Takes Two to Tango
Writing by shinda on Tuesday, 29 of May , 2007
“Thus, those skilled in war subdue the enemy’s army without battle. They capture the enemy’s cities without assaulting them and overthrow his state without protracted operations. Their aim is to take all under heaven intact by strategic considerations. Thus, their troops are not worn out and their gains will be complete. This is the art of offensive strategy.”
- Sun Tzu, The Art of War
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.
Category: Politics, Protest, Sikhi
- Add this post to
Rajbtor from 
Made Tuesday, 29 of May , 2007 at 3:46 pm
Shinda,
I quite confused with your viewpoints on many issues. It seems like you construct your opinions on a case to case basis, based on an emotional aspect and you aren’t really consistent.
Listen, first off, I think what the Dera is doing is wrong and disgraceful and we should be mad. However, we fight against people like this because we want to uphold our pride and respect that we deserve, but have you forgotten to show these as well?
After all, this is someone’s religious beliefs, no matter how wrong you may find them. If you disargee, you should state your reasons why and appeal to one’s intellectual and emotional side, not to the side that will evoke hater, anger, and elitism.
Calling them rapists, murderers and other names proves what exactly? Proves that you are taking the road that our religion teaches not to take. If you want to make sure we don’t loose our values in Sikhi, then maybe you should step back and make sure you are upholding them.
This is the problem with youth, we make fun. We laugh at, insult and bring down people by proclaiming we are better than all. We want to feel like everything we do is right and everything other people do is wrong. In Sikhi, contrary to religions like Islam, Christanity and Judaism, we do not JUDGE people’s religion, we follow our and RESPECT OTHERS.
This is why we do not convert. We do not go to jails the way preachers of Islam do. For us, it is an issue of respect, of our religion, our panth and others.
A true human being who follows Sikhi and his values will realize that it is a matter of not who is right or wrong but it is an issue of what is good and bad for our humanity.
I dont think little shots supporting the separatist movements are a good idea as well. You need a post that will clear your ideas and show your views plain and simple.
God Bless and looking forward to hearing from you
Rajbtor,
I fail to see what you find to be inconsistent with my views. I figure by now anyone looking to know what my views are should be able to surmise what my views are based on previous posts on events and my stand points on them. For those who know me, then I would think most my views have been consistant with my actual beliefs and values.
As for being a case by case, most the events happening these days are happening day to day, and so naturally the amount of information available about such an event will change based on the new realities of the event that happens on a daily basis.
All the same let me know what you want clarity on, and I’ll do my best to help you out.
Shinda,
From reading your prior posts it seems to me (and correct me if I’m wrong) you are very high on morality and respect. Now, one of the things that appealed to me about your blogs is that you are not just another mindless stooge, and it seems you have some educated, insightful remarks, however, every so often you release posts like this that go against that logic.
Firstly, do you honestly believe the best way to look at this Dera issue is through goggles of anger, and hatred? Hey, naturally, myself included, I was pissed off when this issue came to light. However, just because something evokes anger and frustration, doesnt mean it gives you immunity and ability to say disrespectful things. I realize it is your blog and you can say what you want, however, its more an issue of the way of thinking that needs to be changed.
Another issue is that it seems that you are creating links and relationships that end up being self-fulfilling prophecies for yourself. For example, I realize as someone still harbouring negative views from 1984, its hard for you to look at these issues objectively, however, do you really think connecting all misfortunes of Sikhs and issues within Sikhi to the Indian government is beneficial? I do not support the government, but I am also aware that blaming misfortunes within myself or my community on somebody else is naive. It seems your ‘blame’ always has one source, which I find interesting to say the least.
The inconsistency lies on what values you project onto others… I ask you this… The respect that you feel we are not getting from Dera Sacha and the government, do you believe it is right to project that same disrespect onto to others? Do you believe that the pain you recieve from others disrespecting your religion and views is justified if you give a dose of that pain back.
I read some of your posts and it seems you preach a civil, respectful and decent society and critisize those who dont maintain this. However, on the other hand, when it comes to issues close to you, you post writings that are completely different to what have written before. They preach a sense of DIS-respect, a sense of mocking of others, and a sense of barbaric society. Where I am confused is, which one is it?
One more thing, I really don’t understand your underlying viewpoint (and this ties into what I belive is your inconsistency) that the more extreme or volitile ones views are, the more right it is.
You dub the media as wrong for proclaiming some groups to be militant. It seems to me, you dont seem that this is wrong in other cases. Because the ‘media’ is somewhat faceless, and usually percieved as evil, doesn’t mean there is no truth within it. Basically, your viewpoint is that, others dubb some Sikhs as militant because they are against the nation’s ideals, right?
Well, doesn’t that sound all to fimilar with Islamic Militancy, or Islamic Extremism, something you seem to have a issue with? When you say “Muslims are at it again” as you said in one of your blogs, whats the difference if a Jain, a Hindu or a Buddhist says to us “Hey look, the Sikhs are at it again”…
It seems like you believe one thing is right when it comes to issues that are away from you, like war, gang fighting and things like that, HOWEVER, when it comes to issues that are close to you, such as Indian politics, you have a completely different take on matters, a take that is contridictory to other viewpoints..
Anyways, I do enjoy the non-biased posts however, they are interesting, and I believe that even though I disagree with some morality issues, I believe your doing a great job.
God Bless Sinda, and looking forward to your response.
sKAUR from 
Made Tuesday, 29 of May , 2007 at 6:22 pm
Rajbtor.. not all of us are perfect, we go with out instincts and let it flow. We experience inconsistency to appreciate consistency.
t from 
Made Tuesday, 29 of May , 2007 at 7:49 pm
i think rajtar is ***
deep singh from
Made Tuesday, 29 of May , 2007 at 10:52 pm
shinda man stop using so many big words, I have to keep checking a thesaurus for alternate meanings.
but yeah it makes sense what you said. we keep making the mistake of thinking we are being represented by someone - in reality the panth stands alone, and must act alone. congress and akalis are both posturing for the next election, and the sikhs and our sentiments are just a pawn in their game. but oh well, atleast this situation brought some solidarity within our people. i like the fact that all the singhs got rowdy at that meeting and basically forced him (vedanti and company) to take a harder stance against the dera when he wanted to let the “police handle it”.
Rajbtor,
I’m left somewhat bewildered at the comments of anger and hatred. As far as being disrespectful towards the Dera, the Baba or others, I’m going to have to assume you’re talking about the charges of rape, and murder which are factual cases pending against him by the CBI, so if making note of these is me disrespecting him then so be it, the truth still remains that these cases are levied against him in courts of law. As far as respect goes, respect is given to those who deserve it, in this case this Baba and many others who I choose to ‘disrespect’ from time to time have only committed actions which warrant this. So be it if high morality calls that we should respect all rapists and murders as equals, my morality isn’t there yet.
As far as blaming the government I again am a bit perplexed as to what exactly you are eluding to, but seeing as how we are on the subject of the dera I’ll take it to mean we are talking again about this situation. To see this as anything but partisan politics I would find a bit naive. What about this situation is not political? I am not out to blame the Indian government with having an agenda against the Sikhs in this matter nor was this situation started as an attack against the Sikhs, rather I’ve argued that this is an attack by Congress against the Akali’s who have been going toe to toe for some time now, and that Sikhs have merely been used by both parties to further fuel this fued, or that is at least what the last two posts were about.
Now on the topic of the Dera and not showing it the respect you feel it deserves, the dera’s existence and the millions like it, are a mockery to the Sikh faith, and I question what respect should they be shown when they use Sikhi to further their own agenda. If they wish to portray themselves as being an independent and unique religion, separated and unique from Sikhi then by all means so be it, but by saying or at least projecting itself as being a sub-sect or branch of Sikhi, leaves to question what their purpose is. Its the difference in respect I hold between Naamdharis and say Islam, where as naamdharis would claim their religion to be Sikhi yet have views that alienate themselves from the Panth at least the Muslims are a separate nation on their own. Point blank being, I got little or no respect for those who claim to be members of the Sikh faith or who piggy back on the Sikh faith, yet have agenda’s that work contrary to the goals of the Panth.
As far as my views on society go, again a pretty broad statement, but I’ll try to sum it up in a nutshell. I’m all for rebellion and rebelling against the system, at the same time I feel one needs to look at whether or not rebellion against the state is justified ie is there a legitimate beef. If it becomes impossible for one to live within a state then I’m all for that group to rebel against it,
My views on the media, particularly in this situation lie in the fact that when media becomes one sided then it becomes nothing more then a propagandist tool of one party. This has little to do with the use of “Sikh militancy”, but being that as the example I find it one sided to call the Sikhs who engage in violence Sikh Militants, and yet those involved from the Dera’s side as being simply Dera followers. Why not dub such individuals as Militant Dera followers or Dera Militants. End of the day, a rose by any other name, is why I don’t take offense to it as I recognize I stand on the other side of the fence and therefore will see things in a different light, but the same time I will criticize the media who is supposed to be representative of the entire picture to choose sides, because now one needs to pay more attention to what it is that they are seeing, and this is no new phenomenon or one that contains itself to just the Indian media. I recognize every media source will have an underlying bias in everything it reports, but its what and why they choose to report what they report that dictates the media’s selective agenda.
As far as Islamic extremism, I have admitted to being crossed on this. I respect Muslims and the Islamic traditions, and I respect the fact that no matter how kattar they maybe in some cases they still manage to stick together and follow through as a kaum. If they feel the need to rebel then I’m all for it again if I find what they are rebelling against justified cause. When they start raping and killing nuns in certain parts because the pope quoted a king from some odd centaury ago for being a violent bunch I tend to take exception to such actions.
My views on gang fights, war etc all come back to the same thing, if I feel they have some root of justification then I can if not empathize at least understand where they are coming from. However in cases where I feel that such things are being done for a means that I can not understand or justify in reason then I take a stand contrary to those. For instance I feel loosing your life over a few drinks, big egos and a dislike for each other that stems from some argument in grade 10 is frivolous when that same life and blood could have been given fighting for something that means something in another part of the world. Rather then giving thousands of lives in Iraq, I think it would have been better to give those same lives to bring peace to Sudan or even Burma. I fail to see how this is inconsistent with my views expressed.
As far as biased and non-biased posts, it would be ludicrous to think anything posted on this site to not have a bias, seeing as how if nothing more this can opt as a opinionated editorial where my opinion (thus having my bias on a topic) will be applied, versus a news site where I intend to bring and report the latest in happenings to the world.
I hope this clarifies some things for you.
S singh from
Made Thursday, 31 of May , 2007 at 1:57 pm
the mann ’saadh’ above i occasionally see in the toronto area. well not now but like 2-3 years ago. What was up with that?
why dont the people who proclaim baba maan singh of rape charges have the balls to come forward in the media..
its all about katabi gyan…
Aristotle from
Made Sunday, 5 of August , 2007 at 8:25 am
gabru, what rock have you been living under?
All the major newspapers in India have covered the Mann Singh rape incident from the very start. Who do you think outed him?
