Dear Editor. The recent review of Khushwant Singh’s book “My Bleeding Punjab” by Brother Harbir Singh in World Sikh News of February 14, 1996 has prompted me to shed more light on this self-appointed Sikh historian.
Khushwant’s writing skills are superb and in this respect he is one of the best English writers in India, His father, the late Sir Sobha Singh was a very wealthy man who provided his son the best possible education available at that time, I won’t be off the mark when I say that Khushwant learned to speak English before Panjabi. He obtained a law degree from England. However, instead of practicing law, he chose to be a journalist. In his early career, he was outspoken and impartial, and had the reputation of a fair Journalist. But things began to change when he started hobnobbing with politicians, especially, after his nomination to the Rajaya Sabha. In the seventies, in his article on Panjabi literature, he made an ‘Accurate observation that the most popular monthly “Preet Lari” had been turned into a propaganda organ for the communist ideology and the Soviet Union. The irony was that Khushwant was doing the same thing himself. He had become an apologist for Indra Gandhi and her policies. His shameless support of Indra and her son Sanjay during and after the emergency showed how low he had sunk as an ethical journalist. He lost all his credibility in the eyes of fair-minded people.
What made Khushwant a so called expert on Sikhs and Sikhism? Due to his mastery of the English language and credentials as a competent journalist, he was invited to team up with Sardar Kapoor Singh, Dr. Tarlochan Singh and others to wan slate selected portions of Sri Guru Granth Sahib in English which were published by UNESCO under the title, “Sacred Writings of the Sikhs”, This publication not only made Khushwant popular among the Sikhs but also. Brought him international recognition, the two other factors which helped Khushwant in establishing his contacts with western journalists and historians were his family wealth and his location in New Delhi, whenever western scholars needed any information. On Sikhs, Khushwant was their first source, ‘Through these contacts, he was successful in getting a position as a visiting scholar ‘at Princeton, and that is where he wrote “History of the Sikh” in two volumes, ‘Though very well written, these books contain numerous misinterpretations, misleading statements and erroneous conclusions.
Generally, serious scholars acquire more in-depth knowledge of the subject, and become more rational with the passage of time; In the case of Khushwant the opposite is true. Over the last 30 years, he has been writing about Sikhs and Sikhism whatever came to his mind, sometimes what he wrote was either half-truth or absurd. Sikh scholars either ignored him ‘or lacked the courage to challenge him. Nevertheless, the scholars from The Institute of Sikh of Studies, Chandigarh, took 4 seriates notice of Khushwant’s writings since 1980, In scholarly essay, “Sikhism: Its Identity”, the late Sardar Dal Jit Singh challenged Khushwant to explain the contradictions found in Khushwant’s writing about Sikhism, Let me quote few examples for the benefit of the readers. In 1963, in his book “History of the Sikhs”, Khushwant recorded that not only Nanak. Founded a new religion and started anew. pattern of living, he also set in motion an ‘Agrarian movement whose impact was felt all over the country, In 1984, he wrote, in the Panjab Story, “Being a Hindu, Nanak was concerned with reforming Hinduism, But as the years went by and his message caught on among the masses, he decided to give his teachings permanency through sect of his own.” In 1991, in the Illustrated Weekly he stated: “Sikhism is an. offshoot of Hinduism and is only distinguished from it by the external symbols of the Khalsa faith. The theology is entirely Hindu.” In an entry in the Encyclopedia Britannica (15th edition, volume 27), ‘considered to be authored by Khushwant. One finds another interpretation of Sikhism, “Sikhism was historical development of the Hindu Vaishnava Bhakti movement.” Khushwant was also caught with his pants down earlier in 1979 when professor Hazara Singh sent him a rejoinder to the garbage he published in his for mightily under the title “Sikhs Elect Their Mini Lok Sabha”, Although, Khushwant acknowledged professor Singh’s letter, he did not publish the rejoinder. However, professor Singh published his rejoinder alongside Khushwant’s article in the Sikh Review. Let the readers make their own Judgment about the knowledge and ethics ‘of Khushwant Singh the self-appointed Reference: Daljit Singh, Sikhism: Its Identity, in Abstracts of Sikh Studies, p 112, July 1992, Baldev Singh Collegeville, PA 19426.
Article extracted from this publication >> April 17, 1996
