Great.Only one question--why this great community was silent spectator of hundreds of innocent hindus being butchered by Sikh terrorists in the market places of Punjab from 1978 to 1983.Why Hindus were terrorised into leaving Punjab.Indira- not a Hindu- had her own agenda and hobnobbing with Bhindrawala for Lok Sabha seats.you just cant mourn 1984 alone.One tear for thousands of hindus who were messacred by Sikh terrorists between 1978-94 will be appropriate. Sat Sri Akal
The sikh leadership & intelligentsia could probably realize that their grudge is NOT against the rest of the country., but a party, the Congress-I, which is culpable to the most extent in all the issues.
Also, They can't have it both ways, be a "separate" identity from hindus, as if in opposition like the other foreign abrahamic relegions, and also take advantade of their natural closeness to hindus.
They need to figure out why they (the leadership) tend to come across more like "minorities" than hindus. Doesn't it completely conflict with being the militant arm of hindus?
Can some one please explain, what the hell were anti national terrorist doing inside one of the most sacred shrines India has. I fail to understand why should not forces go into a shrine to pull out terrorists involved in killing innocents. It is all to well to criticize Mrs. Gandhi, but this is what one expects if one has anti national forces hand in hand with Pakistan using a shrine as a safe haven for anti national activities. LETS GET THINGS VERY CLEAR, THE NATION COMES BEFORE THE RELIGION. I think God would appreciates sense.
The riots are an indication of the inherent weakness in India's society. It is an open secret that the Khalistan terrorist outfit was one of the early proxy wars Pakistani intelligence engineered after they realised conventional warfare with India wasn't viable anymore. Their terrorists create a bloodbath in India and our people take the cue to kill each other afterwards in the name of anything that sets us apart from one another. Gujarat was another fine example. We seem to be progressing well in all socio-economic indicators but people still cannot behave rationally. We ought to wake up to this serious problem or else this country might turn into an Iraqi quagmire.
I agree with Arvind Nandan. There was absolutely no need to assasinate Mrs.Gandhi. By maintaining Sikh bodyguards she had proven that that she was an Anti terrorist and not an Anti sikh. I guess some dumb people can never understand that. Such irrevelant articles should be prevented from appearing online like this. We consider Sikhs our brothers and sisters. All the sikhs cannot be condemned for acts that a few sikhs committed. Terrorists don't have any religion, no matter what they say...
I have only one complaint about this guest column and its first part. It has something to do with her taking responsibility for her views. Ms. Peal is Sikh and writes about the atrocities perpetuated on her community during those dark days. her first part was a first person account of what happened on a train from Calcutta to new Delhi, and it was endearing. that's fine, and I was moved. I even forced a couple hundred contacts on my mailing list to see it in their inboxes.
But in this part, she chose to insert sentences in the passive voice when reporting on the Sikh community and the events of those days. If there was any doubt she was describing her community's pain, that was dispelled by her description of the honor and sacrifices of the Sikh community. Additionally she labored to describe virtuous qualities of the community leaving absolutely no doubt in my mind that she personally was also still hurting from the events of those days. Why then was she using the passive voice construct? Because it suggested to me that she was absolving herself of her views and wanted to avoid taking responsibility. She passed on that responsibility to them and they. This is where Ms. Payal failed to come close to what she set out to achieve by writing these columns; because it cast doubt on her intentions. In this column she suddenly turned into a reporter stuck in 1984 and reporting to us about the riots.
Besides this technicality: It was a shame what had happened then, and unmindful of the other commentators on this board, people must continue to write about it, lest we forget to learn lessons from them.
It is truly horrifying & as a fervent Hindu & a very great admirer of Guru Govind Singh , I am shocked that my fellow Hindus could stoop to such shameful level. The terrorist acts perpetrated by Bindranwale & his followers do not justify murder of innocent Sikhs. Just think of the no. of gallantry awards won by Sikhs & so many of them posthumously. We Hindus are guilty of FRATRICIDE.
People should know the truth - pl publish such articles.
I am also a great admirer of Mrs. Gandhi and I do not accept that the storming of the golden temple was an attack on the Sikh religion - the temple was defiled by Bindranwale himself when he used it as his HQ for unleashing terror on innocent people.
Particularly in these times when we are under terrorist attack (periodic bomb blasts) we should remember Guru Govind Singh who transformed peasants & artisans into great(est) warriors.
Dear editor, Please stop this series of tarnishing artciles. The author is trying to make a place for herself by rekindling dead woes. Sikhs and Hindus are inseperable. We study about Bhagat singh (Sikh) in our history books, we have a PM who is a Sikh, we had and still have numerous army officers who are Sikhs. So what is Payal trying to say? Sikhs have always been appreciated, always given a fair chance in India as they are no different from Hindus. Last but not the least, today the world has developed a taste for Indian food, most of which is North Indian dishes(majority are Punjabi dishes), can you differentiate which recipes belong to Hindus and which belong to Sikh? NO. It's as simple. You cannot differentiate between Hindus and Sikhs...
What Id like to first state that what happened in the riots were barberic, I was too travelling in a train as a school student but far from the horror she had to go through and I am no sikh. What what I dont seemt o agree is the defence she has used in the operation blue star. Why did the terrorist take weapons into the holy shrine. Did they not disturb the sactity of the holy place. Did they not as sikhs not break the first rule. The govt then seemed it fit to flush them out. So what is she talking about. It would be misleading when she stated the army and the govt was wrong in moving in. It was the terrorist which did wrong.
I dont realize why this article segregating sikhs from hindus is even written. sikhs and hindus are equivalent to milk and sugar. both when mixed is better - i dont want to read any philosophy seperating sikhs from hindus. i am a hindu from gujrat and have spent 4 yrs in punjab. i view sikhs as an integral part of india just as gujratis are. please dont divide india any more. whatever happened after 1984 has been a spot on our country but whatever rajiv gandhi and indira gandhi did bad, sonia gandhi has been smart enough to reverse it a bit by electing dr. manmohan singh as a pm. and please dont mention things like sikh and hindus. for me they are all indians. but yes if you talk about muslims then i will want to read it as muslims is a different case all together. so please please dont segregate sikhs from hindus. we all are brothers and whatever india is today defensewise is all thanks to punjab.
