A great miracle took place in ‘early twenties of this century when the mightiest power of those days, the British Empire bowed to accept the demands of a very small (2% of the total Indian population) community, Khalsa Panth. The authorities had to come to the Golden Temple, stand before the ‘Akal Takht and present the keys of the Tosha Khana (Strong room containing valuables & relics) to the Khalsa Panth. The government also agreed to pass in the Punjab Assembly, an Act in 1925 transferring the control of Gurdwaras from the Mahants to the Khalsa Panth.
THE GREAT VICTORY: Hearing the stunning news of the massacre of 150 Singhs at Nankana Sahib, Khalsa reached there, mostly on foot, in thousands & marched on to take over the charge of the dead bodies of Shahid Singhs & the Gurdwara, The machine guns were trained on the Silehs & they were told to stop & wait. The reply — you test your guns on our chests, we cannot wait — and march of the Khalsa towards the Gurdwara shook the authorities who were proud of their power. The keys immediately ‘were handed over to them permitting them to take charge of the place.
‘At Guru Ka Bagh, Khalsa with folded hands, singing Gurbani were beaten with knobbed lathies & trampled under the hoofs of the cavalary. They too, all became “still” but after thousands of Sikhs were disabled & hundreds were dead. After refusal of the station ‘aster, Panja Sahib, now in Pakistan, to stop the train carrying hungry Sikhs prisoners, the Sangat, men, women & children squatted on the railway line, The train stopped only after the engine had killed two & wounded many more, The hungry Sikh prisoners were fed before the train could leave the station. ‘At Gangsar, when the English Raj police gunned down the Jatha of 500 Sikhs including men & women (some with children in arms), another Jatha of 500 Sikhs started their march from Akal Takhat to blunt the words of terror, illegally & mercilessly used by the Raj, Whole humanity was all praise for the bravery & patience of the ‘Sikhs & cursed the English Government for the atrocities let loose by them. The Sikhs got what they ‘wanted—the control of their Gurdwaras.
THE GREAT DEFEAT: Soon the Sikh leaders found to their great dismay & anguish that after winning over a grand victory over the greatest nation, they blundered and signed actually the papers of their defeat. Master Tara Singh wrote in Sant Sipahi, that he failed as a leader & repented very much.
‘The motive of serving the cause of their faith had moulded all Sikhs into one body, Khalsa Panth. However they got divided by the desires to “Grab Chairs” provided by the Gurdwara Act. After obtaining votes, the group in power thought it to be their right to “rule” rather than save the Panth,
Politicians mis-use their power to obtain illegal wealth. The Sikh leaders used their status to project themselves or “Big” Sikhs demand political chairs & powers. The result has been very painful for all the Sikhs. Today the divided Sikhs are fighting & killing each other, rather than protecting themselves and the down-trodden.
Can the miracle happen again? Yes, only if we remember that if votes were to decide the Guru ship, Pirthichand would have grabbed it because he had all the vote’s with him, Guru Arjan Dev Ji had only a dozen Sikhs who knew & followed the truth, Pirthichand greedy for “gaddi” would not have got himself tortured & martyred but obliged the rulers by towing their line, Similarly if power was to be used to become a Guru, Dhirmal would have asserted his right as “Guru” ignoring the true Guru, Guru Teg Bahadur nominated by the 8th Nanak, At the testing time, rather than offering his head to protect the helpless, Dhir would have settled a bargain with the Emperor of Delhi. If support of the political authority could help a person to become the head of the Sikhs, Ram Rai would have forced himself as Guru but he even lost. the chance of continuing to be a Sikh,
Today, the real problem before the Sikhs, is that some are using political power to establish their right to lead the Sikh masses while some are using guns to justify their leadership of the Sikhs and make decisions on their behalf. The need of today is that instead of fighting for leadership, Sikhs should sit together, listen to each other, unanimously nominate sincere, honest & competent Singhs to lead them to victory.
The moment, we Sikhs unite and follow as one body the path of Sikhism, without fear & without enemity ignoring the lust for chairs, keeping in mind our devotion for God, the Guru will reveal his story & perform a miracle to be seen by the whole world.
Article extracted from this publication >> February 28, 1986
