribune Feb. 26, 1948 also Rai, Punjab Since partition, (Delhi 1986), p. 273-74. When the time came, Tara Singh neither faced martyrdom, nor permitted Sant Fateh Singh to do so.
3. Hukam Singh Spokesman weekly, Oct 9, 1972
4. Guru Gobind Singh in his peroration address at the time of cremation of severed head of Guru Tegh Bahadur said:
To protect their right to wear their caste-mark and sacred thread,
Did he, in the dark age, perform the supreme sacrifice;
To help the saintly, he went to the utmost limits,
He offered his head but heaved not a sigh of regret.
He suffered martyrdom for the sake of his moral principles,
He lost his life but not the celestial horizon of his communion with God;
He disdained to perform miracles or jugglers tricks,
For these fill men of God with shame.
Having broken the potsherd (of his body) on the head of the ruler of Delhi,
He went to the abode of the Lord:
None has ever performed such a unique deed, That Tegh Bahadur has.
When Tegh Bahadur passed away, there was mourning throughout the world,
The world was stunned and amazed (at his laying down his life for others’ religion),
While the shouts of glory, glory, glory rent the whole heaven.
cf. Swarup Singh, Guru kian Sakhian, (1790), pp. 78-80.
5. Constituency Assembly Debates, Vol. VIII pp. 353-54.
6. Sangat Singh, op. cit., p. 259
7. Ibid
8. Ibid p. 261
9. Gandhi was an ignoramus, Punjabi falls within Indian languages against Sindhi which comes from the Arabic sources. Punjabi is written from left to right whereas Sindhi is written from right to left. Punjabi is elder to both Urdu and Hindi whose father figure was Amir Khusru (1253- 1325). Punjabi was a fully developed language, with its own Granth, its own vocabulary, and its developed grammar, whereas Hindi or Urdu were in their primary stages. Gandhi, a decade earlier, had wanted the Sikhs to discard the Gurmukhi script in favour of Devnagari. He wanted to add that “There is no elegance about the (gurmukhi) script. But I understand that it is specially invented like Sindhi to isolate the Sikhs from the other Hindus. (Letter dated Nov 13th 1936 to Rajkumari Amrit Kaur, CW vol.64 page 41.)
10. Constituent Assembly Debates Vol XI, pp. 721-23.
11. Jawaharlal Nehru; (Letters to Chief Minister (ed.G Parthasarthy) Pp. 791-92
12. Sarvepalli Gopal, Jawaharlal Nehru: A Biography (Delhi, 1986), Vol.2 p. 149.