By Our Correspondent NEW DELHE: With the replacement of Ambassador P.K. Kaul with Dr, Karan Singh as the Ambassador to the United States, the one thing that can be said with certainty is that the Indian government tirade against the Sikh community in the USA will receive a new vigor.
Back home Karan Singh successfully established, during the past few years, his credentials as a dedicated Hindu fundamentalist committed to reviving the glories of the past of this unique faith. That more than anything else qualified him to be India’s chief representative in the US.
Even as a young prince of Jammu and Kashmir, a region that about 125 years ago was ruled by Sikhs, who were betrayed by his ancestor Gulab Singh, a courtier of Maharaja Ranjit Singh, Karan Singh had been undertaking a personal journey into mysticism and Hindu philosophy as revealed in his autobiography. For the past few years he has been flirting with a Hindu philosophy, that could be regarded as a slightly more Hindu than that of the right wing Bharitya Janata Party.
Dr. Karan Singh formed the Virat Hindu Samelan in the late seventies through which he talked of Hindu revivalism and a brave new Hindu India. This organization was different than the BJP promoted Vishra Hindu Parishad but it had identical views.
The Hindu revivalism which Karan Singh did a lot to bring about, had a full flowering when early this year groups of Hindu militants pounced upon a Sikh procession comprising, amongst others, of women and children lea Ving a dozen odd of them dead and several others injured.
The Punjab Human Rights Organization blamed Karan Singh and his supporters for the carnage, but for Karan Singh it could be seen as an achievement that helped him get the office he will now occupy. This is because the Indian prime minister attaches the greatest importance to the kind of credentials Karan Singh had lately acquired. In any case the Hindu prince from Jammu and Kashmir will prove useful to the Indian diplomacy in the West at this juncture when the Punjab and Kashmir regions are in the limelight as international trouble spots.
Indian authorities calculate that since many Americans are enamored by Indian princes sad his and snake charmers, Karan Singh is likely to be of help to them.
Article extracted from this publication >> July 28, 1989
