This Above all
For the love of their kin
KHUSHWANT SINGH

Indians from all states of the union are to be found in almost every country of the world. The most visible are the Sindhis, the Sikhs, the Gujaratis and the Keralites. All the four try to maintain links with their motherland for at least a generation or two, and if they are doing well, send a part of their savings to improve the living conditions of their kinsmen back home. Some examples come readily to mind.

The Hindujas (Sindhis) have built a huge hospital in Mumbai. Sir Ghulam Noon (Gujarati) has built a modern fully-equipped hospital in Rajasthan, where he spent some years. There is hardly a village in present-day Punjab which does not have a gurdwara, hospital, school or college not donated by one of its sons living abroad. A recently published book, Sikh Diaspora Philanthropy in Punjab: Philanthropy Giving for Local Good, edited by Vene A. Dusenbery and Darshan S.Tatla, makes a detailed historical survey of diaspora Sikhs the world over with larger concentrations in England, Canada and the US, their contributions, and what motivated them to give away part of their earnings.

It goes into prolix and often boring details that scholars are prone to indulge in to give a full picture of the phenomenon. They have also noted that all communities living abroad have funded fundamentalist Hindu organisations in India. For almost a decade Sikh separatist organisations and Khalistani terrorists received handsome contributions from their fellow Sikhs settled abroad.

Fortunately, they realised their folly in time, funds dried up, and the demand for Khalistan came to an end. Today only a very embittered Simranjit Singh Mann remains. Periodically, he makes some outrageous statements to attract media attention. No one pays any heed to him anymore.

Indians all over the world send a part of their earnings back home for a noble cause

The tradition of giving one-tenth of one’s earnings (dasvandh) is as old as Sikhism. Guru Nanak exhorted his followers:

(Use your brains to serve God, and earn respect; use your brains to read, understand, and give in charity).

And again:

(Earn by efforts and with your hands; give some of it away; Nanak, such people have found the true way).

Guru after Guru lauded the need to give a part of one’s earnings to the needy till it becomes a motto:

(Work, take the name of God, and share your earnings with others). The way these remittances are spent have fallen into a pattern. Building new gurdwaras is the first priority; schools and hospitals are the second and third. The order needs be reversed except that a village gurdwara is not only a place of worship. It is also a community centre and a place for re-affirming bonds of faith.

Remember Jarnail Singh? He is the man who hurled a shoe at Home Minister P. Chidambaram. He chose the wrong victim because Chidambaram had done him no harm, nor had he anything to do with what had riled Jarnail. However, he hit the target he had in mind. It were the leaders of the Congress who had chosen Jagdish Tytler and Sajjan Singh to be its candidates for two seats for the Lok Sabha elections to come.

There was such an uproar for his unpardonable professional misconduct that both names had to be withdrawn from the contest. Jarnail Singh is going to be in the news again. Penguin (India) has signed a contract with him to tell his story, and why he did what he did. His English is not good enough; so he has written it in Hindi. Its English translation is to be published in the very near future.

It is a scathing indictment of all those who failed to discharge their duties when mobs went on the rampage following the assassination of Indira Gandhi on October 31, 1984, by two of her Sikh bodyguards. Nearly 5,000 innocent Sikhs were killed in the riots. Their houses were looted and properties destroyed.

Jarnail spares no one. President Zail Singh comes in for special mention for his cowardly inability to use his powers, and his reluctance to leave the security of Rashtrapati Bhavan. The Delhi Administration, primarily its police, is accused of conniving with the mobs. Rajiv Gandhi has been charged with indirectly condoning the crime by saying, "When a big tree falls, the earth beneath is bound to shake." Men like HKL Bhagat and Jagdish Tytler have been accused of inciting violence.

Jarnail Singh’s family was a victim of the pogrom. They were refugees from Pakistan who found shelter in Lajpat Nagar. His father was a carpenter who earned enough to educate his children. The boys, including Jarnail, played cricket with Hindu boys. All of a sudden on October 31, hell broke loose, and their neighbours turned against them. The boys hid themselves in a loft; many friends and relations were butchered or burnt alive. It is a chilling tale told by a man who saw it happen before his eyes. It is authentic as it comes from a stricken heart.

Santa went to a plastic surgeon to have his nose re-shaped. He asked the doctor what the operation would cost. "Around Rs 5 lakh," replied the doctor. "How much will it cost if I bring my own plastic?"

(Courtesy: Amarinder Bajaj, Delhi)

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