Tag Archives: Sikhism

July 31, 2015 · 3:30 am

31st July (1940) in Dalit History – Death anniversary of Shaheed-i-Azam Sardar Udham Singh

Why don’t governments give importance to Saheed Udham Singh? Is it because he was Dalit? Why does government give so much importance to Bhagat Singh and his colleagues, is it because he was Jat Sikh, who consider themselves as par with upper castes and better than other Sikhs? Rajguru was from Maharashtra and belonged with Deshastha Brahmin community. Sukhdev Thapar was Khatri Sikh again they consider themselves nothing less than kshatriyas! Saheed Udham Singh suffered so much in life but has been ignored by governments.

Check also – Video traces Shaheed Udham Singh’s life

Check also – 26th December (1899) in Dalit History – Birth Anniversary of Saheed Udham Singh

Udham Singh (26 December 1899 – 31 July 1940) was an Indian revolutionary and a brave hearted man best known for assassinating Michael O’Dwyer on 13 March 1940 in what has been described as an avenging of the Jallianwalla Bagh Massacre.Singh is a prominent figure of the Indian independence struggle. He is sometimes referred to as Shaheed-i-Azam Sardar Udham Singh.

Udham Singh (second from the left) being taken from 10 Caxton Hall after the assassination of Michael O’Dwyer

On 13 March 1940, Michael O’Dwyer was scheduled to speak at a joint meeting of the East India Association and the Central Asian Society (now Royal Society for Asian Affairs) at Caxton Hall. Singh concealed his revolver in a book, entered the hall, and stood against the wall. As the meeting concluded, Singh shot O’Dwyer twice as he moved towards the speaking platform, killing him immediately.

On 1 April 1940, Singh was formally charged with the murder of Michael O’Dwyer. While awaiting trial in Brixton Prison, Singh went on a 42-day hunger strike and had to be forcibly fed.

When asked about his motivation, Singh explained:

I did it because I had a grudge against him. He deserved it. He was the real culprit. He wanted to crush the spirit of my people, so I have crushed him. For full 21 years, I have been trying to wreak vengeance. I am happy that I have done the job. I am not scared of death. I am dying for my country. I have seen my people starving in India under the British rule. I have protested against this, it was my duty. What a greater honour could be bestowed on me than death for the sake of my motherland?

Did you know?

Shaheed-i-Azam Sardar Udham Singh had changed his name to Ram Mohammad Singh Azad, symbolizing the equality of all faith and of the three major religions of India: Hinduism, Islam and Sikhism.

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Filed under Dalit Bahujan Ideals, Dalit History, Dr B R Ambedkar, Latest, Today in Dalit History

Tagged as Bhagat Singh, Brahmin, Castes, Dalit, Dalit History, Dalit Shaheed-i-Azam Sardar Udham Singh, Dalits of Punjab, Death Anniversary, equality, government, Hinduism, Hunger strike, india, Islam, Jat Sikh, Maharashtra, Ram, Shaheed-i-Azam Sardar Udham Singh, Sikh, Sikhism, Sikhs, Struggle, Udham Singh, Upper Castes

May 24, 2015 · 12:22 pm

24th May in Dalit History – Death anniversary of Sant Ramanand Ji and Attack on Shri Guru Ravidass temple in Vienna (Austria)

On the 24th of May, 2009, six Jat Sikhs (upper castes) men armed with daggers and guns entered the Shri Guru Ravidass Gurdwara in Vienna (Austria), and started shooting, aiming at the two visiting Sants (Sant Ramanand Ji and Sant Niranjan Dass Maharaj Ji) from Punjab, India who were giving a sermon at that time. The bloodshed by upper caste Jat Sikhs resulted in the death of Sant Ramanand Ji, who died of gun wounds, and the serious injuries to Sant Niranjan Dass Ji, the spiritual head of Dera Sachkhand Ballan, a religious centre for Dalits in the Punjab devoted to Guru Ravidass Ji.

Sant Ramanand Ji (on right side) and Sant Niranjan Dass Maharaj Ji

Both Sants were on a mission to preach and spread the teaching of Shri Guru Ravidass Ji, enemies of humanity attacked and seriously injured and killed inside Shri Guru Ravidass Gurudwara in Vienna, Austria. More than 30 followers of Guru Ravidas Ji were also injured and eleven of them seriously. An email reportedly received by Radio Akash in London, purportedly from the Khalistan Zindabad Force, claimed responsibility for the attack.

A passenger train burns in Jalandhar, in the northern Indian state of Punjab as thousands of protesters take to the streets after an attack in a Sikh temple in Austria. (Source Daily Mail)

When news of the death Sant Ramanand Ji spread, the Punjab erupted in violence, a state curfew was imposed, and the army was called in to restore order.

After this unfortunate killings and attacks on Dalit leaders, Dalits in Punjab founded new religion, Ravidassia, and did get separate from Sikhism. At that time Akali Dal and SGPC did their best to please Dera Sachkhand Ballan, Jalandhar, so that Dalits don’t leave Sikhism but at the same time Akali Govt. arrested several Ravidas leaders campaigning for the new Ravidassia religion. Such a hypocrisy by so called Sikh leaders of the time. At present in Sikhism also one can see divisions as per caste system and so called Jat Sikhs think Sikhism is their personal property! Let me tell so called upper caste Jat Sikhs that Sikhism is not a property of anyone, it was founded to fight against injustice and caste discrimination but now there is no difference between Sikhs and Brahmins as both practice discrimination.

Sant Ramanand Ji is no more physically with us because of most unfortunate incidence at Vienna, Austria, but his noble thoughts shall always be with us to lead us on the right path.

Will Sikh Leaders install Hindu Gods in the Golden Temple?

The first step in liquidating a people is to erase its memory. Destroy its books, its culture, its history, Then have somebody write new books, manufacture a new culture, invent a new history. Before long the nation will begin to forget what it is and what it was. The world around it will forget even faster. The struggle of man against power is the struggle of memory against forgetting. – Milan Kundera.

In the month June 2012, the Government of Punjab announced that it will set up a ‘cow memorial‘ at a factory site in Joga town, Mansa District, where recovery of cow carcasses had sparked off riots. And a day after announcing a ‘cow memorial’, the Badal Government further announced it will constitute a ‘cow commission‘ to ‘prevent cruelties against the holy animal’. Mr. Badal even made a visit to the factory where cow slaughter was supposedly taking place and instructed the DGP to look into the cases of cow slaughter with interest and thoroughly. Mr. Badal and his party members didn’t even have the time to pay a visit to the blanket factory at Jalandhar which collapsed in April 2012 and which left more than 10 people dead and 100s badly injured. Not even a single statement came in favor of dead or injured in the one of worst factory accidents of Punjab’s history. Was it because people working at that factory were poor and their lives were not as important as the lives of cows? And recently, when a madman at a Wisconsin Sikh Gurdwara killed 6 people, Mr. Badal, CM of Punjab, decided to visit Wisconsin! Isn’t it strange that when in his home state, thousands Dalits are being tortured and when the crime rate against Dalits is going up day by day, he decided to visit Wisconsin to comfort Sikhs of Wisconsin? Is it because these people living abroad finance him and support his party during the election time and the poor Dalits don’t have as much money to donate? So Dalit voices are left unheard.

All these announcements didn’t come to me as surprise as I know who are working behind all these. For centuries, Hindu fundamentalists have always taken a keen interest in destroying Sikhism, Buddhism and Jainism. RSS’s ‘secret agenda‘, (published by “New Age” weekly of Communist Party, dated 18th-24th June 2000, same was also reproduced by Aajka Surekh Bharat, Nagpur, Oct. 2000, P-44,) shows the same, ‘secret agenda’ in which it was advocated to members that they “teach false history, misguide minority communities, compel them to chant ‘Om’, divide Dalit unity, keep converting Dalits, Sikhs, Jains, Buddhists into Hindus etc. There were 34 such points in that ‘secret agenda’, points which were against humanity, mankind & full of hatred. These days, Sikh organizations, Sikh temples etc are hijacked by Hindu fundamentalists and they are running these organizations as they want. Sikh leaders can be seen at Hindu functions, celebrating Hindu festivals, visiting Hindu temples and performing Hindu pujas. How can Dalits, who protected Sikhism at each and every step, trust such Sikh leaders who attend such Hindu functions where Sikhism is being ruined?

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