So here we are almost two weeks later and the situation in Punjab with the dera is still volatile as ever. Although calm has taken its course over the last week, the whole drama still has many anxiously sitting at the edge’s of their seats, waiting to see what the next move is. Like a game of chess every one’s eyes are now on the board and it’s the Panths turn to make its play, after the Baba released his devious “apology” in the last turn. The idleness keeps the minds searching, keeping it analyzing every possible move, keeping a look out for those nefarious angles the whole time trying to grip and make sense of what’s happening, the reason and logic behind the madness.

As always I continue to see this as less of a religious or panthic situation, rather a political tango between India’s Capulet’s and the Montague’s with the Panth being held captive in between. This has little to do with ones own faith rather the manipulation of that faith for something of its ones own desires. If nothing else a glaring result as to why the Panth should remain independent of any political party and remain independent as the permanent opposition of Punjab, for its only in its own independence can it remain objective.

The last angle focused completely on Badal, him being the puppet master, the ring leader of this fiasco, but as Harp notably pointed out that their are inherit flaws with that frame of logic, after all it takes two to tango, and that being the case one needs to consider an angle with more then just one ring leader. So lets do just that, lets add in more angles more actors and check the path it leads.

Quick Review:

• The Akali’s blame the Dera for his strong hold and clout on the Malwa region, which saw them loose some top seats in the past elections.
• The Dera put its weight behind the Congress the long sworn enemies of the Akali Dal.
• The Dera is centered in Sirsa located in Haryana and thus out of the Akali’s jurisdiction.
• Haryana’s government is Congress, and being boys with the Dera got his back.
• SGPC and Sri Akal Takhat are greatly influenced by Akali’s and Badal.

There should be little doubt as to what Badal and them want to gain from this, by raising up hell against the Dera there is the plausible chance that his grip over the Malwa region will slip, giving the Akalis a better chance in the region next time around. But see a war against the Dera naturally ensues a war against Congress after all what type of friend lets another go at it alone. There are inherit questions that one needs to ask: who fed the news to the media to get it pushed and make it “news”. See the Dera released the ad’s, but why?  There’s no doubt that the Akali’s wanted to deal with the Dera, but I doubt that this was the way they had in mind. So where did the dera gain the fortitude to be so bold in its actions, which I accredit to the older cousin theory; that when one knows that they got older cousins behind them who are down for ruckus, then by virtue that younger cousin gets a little ballsy.

There’s no question about the Indian media’s loyalties and its history to take a story and sensationalize it, twist it, manipulate it, without any shame when it comes to the regard of spearheading a campaign of propaganda and the news reports that have been coming out of this fiasco prove this point. The news is both hook and bait, on one end its saying, “so what you going do about it”, taunting the Sikhs to take action against the dera, and on the other “look at what you did”, as if the reaction was out of the blue and totally unforeseen. This plays well to the congress since it now agitates a community within Punjab that everyone has tried to keep dormant for so long, what the media has come to dub, “Sikh militancy groups”.

The thing with Sikh Nationalists that’s worth keeping in mind is that at least seemingly, they despise Badal and the current Akali’s, they also despise Congress and for them it’s not a matter of power as much as it is of Independence and the freedom of the Akal Takhat and the Sikh faith. To this regard, pushing them only knows one end, and that’s to be pushed back, which of course is what Congress would love to see happen. Once you push this group then the Congress has only but to slip back into Haryana and seeing how this is a Punjab problem leaves Badal to deal with an agitated group who is willing to go at it. Now Badal’s left to deal and take charge against the same people who he is supposed to represent, if not directly then at least through the SGPC and the voice of the Akal Takhat.

Now look at the past events, taking the Dera and the Congress to be one and the same, we see how both have helped to agitate this situation. Same time Badal and his BJP cronies have done what they can to reveal a sound level of diplomacy, (the Swami was from the pockets of the BJP). So it leaves the problematic play in the hands of Badal yet again. If the Akal Takhat rejects the apology then we can assume chaos will ensue with riots similar to that of the weeks past, leaving Badal to quell the situation, which could hurt him politically. Accepting the apology leaves Badal vulnerable to attack by the Nationalists as it would see Badal siding with the Dera, which again brings the potential to have riots start up all over Punjab. Therefore leaving the only real play Badal can make is to get the SGPC and Akal Takhat to reject the apology yet grant an extension to the dera so that diplomacy can ensue, which could show a weakness on the part of the Sikhs, yet would buy Badal and group, more time to deal with the situation.

Now Congress’s angle in this would be that getting riots to ensue and by putting Badal in the hot seat, they could then react on a federal level, where congress reigns supreme, and voice that presidents rule be implemented in Punjab, effectively throwing out the Akalis and putting power and Punjab into the hands of the Congress party. They could then continue to feed and ride the Punjab situation for as long as they need effectively kicking Badal and company to the curb.

Of course this is all speculation, but lets face it nothing about this situation adds up. End of the day, both parties Congress and the Akali’s are merely separate sides to the same coin, but it remains that neither truley have the Panths welfare at the heart of any of there decisions, so it’s up to the Panth to dictate and exert there own level of leadership to find a way out of this situation.

When the rich wage war its the poor who die, when the Akali’s wage war its the blood of the Panth that’s spilled.

For years now we’ve heard accusations of Badal being the puppet master, using the SGPC and the Akal Takhat to do his dirty work, but in recent weeks with the situation in Punjab, Badal’s grip on Punjab, the Panth and his true motives have never been clearer.

See as much as we want to believe that the recent weeks have shown the Panths ability to come together and group against a common foe, that the Singh’s in Punjab are tired of taking things lightly and are ready once again to rise up, the truth is far from it. Rather what the events of the recent weeks have shown is that Badal has the power to manipulate the Panth into serving as his own personal army.

Lets face facts although what the Dera chief did was wrong, it’s not the worst that’s happened . See as bad as doing beadbi and attempting to make a mockery of the amrit sinchar is, he’s not the first to do it. Mann Chand, the Naamdharis all beat him to that punch and have been doing it for a while now.

If it’s the fact that he’s a pakhandi sant with the guise of a Sikh, with multiple CBI cases against him ranging from murder, rape etc then again he’s not the first, there have been worse, Nang Phula, Mann Chand and countless other so called Babay who have raped innocent girls only doors away from Maharaaj ta Darbaar roam free in Punjab with seemingly full immunity, some even with Badals blessing and support.

If it’s the fact that his followers have hurt peaceful Sikh protestors leading to one Singhs shaheedi, then why is it that the likes of KPS Gill, Amita Bachan, Ashotoush and Noormalia, haven’t been asked to surrender, after all shirly they have spilled more sikh blood then this clown.

Why is it that a small band of “bhajangi Khalsa” a force that has been reported to be no greater then a few hundred young Sikhs, been placed in charge to deal with the Dera’s if they refuse to abide by the ultimatum set fourth by the Akal Takhat, knowing full well that the Dera and its followers won’t go without a fight. If this were to happen and a confrontation to ensue then the the Singhs involved would no doubt be outnumbered and made to give up their lives attaining Shaheedi, which could easily be avoided simply by increasing the #’s of these fauj’s. After all why sacrifice a drop of blood if it isn’t needed?

Now lets not also forget that Malwa the center in which the Dera has the most clout, reportedly voted 60% in favour of Congress as opposed to apparently having had a long history of being an Akali hot seat. Knowing that Badal has used strong armed tactics in various forms in the past to intimidate the electorate could this attack not be seen as nothing more then Badal merely flexing some muscle? It will be interesting to see how such of an effect on the polls closing of the Dera’s and everything else that has gone on, has next time around.

Lets not also dismiss the mixed signals coming out of the various parties. For instance the Hukamnaama for a full out closure which after realizing lack of jurisdiction to this regard has been re-evaluated to being a favourably worded apology. 

 The natural question that comes to mind after all of the above is why? What do the Badal’s and Akali’s have to gain from such actions. Well being able to coerce the Akal Takhat into making concessions does Badal not come out looking like the good guy the one who brought an end to the protests, exuberating the leadership expected of him? The cool head in a tense situation makes him look gold. Would sacrificing many more of our youth if need be not serve to rile up the Panth into a full out war against the Dera? Most likely the case, which again goes to server the Akalis more then anyone else. Why is it that the Dera is the target of all this as opposed to other individuals who have done the Panth more harm in the past 20 years? Is it because the others cooperate with Badal and are on his good side? Could it not be, because the Dera can be touched and the wrath of a few thousand poor is less feared then that of the political might that could be possibly felt if one went up against the likes of KPS Gill or Ashotoush? What about the fact that such actions serve to only strengthen the Akali party which Badals son is being groomed to take lead of in the near future. Giving him the party, after presenting the need for an Akali goverment in punjab, only serves to impower and ensure that the Badal legacy and tenure of terror continues.

I fully understand and realize that we could play the game of “what if” all day, and speculation is nothing more then hearsay with legs, but given the past history of the Badal’s and SAD, it would be ignorant and deviant-ly deceitful on our own parts to at least not look at the situation from as many different angles as possible, after all, “If you can’t see the angles no more, you’re in trouble.”

Shaheed Bhai Kanwaljit Singh, the first to recieve the gift of Shaheedi during the past week’s dera riots.

Firstly I apologize to those who’ve been looking for a post, for not having had one sooner, but truthfully there’s nothing new for me to add that isn’t already known or hasn’t already been published by more credible sources, and like everyone else look to these sources for any new bit of information they can pass our way.

The controversy for those not aware in a nut shell is the leader of Dera Sacha Sauda, who’s name really deserves no promotion, thought he was a bad ass, went out and tried to create his own institution of Amrit, but instead of blessing the world with nectar of the iron blade, he instead got prissy and gave us a big bowl of pink milk [not that there’s anything wrong with rufza, but saying you got baptized by it, is just weak]. Anyway’s the Baba went on to initiate what he called sat-sitaray, and after administering the pink milk to his followers knelt in front of them and asked they initiate him with the sticky pink stuff also.

Once that image and news hit the desi papers, all hell started [as it should] broke loose and Sangat’an gathered in Bhatinda to protest, and protest they did burning effigies and all. If this Baba was running it small time like Mann Chand or whoever else this would have been it the end of it, but seeing as how this Dera has thousands of followers those mans decided to crash the Protest attacking those protesting and also causing a scene. Now lets face it, after 1978 and 1984 the panth has had this flame in the pit of its gut just looking for a spark to come out, a means to lash out and the Baba’s chelay crashing the protest and showing that they were ready to go toe to toe is what ignited that flame.

So now you had riots in Bhatinda, The Panth vs the Dera and its chelay. Well that’s what it looks like on the outside if off course there wasn’t the political undertone which also exists at bottom of this which features the legendary bout between Congress and the Akali’s.

See Badal knew that the Dera had clout amongst the masses and it’s why he made it a pit stop in his campaign for votes, but unlike the small time Babay that he has under his wing the Dera wanted what Badal couldn’t deliver and there go threw its support behind the Congress party. Which in turn gives this situation a political overtone that could clearly well overshadow the phantic matter at hand, albeit 1978 and 84 were riddled with political overtones which are used to discredit the movement all the time.

Since Monday (when the first protests happened), protests have sparked up all over the once thriving state of Punjab, and it would seem as though that Sikhs have felt the bigger of the blows in terms of negative media coverage and causalities, all the same the fight continues.

 What has me confused is if Badal and the Akali’s, are the ones who started this [supposedly], then why is Badal posturing for the Jatehdars he has under his thumb to hold off from bringing about a sandesh or Hukamnamaa (Badal reportedly asked them to hold for a week), after all wouldn’t it be in his best interest? None the less, Singh Sahib Vedanti today issused a hukamanama stating a full out boycott against the Dera all the same.

Most Singh’s I know and have spoken to, are riling at the news and many are on the edge of their seats with a cross between eager and nervous anxiousness, hoping that this is just what the Panth needed and what will once and for all bring us right back to where we left off in the mid 80’s, but I guess that will be left up to how our leaders and the government react to the incident. Although how many have actually gone out and bought tickets to India to join in the struggle is yet to be seen, but whether this in fact sparks a re-emergence of the struggle is also yet to be seen.

As far as what I expect to come out of all this, my guess is as good as the next man’s. Whether this finally brings about a time when all those of us who once talked about giving Shaheedi a chance to actually live up to our words or on the flip side coward behind them is to soon to be known. After all this whole thing could just shrivel up into being just an isolated incident that could have put India back into a civil war, but didn’t. But seeing as how this has led to a few Kurbani and injuries already, I doubt that this will be just another foot note in our history.

So lets see what happens and hope that the Himmat is still there.

Just use the arrow keys to doge and avoid the flying objects chasing you.

You would think that after everyone had the R.I.P Kaka name tags in all there cyber profiles, and after those highly hyped stop the violence meetings at the Gurdwara’s that it be at least a year before folks started rushing out trying to kill one another again, but seems like the tempers and ego’s just couldn’t wait.,

I guess what’s most annoying about all this is that it’s easy to see in hindsight how quickly this could have been anyone from my own generation or own circle of friends from highschool, considering the ego’s back then were just as big as the kids these days, but seems like these kids all got an extra chip on there shoulder for some reason. As if they really have something to prove to the elders and past generations that they’re just as rugged if not more then them. Maybe they’re tired of hearing about the glory day’s of the senior crews, the PM’s, CB4’s, Saraba’s, BBS’s, the Rexdale-Malton beefs of past, or whoever else you may have that came before them and done something so regrettably stupid but made it out alive, that the story later became suburban street folk-lore, setting a standard they feel they need to live up to.

In the end who knows what’s being put in the food of these kids to make them feel so ghetto fabulous, or what hannibal-istic ingredient is being added to their cheerios and fruit loops, infecting them with some next form of mad cow diesease.

And as parents go running looking for the answer, screaming to the giani’s and other youth leaders, blaming them for not being able to rescue there lost child, asking why couldn’t they have gone out of there way to highlight the symptoms and save their blood, one can only wonder what lessons the others may have learned, after all the lesson itself always remains embodied within the action.

Brampton brawl ends with teen slain

19-year-old stabbed in ‘mass chaos’ as youths fight outside party in subdivision. Neighbour puts her house up for sale

May 14, 2007 JIM WILKES STAFF REPORTER

A teen was stabbed to death as a beer-fuelled party spilled into a Brampton street and he challenged battling partygoers.

A handful of teens tried to administer first aid to Amrinder Singh Atwal, 19, as he lay bleeding on Culture Cres. Saturday night.

About two dozen others fled before police arrived.

Residents described the area, near Chinguacousy Rd. and Williams Parkway, as a quiet neighbourhood of young families where the loudest noise is usually youngsters playing basketball in the street.

But a quiet barbecue and party turned violent about 10:15 p.m. Saturday as dozens of teens emerged from a house and began beating each other with beer bottles.

Neighbour Rob Voth said he watched as two teens pinned another against a fence and threw punches as a third kicked him.

The teen was also stabbed, but is expected to recover.

Voth, 38, said he watched another teen, later identified as Atwal, stand in the street exhorting others to fight.

“You could see his hand was up with some kind of weapon in his hand, whatever it was, ready for battle, preparing himself, like, `bring it on,’” he said. “It all happened pretty fast.” Police said the brawl was triggered by a long-simmering dispute among some of the partygoers.

“It was something about, `You didn’t like me in Grade 10,’” said Voth.

“It’s not a good scene,” he said, gazing across a street criss-crossed with yellow police tape. “I’ve only been here two years and now I’m ready to go a little further north into the country, do some home-schooling with my kids and make sure they’re safe.”

His wife Samantha also said they may move from the neighbourhood constructed just six years ago.

“It was mass chaos,” she said. “There were people screaming. It was very scary. You don’t expect something like that to happen on your front lawn.”

She fought back tears as she spoke of the teen’s death.

“You wake up and it’s Mother’s Day and you realize that a mother is without her son,” she said.

Lisa Snelgrove, a 29-year-old mother of children age 12, 10 and 8, didn’t take much time to decide their future.

“I called my real estate agent to put my house up for sale as soon this tape comes down,” she said. She said she moved to Brampton from Rexdale “to give my kids a better life.”

But she doesn’t know where they’ll go next to escape violence. “It’s everywhere,” she said. “My daughter was in tears, crying her eyes out. They asked me if anybody died. I’m not going to lie to them,” she said. “You don’t want to have to explain that to any child.”

Snelgrove watched as teens tried to perform cardio-pulmonary resuscitation on Atwal. “But by that time it looked like it was too late,” she said.

Peel police said yesterday they hadn’t found the knife used to kill Atwal.

….not really, but they would have if this father was the president. Here’s a prank call that a radio station pulled on a the parents of a listener (talk about going against the family), but anyways its a Bibi from a religious Jewish family getting the show to call in setting up the plot that she’s flexing an Italian, what ensues is vulgar hilarity at its finest.

The following audio contains vulgar language that many of you may find to be a bit harsh on your ears, so you’ve been warned.

For those still confused, Israel DIDN’T bomb Italy