Panthic.org is a new and upcoming Sikhi news site, which has been doing a tremendous sevaa, especially in the West, featuring many original articles and news breaking exposes. Some of the big ones to date include the breaking of the Daljeet Singh (Chicago), story which was then later picked up by others, and more recently the story on Rulda, an RSS agent who supposedly infiltrated main stream Sikh groups, with audio evidence and all.

Before Panthic Weekly arrived, the main sources for many people looking for Panthic News, was The Tribune and for western happenings, Sanjh Savera. The later, being a Punjabi only paper that left many youth who can’t read punjabi scratching their heads.

So it goes without saying that what Panthic Weekly is doing is an awesome thing, and we can only wait for it to grow, hoping that it one day becomes biweekly, until one day when it features updates everday.

However, such growth does not come without suffering growing pains. A recent thread on the Sikhi Unleashed forums suggested or at least left, what I would think was positive criticism. Unfortunately some of those connected with Panthic Weekly or supporters of it felt such criticism was insulting, which is pretty sad considering all of it was valid.

Basically the main points raised by Simmal Tree, were all surrounding the recent expose on Rulda (The RSS agent) and how the paper is starting to look like a Tabloid versus a credible impartial news paper.

for example, there is no use of the word ALLEGED. all of the rulda’s statements are allegations, but the article does not use the word alleged or “claimed” and therefore they seem to be truth.

secondly, there is no use of quotations. so things that rulda specifically said are mixed with things that the editors wrote, leaving readers to wonder what are ultimately the facts.

thirdly, bold red text is used to emphasize that sant baba thakur singh ji is alleged to have given a siropa to the head of the rss in the form of a shawl. firstly, the bold red is for what type of dramatic effect? there is no taste in that - it is only for the shock effect, and it is not needed. secondly, it is an allegation, not a statement of truth. and lastly, if this really did happen, then panthic weekly should have done some homework to try to find out why this happened, and get some type of justification out of representatives of the taksal or people who did seva with baba ji.

fourth, baba ji’s picture is placed right next to the rss cheif’s picture, as if both are some culprits in some master plot. the purposeful arrangement of the whole article makes it look like a propaganda article rather than a news article.

Now, I don’t see anything wrong being said, and off course everyone is entitled to there opinion. Supporters of Panthic Weekly provided rebuttals, to the above points of concern, and rightfully so cleared up much of the above up from the Panthic Weekly perspective.

One thing that was mentioned however, that seemed somewhat curious, was a remark by The Avenger,

If you have some concerns about Panthic Weekly or criticism you should send those directly to Panthic Weekly. What do you think?”I beleive you can get their email from the website: www.panthic.org

Now for a paper so keen on releasing the truth, it seems questionable as to why they would object to people taking offense to an article, or let alone express there views and provide certain criticism on a public forum, after all if Panthic Weekly is out for the truth, then it should always be ready to defend itself and justify itself without worry, after all if they didn’t, then they themselves would be going against the one practice they feel they examiplify, that being making things transparent for the public/sangat.

Also in defending itself as a paper without Jatha bias, supporters on the forum made note that no one doing wrong is safe and I agree 100%, anyone doing wrong should be pointed out. They quickly made note that AKJI has also been singled out, however one thing I noticed while looking at that article was the editorial note that seemingly gave the AKJ perspective on the issue or at least the individual. Leading me to wonder why no such feedback was sought from the other groups mentioned on what they had to say about things and also why the editors felt it nessary to clarify such information.

Also in replying to Simmal Tree’s third point about the bold red text, (trying to sensationalize the article), supporters pointed out that it was more to do with the outrageous remarks made by Rulda, then to show Baba Takhur Singh in a negative light. However many other statements made by Rulda were just as outrageous, yet none of these received the same treatment of bold text, and highlighting, which can only lead one to feel that a certain bias is at play.

So clearly Panthic Weekly has ways to go, and things that it needs to sort out if it wish’s to truly become a Panthic paper. It has made many positive strides in the small time that it has been around, but it should quickly sort these little things out now if it wants to continue with its success.

Akhooo Satnaaam Sri Vaaheguroo Jeee

The Federal election is less then 72 hours away, and the polls got the Conservatives well ahead of the competition, hinting at what could be a Conservative majority.

Now, everyone has their reasons to vote the way they do, but one thing I was thinking about was, how the selection of the next government affects Sikhs, primarily our right to wear the Kirpan.

Right now the whole Kirpan issue is in the Supreme Court, and the people down their, are trying to figure out what do with the whole mess. Basically if the Supreme Court comes out with a negative verdict then we’re pretty much faded, as it sets the pretense for all other cases involving the Kirpaan throughout Canada. i.e. we can potentially see school boards, work places, and other institutions, putting restrictions on the Kirpaan or banning it all together.

Now if this happens, the only other way to over rule the courts decision would be to introduce legislation that counters the courts decision, and this is where the Government in power comes to matter.

Just by nature, and due to who the Conservatives largely represent (for the most part, right wing hicks), I can’t seem to picture any sort of Kirpaan legislation passing under their watch. Whereas with the Liberals, not only do we have Amritdhari MP’s, we have many other MP’s who rely heavily on the Sikh vote, and support, and so by virtue of politics, would end up supporting and helping pass such legislation. I can also see the NDP supporting such legislation just out of their party’s rhetoric and their right wing stance on freedoms.

Of course none of this will matter, if the Supreme Court rules in favour of the whole Kirpan situation, but I still think it is something to think about when it comes time to cast our ballots.

In the last few years we’ve see a lot of protests, vigil’s and petitions, some better then others. Today there will be an international set of protests happening across the UK, India, USA, and even in Canada, which on paper sounds amazing, but the concept itself a little sketchy.

(I’ll deal more with the ones happening across Canada, since those are the ones I am most familiar with.)

Firstly I’m not sure whether the actual event is a protest or a vigil. After all it has been dubbed both. The vigil aspect of it is good, something is being done, something of little use, but something all the same.

The protest? Firstly who are they protesting to? The public? A protest is usually when you try to send a message to somebody directly. Union workers picket outside their place of work, in a manner that interferes with the daily operation or at least in a manor that gets their message through to upper management. So in this case rallying people up and picketing outside in a Park or City Hall seems frivolous. I think that picketing outside the Indian embassy would be a more reasonable place to picket, considering it’s them who we want to send a message to.

Now the vigil aspect. I think the biggest problem with the vigil’s and something you can’t blame the organizers for, is the fact that only those who are aware of the problem tend to come out and support it. A lot of the vigil’s around Toronto, you usually see the same faces at everyone, and not much “normal” sangat comes out, and with that being the case I really don’t think that vigil’s succeed in trying to create awareness amongst the community, but rather become an outlet for people to reflect.

Lastly, petitions. Why do we sign them? Who ends up getting them? We’ve seen countless petitions over the years, but what good are they? If someone came to me with a list saying these million people are not happy with you, I’d just nod my head, accept the petition then pass it off to someone next to me to shred it or toss it somewhere. However if someone came to me with a petition that said these million people will stop buying my product if I don’t stop something, I may take notice. Point being, what is being done with the thousands of names on these petitions? Is the media getting them? Do these petitions have a cause for action? Again, it just seems more like a formality then anything else.

Now don’t take this as an insult, or a diss towards these events. I do support them in the sense that they do have potential to create awareness, however as a community I think we have yet to harness the energy and power that can come from such acts. At the same time it could all be a learning experience, stepping stones to bigger events later on, just seems like we’re moving to slow, because we keep loosing aim at the bigger picture. Just like when your learning to drive, they teach you to keep your head up and look ahead rather then focus directly in front of you, I think we need to do the same.

VS

For one reason or another I’ve never been a big fan of Dr. Ruby Dhalla. Never really, known her, heard her, let alone seen her, so me not being a fan of her is pretty shallow and really judgmental.

Firstly she didn’t complete no PHD, or Med school, she’s a chiropractor, so I personally don’t think that the “Dr.” prefix is warranted. She’s also been plagued throughout her campaign with scandals, if it hasn’t been for being a bollywood actress, its for being a phone sex operator, to what ever else you can imagine. Whether or not these rumors have any truth to them, I guess we (the public) will never truly know.

To her credit though Miss Dhalla probably has some of the best potential to rise up in ranks with the party, since she is young and well versed in English and from what last I heard was learning her French. However this campaign she faces off against Sam Hundal, a pretty well known personality within the community, so the desi vote will automatically be split. On top of that Ruby voted for Same Sex Marriage, and as a result is a victim of not being able to speak at certain Gurdwara’s and will have certain Sangat members voting against her, tipping what I would call the desi vote into Sam’s favour.

On top of all that that the Liberals are down in the polls by 10 points, meaning that the general census and public is leaning more towards the Conservatives, another factor working against Miss Dhalla.

So with all that working against her, Miss Dhalla has the odds stacked up against her. I personally don’t see her making it through this campaign on top, and so my favourite for this riding would have to be Mr. Sam Hundal.

Ruby Dhalla Links
Home Page
Liberal candidate running on party’s performance

Sam Hundal Links
Candidate believes voters are looking for a change

With less then a week left, and with advance polls happening in the election, I thought it would be a good time, to write a follow up post to the previous one.

The polls are all pointing towards a conservative majority, but the polls are changing so much you never know what to expect come election day.

Gurbax Malhi
Malhi, is the first Desi MP to accomplish what politicians strive for, and that’s to become an iconic figure in their riding.

First elected in 1993 when the Liberals first took office, Malhi gained notice because of his bright red Turban. 13 years later, poor English and all, he’s still around representing Malton.

Last term, Malhi was infamous for bringing up Gay Marriage wherever he went, speaking out against it, and getting other Liberal MP’s into trouble (Bains & Dhalla), but yet always stood his ground. Considering most desi’s in the riding owe Malhi, for a support letter or two, I don’t see him going anywhere any time soon.

As most people, I’ve always had a love-hate relationship with Malhi. When he fist got elected, Malhi was awesome, first MP in parliament with a dastar and all. 8 Years later, I was wondering how he was still in office, and how come no one was able to knock him out. Hated the fact that I had to hear him speak wherever I went. Morning wedding, he was there giving a speech. The night reception he was there giving a speech. Visakhi, he was there giving a speech. Any random day at the Gurdwara, he was there giving a speech. Now, after all the shit he’s disturbed, and trouble he’s caused for the other MP’s how can you not like him.

Shinda’s prediction - Malhi wins by a land slide.

Malhi Links
- Official Website
- Brampton Guardian Article

I came back home to Brampton Wednesday night, and after a few days of settling in and checking up with everyone, its time to let the fact that an election is taking place settle in.

For the most part this election seems quite tame, espiecially in contrast to those of the past. Driving around I’ve yet to see the streets and house lawns coloured in the various red and blue, liberal / conservative signs of elections past. The fact that this is a winter election taking place during the holidays may have something to do with this.

Being out of the mix for the last 4 months its fair to say that I have had little clue to whats going on, at the local level, let alone policy wise at the party level, just because I havn’t been having my daily dose of CPAC and CBC Newsworld, while being away in Ottawa (ironically).

So lets recap whats happening, and even look at some of the candidates running, especially those that most of you reading this are familiar with.

Lets start with Nav Bains. Word so far is that as suspected he’s hanging onto his korsee by a thread. Now thats come to be expected considering Bains turned his back or seemingly turned his back on his community, and dharm, when he went against Vedanti and the Akaal Takhat and took a stand to legalize Gay Marriage. Pile that to the other things that occured in his past term,

• Ashotoush support letter (he did apologize and plead ignorant to not knowing who he was writing the letter for)
• Matha Teking at Gandhis Grave (said that this didn’t happen, and that the media is sensationalizing the incident)

and you can expect that those who helped him get elected the first term, dont want anything to do with him now.

Now Nav’s a nice guy, I knew him (well from afar anyways) growing up, and his family, and he is well Mr. Nice Guy, but this is politics and nice will only take you so far.

Although I may disagree with him on his actions, I still find that going against him as the community has is quite short sighted. Way I see it, we finally got an Amrtidhari Singh in the house, we should now support him, espeically with this shakey government, so that he can quickly climb ranks as he aready has shown capable of doing. Although its fair to disagree with his actions, until we get another qualified Singh or Singhni in to the political circle (Mr. Chardi Kalaa this means you), I think we have to make do with what we got.

After all end of the day, I’m sure Nav will be more swayed to deal with Panthic events then Mr. Sandhu (clean cut and shaven) will.

But then again maybe this is just politics, where neither candidates Nav or Mr. Sandhu can be trusted. But then again maybe its just me, but I’d rather have Nav represent then Sandhu any day of the weak. Its almost like choosing the better of the two evils.

End of the day, I still think that Navl has the greater potential to do good, and has a greater chance to become a Minister, then anyone else.

So lets see if Nav can pull it of. He has the volunteers, although it seems very few of them are from his home riding, or so at least its rumored. If Nav can get the community behind him, and regain the trust of the various sikh groups in the area outside of WSO, I’m sure he can muster the support he needs to beat Sandhu.

Hopefully he’s learned some lessons from all this. The two ways I see Nav getting back into this, (Globe and Mail reported him being in trouble of being ousted this time around) is by:

1. Apologizing, for the actions which offended the community.
2. Talk about long term goals that only he can accomplish by being the first Amritdhari Sikh in the house.

Although Nav comes from what I’ve known to be a Gurmat oriented up bringing, I figure if he had a better understanding of Gurbani, he would easily be able to sway the Sangat and reach the Sangat when it came to vocalizing his stance on certain issues.

But then again thats just my 2 cents.