Gandhi and Sikhs. [THREAD]

Gandhi was a great man of his time but to what category of great men he belonged can be studied by objective historians only. One thing is certain that he was not inerrant.

Gandhi always proclaimed that there is no difference between Sikhs & Hindus

Gandhi called Guru Gobind Singh Sahib as ‘misguided patriot’ & never called any other guru as ‘guru’ but mere followers.
But Sikhs were not the only ones who were victims of his ire. He was equally disrespectful of Christianity & wrote.

By writing this thread, I mean no disrespect to Gandhi. The aim & purpose is to bring out the truth & truth alone.

Evidence 1.

Dr Ambedkar after consulting his colleagues decided to embrace Sikhism along with his followers. Giving his reasons in favour of Sikhism he said

However Gandhi came up with a bizzare & laughable theory when he got to know about Ambedkar’s plan. He could not just help his Sikh hatred & prefered lower castes better convert to Islam than to Sikhi.

Evidence 2
The greatest joke that has ever been played on this nation is that Gandhi believed in ‘Non-Violence’. The truth however is that he used non violence as a propaganda coated with selfish intentions & hatred for Sikhs & Hindus. He condemned violence by everyone but Brits.

Gandhi believed that until Sikhs abandon their swords (which is sacred symbol of Sikhs), they were unfit for a non-violent struggle. He called Guru Gobind Singh a misguided patriot who used sword & pushed his followers into believing into non violent ways. Teja Singh refuted as

When the news of Gandhi calling guru Sahib as misguided patriot spread like fire. He came up with a statement to pacify Sikhs.

In Aug 1922 during Guru Ka Bagh struggle which was meant to purify the Sikh shrines from the guardians of ill intentions, Sikhs displayed the biggest example of non violence. 1000 Sikhs settled near sanctuary whereas 4000 Sikhs took up their abode in Golden temple.

Everyday 100 Sikhs left in jathas from golden temple after taking vow of non violence. With wreaths of white flowers around their black turbans, the Sikhs arrived before police & prayed there. In the words of CF Andrews, “A new heroism learnt through suffering has arisen in land”

Andrews further adds-“It reminded me of the shadow of cross,the same passive suffering and same calm holiness of atmosphere.”

Gandhi however did not support movement & implied that Sikhs were on wrong side.

When British govt in 1923 made Mahraja of Nabha, Ripudaman singh abdicate in view of his softness for Akali movement & forced him to leave the state in humiliating manner, the Sikhs organised a Diwan to discuss the abdication. To disrupt the Diwan, armed soldiers were taken there

The soldiers disrupted the ongoing Akhand paath and made arrests. This interruption was admitted by Associated press in a telegram published in tribune in September 1923.

The news of descretion spread like fire and SGPC made a resolution

Instead of appreciating the Sikh sport of non cooperation, Gandhi raised doubts on Sikhs and asked SGPC to clarify that movement would be non violent & not anti Hindu. (When it had nothing to do with Hindus).

Gandhi suggested that Gurdwara movement be made like Satyagraha with only 2-4 people going to protest. He discredited the Sikh way of Sangat and believed that British may not like it plus it is also outdated.

SGPC refuted to his letter explaining Sangat can’t be done away

Mr. KM Pannikar who was appointed by Gandhi to keep track of Akali movement told Gandhi that British were deliberately trying to instigate Sikhs for Sikh raj. Pannikar suggested Gandhi to make statement that all Sikh demands would be addressed after independence to negate Brits.

But Gandhi did not make any such statement, he rather asked Sikhs to stop agitation (which he himself later described as India’s first decisive battle for independence).
He wrote

Evidence 3- Lucknow Pact & After

Gandhi in his motives to please Hindus used word “I am Santan Dharmic” But never really implemented anything. However Muslims were not pleased by his repetitive statements of referring Muslims as ‘they’ and Hindus as ‘we’.

To please muslims he came up with Lucknow pact. It conferred concessions to Muslims and Harijans but bypassed Sikhs. When asked why Sikhs have been bypassed, he said ‘Sikhs are Hindus’, in his statement to young india on oct 1, 1925

Sikhs refused & refuted to his statements. Feeling alienated Gandhi along with Ali brothers attended the Sikh League session in Amritsar. He begged Sikhs for support & promised something similar like Lucknow pact. Sikhs like always didn’t see through the diplomacy & fell for it.

Sikhs got rewarded soon by Nehru report that put weightage for all minorities except Sikhs. Sikhs got played again due to Gandhi. Further Gandhian crosses were not given to Sikhs stating “they did not believe in Gandhi and should be excluded from military of independent india”

Gandhi’s conduct failed to inspire Sikhs & he had to speak in Gurdwara Sis Ganj Sahib Delhi with Olson outright lies.

Gandhi soon forgot the solemn assurance he had given to Sikhs. When question of national flag of india came, he ignored Sikhs again. Gandhi had said.

Sikhs demanded that they being the third major party in India’s independence be given representation in the flag. He tried to cool down Sikhs by saying that time was not ripe for such confrontation.

But Sikhs were not satisfied by these hollow promises & pressed their demand. Gandhi speaking at convention in Amritsar in 1931 said

But again a hoax was played on Sikhs. Instead of giving them representation on flag, a new interpretation was introduced to silence Sikhs. On Aug 7, 1931, AICC confirmed the following change in flag

Baba Kharak Singh a veteran Sikh leader whose election as president of Punjab congress in 1922 had Gandhi sing praises of him & who Nehru described as “bravest of captains of freedom struggle”. When Baba Kharak singh raised question of flag, Gandhi lost it & said

Gandhi tried to do the sweet talking again to pacify Sikhs and told them to have faith in congress.

Realising that Sikhs might not fall into his trap again and again, he mildly threatened Sikhs and compared the treatment he suggested for Muslims when they backed from his announced rallies

But Sikhs trusted Gandhi again in the interest of nation even though there were splits on whether to trust him or not & thrusted themselves to the freedom struggle and rallies announced by congress.
The reward was that after congress gained control of 7 provinces it fired Sikhs

In 1932 during second round table conference, British made an offer to Sikhs that if they disassociated from congress and emerged as third party, British will consider giving them the due share of province and will deal with Sikhs separately. Sikhs rejected the idea of British.

Sikhs had high hopes from Gandhi & we all know that Gandhi advocated the division of Punjab & snubbed off every promise made to Sikhs when Sikhs rejected the British offer. Sikhs got played again by Gandhi’s policies.

Jallianwala Bagh tragedy.

On April 6, 1919 there was a complete hartal in Amritsar on Gandhi’s call. On April 10 people of Amritsar protested against arrest of Dr Satyapal & Dr Kitchlew. The mob was beaten & there were some stray incidents of violence as well.

A ‘Danda Fauj’ was formed to end British rule in Punjab. Danda Fauj made up of Hindus and Sikhs was angry on silence of Gandhi on arrests of prominent figures which Gandhi had justified as “necessary to keep non violence out of state”

Therefore on 13April a mass gathering appeared in Jallianwala bagh to discuss the course of protests.
Sir Valentine Chirol describes the scene of General Dyer ordering firing on innocent peaceful people as

Gandhi instead of condemning the slaughter of innocents condemned the violent spirit shown by the masses. All India congress met on April 20 & demanded the statement from govt. Fearing that he might have to go to Amritsar, Gandhi wrote to govt to block him from entering Amritsar.

Tagore & everyone gave up their awards but Gandhi did not return Kaiser-e-Hind medal given to him in 1915. In Khliafat conference it was decided to organise boycott movement for wrongs done in Punjab. Gandhi could not sustain pressure from his British masters & called it off.

At Amritsar congress session when a resolution was passed to condemn the measures in Punjab, Gandhi chickened out again. Tilak opposed him heavily but had to submit under pressure.

Gandhi then went on to exonerate General Dyer who massacred thousands

The Sikh Sword or Kirpaan

Gandhi appreciated Sikhs in many speeches but always said something that left Sikhs thinking about his motives. His stance on Sikh kirpan never changed & considered it to be done away with. He called it a rusty weapon

He insulted the Sikhs by calling out their history and scripture as outdated & how it is not relevant to his non violent movement.

Gandhi went to encourage giving up of sword using some puppet Sikhs in his conferences by pointing out that these Sikhs have given up kirpan for the nation and are no less Sikhs.

Partition Riots

Gandhi realised that he had lost Sikh confidence & went on full spree of attacking Sikhs. Sant Singh Lyallpur had warned Gandhi to stop talking ill of Sikhi to which he responded with more hatred

As if Gandhi was not satisfied by calling Sikhs mad & unprincipled people, he even called Sikhs a menace to india.

In 1947 when Gandhi visited Panja Sahib, he was told by Sikhs that their shrines in Pakistan will face danger & will be ruined. To much shock of Sikhs and Hindus, he held up care of secularism & expressed faith in Muslims to protect the shrines

After the Muslim rioting took place in Pakistan that killed so many innocent Sikhs who were caught unaware of the attacks, Gandhi decided to blame Sikhs & Hindus for retailiating to it. He found this chance to vilify kirpan as well.

Gandhi in his prayer meeting in Nov 1947 blamed Sikhs for the violence again.

When Punjab was burning in communal fire, Gandhi decided to go for fast undo death against Sikhs in Delhi.

It would have been possible for Gandhi to prevent the violence. VP Menon made a suggestion to Viceroy that Jinnah be approached for declaring Nankana Sahib a Sikh Vatican. Viceroy knew what Nankana Sahib meant to Sikhs & Menon & Jinnah did too, the suggestion came after this

Gandhi told viceroy that this was not possible & should not be done as it will amount to me not trusting Muslims. Jinnah told him that he should stop playing secular for sake of Sikhs but he disagreed. Jinnah was more than happy to accept it.

In the words of Master Tara Singh about Gandhi not agreeing to Vatican demand, he said that “whatever is decided in Delhi will leave my people like no man’s children in no man’s land” and his statement is so right today.

The aim of the thread is to dig deep down in the history and not merely rely on binaries fed to you by your leftist thought school that has glorified Gandhi beyond measures. I am sure Hindus have their own share of grievances & complaints from Gandhi as well. #History