I have read Dr. Gopal Singh Dardi’s article Hindu Sikh Fraternity, which appeared in July 14, 1986 issue of the Times of India. Frankly speaking, there is nothing new in it. The article, it seems, has been written to appease the “Masters” in Delhi. By his earlier anti Sikh statements he won for himself the Lt. Governorship of Goa, by these writings, who knows what he is up to?

The writer has taken pains to trace the common links between Hindus and Sikhs so much so that in his over zealousness, he says, “thousands of Hindus visit the Sikh places of pilgrimage every day and vice versa”. The first part of this statement may be true but no Sikh in his right mind will visit the Hindu place of pilgrimage out of conviction to worship. Because Sikhism rejects Hindu pattern of gods and goddesses.

To the Sikhs such writings about Hindu Sikh frater are meaningless. The foundation of this so called fraternity was destroyed on June 4, 1984 and reached its culmination in Nov. 1984. At what ever happened to my kith and kin all over the country, my entire body still trembles from the tremors of those ghastly days. The writer is harping upon the hack need tune of fraternity like a broken record and wants the Sikh readers to forget what they saw with their own eyes and wants them to seek solace in the writings of historians of bygone ages. Sardarni Amarjit Kaur, an ex-M.P. may due to political considerations, conveniently forget humiliations heaped on her by her partys Bhajan lal during Asiad but we cannot forget the treatment meted to our families that lost their sole bread winners in 1947 and made supreme sacrifices in men and material for the so called FREE DOM which unfortunately exists only for the members of the majority community in that country. The recent history being enacted before us of cold blooded murders and tortures and of mutilated, raped, robbed or otherwise abused per sons are far more eloquent than the past fraternity of bygone years.

Let me repeat what happened after the Operation Bluestar. The military would arrive tan unbidden tidied village, assemble all the residents and then proceed to kill full view of the others all young persons including farmers and residents, The government did not discourage such tactics. To the contrary, the government said, the only way to defeat them is to kill, kidnap, rob and torture.

How I wish the author of the article could learn a lesson from recent history and stop harping on cold tunes.

Amarjit Singh Buttar

Article extracted from this publication >> August 29, 1986