Notion Press

Old No. 38, New No. 6 McNichols Road, Chetpet Chennai - 600 031

First Published by Notion Press 2018 Copyright © Baldev Singh 2018 All Rights Reserved.

ISBN 978-1-64429-696-7

This book has been published with all efforts taken to make the material error-free after the consent of the author. However, the author and the publisher do not assume and hereby disclaim any liability to any party for any loss, damage, or disruption caused by errors or omissions, whether such errors or omissions result from negligence, accident, or any other cause.

No part of this book may be used, reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission from the author, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

Google Baldev Singh 1944 www.worldcat.org/identitics/ICCn-n2012202316/ Second enlarged edition 2018 Contents

Authors Note xi

Sirdar Kapur Singh’s letter dt. 27th December, 1973 1 Dr. Ganda Singh’s letter dt. 1st February, 1975 3 S. ’s letter dt. 6th July, 2000 4 Promises and Proposals to the before 1947 5 – Mohan Das Karam Chand Gandhi (Mahatama) 19th March 1931 5 – Cabinet delegation meeting dt. April 5, 1946 6 – Jawahar Lal Nehru on July 6, 1946 6 – C.W.C. Resoltuion of August 9, 1946 7 – Scope for Provincial Constitution 7 – The British Cabinet Mission (1946) 9 – Constituent Assembly meeting December 9, 1946 9 – The British Cabinet Proposal to Baldev Singh 9 – AICC Resoultion January 6, 1947 9 – Winstor Churchill’s proposal of Sikh buffer state February 1947 10 – Hindu – Sikh MLA’s (Punjab) Resolution of July, 1947 11 – The British Government propoal to Sikhs, dt. June 27, 1947 11 – Maharaja Yadavinder Singh writes in the The Tribune dt. 19.7.1959 12 – Jinnah’s offer narrated by Khushwant Singh 12 – Jinnah’s offer to Maharaja of Patiala 13 – Dr. Rajinder Kaur writes, Jinnah’s proposal to the Sikh Leaders 17 – Two Sikh members of Constituent Assembly reject the Constitution 23 Sequence of Important Events 24 – Na Ko Hindu, Na Musalman _ 1496 – Guru Nanak 24 – First Hindu killed by Sikhs in September 1981 54 – KHALISTAN: Let us keep cool – H.S. Malik, ICS 56 – Turning Point: Sodhi killing April, 14, 1984 78 – Langowal (Sant) telephoned on 22.4.1984 79 – Yad Karega Khalsa June, 1984 91 Was Bhindranwale a Congress Creation? 141 – Bhindranwale on Khalistan 169 “The Sikhs” 173 Mountbatten on the Sikhs, February 1948 192 Pandit Jawahar Lal (Kaul) Nehru 194 Nehru dismissed Shiekh Govt… 202 Nehru was wary of Sikhs 200 Tara Singh (Master) had planned to kill Jinnah? 202 Indira Priyadarshni Feroze Gandhi 220 – Indira Gandhi writes to Bhindranwale 225 – Blue star oral order of Indira Gandhi? 226 Rajiv Gandhi 232 – Jallado Inn Haramjadon Ko 232 237 Gurcharan Singh Tohra 246 – Tohra told Army 247 Harchand Singh Longowal 254

viii ❖ Contents Major Gen. (dismissed) Shahbeg Singh 264 Maj Gen (Lt. Gen) Kuldip Singh Brar had volunteered for ? 267 Jatt versus Jatt 273 Sirdar Kapur Singh 275 Dr. Bhim Rao Ambedkar could not become Sikh 281 – SC/ST Sikhs 284 Bhagat Singh: A Russian Agent or a Revolutionary? 287 Demographic changes in Punjab during 1947 294 – Muslim League Flag Hacked Down by Tara Singh 298 Press/Media and the Sikhs 315 Akalis and ‘Moderate Akalis’ 317 Sikhs, Beware of Comrades 321 – Karl Marx calls ‘1857 Sepoy revolt (Mutiny) 327 Beard and Turban (Head-Gear) 332 – Narinder Modi in Sikh disguise 332 Social and Political Behaviour 339 Who When and Why, ‘Dasam Granth’ 341 ‘Plunder and Rapine’ an Academic Dishonesty in a University 343 – Nehru supporter or spectator at Jatio? 347 The Real Singh Sahib and Maharaja Ranjit Singh 348 Sehajdhari Sikh Issue 356 Khushwant Singh’s Prediction 359 Holocaust 1947: A New Research 365 Jatt-Bhapa: An Academic Debate 370 Punjab Village and Villagers 377

Contents ❖ ix Annexures I Chanakya Kautilya’s Rules of Governance 383 II Communal Award – 1932 397 III High Court, Lahore Order of 1936 400 IV Jat Sikhs Fall in Backward Castes: High Court 402 V Supreme Court: Jats to retain OBC stauts 403 VI U.P. Chief Minister’s reply to S. Hukam Singh, Deputy Speaker, Lok Sabha 404 VII Un-Sikh Practices in Sikh Society – Dr. Ganda Singh 406 VIII The Rise of Bhindranwale – Khushwant Singh 414 IX Contrasting Scene in SGPC Polling – Kulvinder Kular 417 X Compensation to 1984 Riot Victims Death of Sh. Surat Singh an Army regular 419 XI Tilla Baba Farid No more a – Varinder Walia 421 XII Sarcastic poem about corruption in SGPC & Akali Dal by Sirdar Kapur Singh 423 XIII Bomb blast at Chowk Mehta to kill Bhindranwale by Pritam Singh (IAS retd) 424 XIV Why was Partap Singh Kairon killed? 429

Bibliography 436 Index 448

x ❖ Contents Sirdar Kapur Singh’s Letter dt. 27th December, 1973

Kapur Singh (ex. M.P) 707/Sector 11, National Professor of Sikhism Chandigarh, 160 011 December 27, 1973

My dear Baldev Singh,

I have received your letter of 21st December and I want you to know that I was touched on going through this.

I want you to believe me seriously that there is no apprehension of the Sikh Nation vanishing from the pages of the History either by the end of this century or by the end of another 500 years or more. What Khushwant Singh said was merely a piece of journalistic stunt and there are no good grounds for a student of current history to give any credence to this so called prophecy which is no more than an antic.

You say something about the copies of my speeches in the Lok Sabha being distributed amongst the masses in the rural Punjab. In the year 1967 I had 10,000 copies of this speech printed in Punjabi and English both, on a very thick paper from the Navyug Press at Delhi at a cost of Rs. 1500. These pamphlets were then distributed in the Ludihiana District, but no rural Sikh voted for me on the simple ground that I had refused to accept the nomination ticket of Sant Fateh Singh. Do not, therefore, have excessive faith in the sound judgement of the Sikh masses. They rarely come to the right decision at the right moment as I have found out from reading the Sikh History.

1 I admire your resolve to dedicate your life “for the cause of the Panth,” but I warn you that it could be not only a difficult path but also an unrewarding path. No single individual or a group of individuals can change or mould the course of events and a person who spends the best part of his life in the achievement of Panthic aims, usually finds himself frustated and disillusioned in the end. Only very few and rare individuals can sustain their idealism upto the last and remain contented with the sacrifices they have made, without expecting any appreciation or reward. I have my own life before me, when I was motivated by similar sentiments as you now express. Though I am not frustrated and bitter, but I am aware that I have not achieved what I started to achieve and except that I am satisfied that I can face my conscience and the Guru with a clear eye, there is nothing else I have to show to the world for the ups and downs through which I have passed.

I have said these words, not to dissuade you from your idealism, but to tell you how an older person of similar bent of mind as yours feels at the fag end of his life of trails and tribulations.

May Guru be with you.

Yours Sincerely,

(Kapur Singh)

S. Baldev Singh Gill, M.A. Student, Raghu Majra, Patiala.

2 ❖ Sikh Struggle for Survival Dr. Ganda Singh’s Letter dt. 1st February, 1975

Lower Mall, Patiala, February 1, 1975 Dear Sardar Sahib,

Your Letter of December 12

I do not happen to agree with your sword-method of maintaining our identity. We must first become true and honest Khalsas ourselves. Then, nobody on earth can harm the Panth. Yours Sincerely, sd/- (Ganda Singh) Baldev Singh Sector 23 D, Chandigarh.

Baldev Singh ❖ 3 S. Khushwant Singh’s Letter dt. 6th July, 2000

6 July, 2000

Dear Baldev Ji,

I share your anguish about the Khalsa. I have been wrong in fixing “the turn of the century” as the date of demise but the process is relentless. I have seen it happen to the community settled abroad – here of the second to ask the third generation are no longer Khalsa even in Punjab, as you have pointed out. Drinking, smoking and trimming are common phenomena.

Yours Sincerely, Khushwant Singh

4 ❖ Sikh Struggle for Survival Promises and Proposals to the Sikhs before 1947

1. Mohan Das Karam Chand Gandhi, later on Mahatma Gandhi and Father of the Nation wrote in Young India of 19th March, 1931:

This Madhusudan Singh was descendant of Guru Nanak and had died on 16.3.1189.

“Sardar Madhusudan Singh has asked for an assurance that the Congress would do nothing that might alienate sympathies of the Sikhs from the Congress. Well the Congress, in its Lahore Session passed a Resolution that it would not enter into or be a party to any settlement with regard to the minority question that failed to satisfy any of the minorities concerned. What further assurances the Congress can give to the Sikhs, I fail to understand. I ask you to accept my words and the Resolution of the Congress that it will not betray a single individual much less a community. If it ever thinks of doing so, it will only hasten its own doom… What more shall I say? What more can I say than this. Let God be the witness of the bond that binds me and the Congress with you.”

(This Madhusudan Singh was desendent of Guru Nanak and had died in March 1989)

Again in September 1932 during Poona Pact with Dr. B.R. Ambedkar, M.K. Gandhi admitted Sikhs as third party to rule along with the Hindus and the Muslimsm if and when British rulers left India after freeing it.

Baldev Singh ❖ 5 2. April 5, 1946 – The Publication of secret/top-secret documents by the British Government from 1977 onwards under the title The Transfer of Power, edited by Dr. N. Mansergh and Panderel Moon, in XII volumes – was mainly responsible for this upheaval. It is quoted from the “record of a meeting between the cabinet delegation, Field Marshal Viscount Wavell and the representatives of the Sikh Community on Friday, 5th Aprill 1946 at 10 am” from vol. VII. p. 138.

“The mission had to consider whether power should be transferred to one, or two bodies, or even two or more than two. It also had to consider the future position of the Indian states. They would want to know from the Sikh delegation:

i. Whether, if the choice were given the Sikh Community would prefer the transfer of power to a single body, or to more than one body. ii. If power were transferred to two bodies, which would the Sikh Community wish to be part of. iii. If it were found to be practicable and could be arranged, as to wich the Secretary of State has formed no opinion, would the Sikhs wish to have a separate autonomous state of their own?”

Given this choice on a silver plate, how the Sikhs were made to miss the golden opportunity, angered the entire Sikh community. Now to put in proper perspective, it is decided to publish some of these rare documents.

3. Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru (Kaul Kashmiri Brahmin) at Calcutta in the All India Congress Working Committee meeting held on the 6th July, 1946 said:

6 ❖ Sikh Struggle for Survival “The brave Sikhs of the Punjab are entitled to special consideration. I see nothing wrong in an area and a set-up in the North wherein the Sikhs can also experience the glow of freedom.”

4. Congress Working Committee Resolution, 9th August, 1946. Wardha: “The Sikhs and the Constituent Assembly”

“The Working Committee has learnt with regret of the decisions of the Sikhs not to seek election to the Constituent Assembly. The Committee is aware that injustice has been done to the Sikhs and they have drawn the attention of the Cabinet delegation to it. They are however strongly of the opinion that the Sikhs would serve their cause and the cause of the country’s freedom better by participation in the Constituent Assembly than keeping out of it. The Committee therefore appeal to the Sikhs to reconsider their decision and express their willingness to take part in the Constituent Assembly. “The Working Committee assures the Sikhs that the Congress will give them all possible support in removing their legitimate grievances and in securing adequate safeguards for the protection of their just interests in Punjab.”

(Indian National Congress, March 1940 to Sept. 1946 – Being the resolutions passed by the Congress, ‘The All India Congress Committee and the Working Committee’ – pp. 168–169. published by Jugal Kishore, Gen. Secy. A.I.C.C Swaraj Bhawan, Allahabad)

5. Scope for Provincial Constitution, as per Rules and Procedure followed by Constituent Assembly.

In his speech in the House of Lords on 18th July 1946, Lord Pethick Lawrence said, “the mission had felt able to do

Baldev Singh ❖ 7 regarding the Sikhs was to nominate them in para 19 of the Statement of 16th May as one of the more important communities.” The Sikhs had however, only 4 out of the 28 seats allocated to the Punjab or 4 out of the 35 seats in the North-Western Section, ‘We hope,’ he continued, ‘that this situation will to some extent be remedied by their full representation in the Advisory Committee on minorities set up under Paragraph 20 of the statement of May 16. Over and above that we have represented to the two major parties, who were both most receptive in this matter, that some special means of giving the Sikhs a strong position in the affairs of the Punjab or in the North-Western Group Should be devised.’ (N. Mansergh, The Transfer of Power, Vol. IX, p. 218 fn)

Jinnah’s promise: The Viceroy had said that he would speak to the leaders of both major parties on the question whether the Sikhs could be granted in Section B a safeguard of the same kind. The Congress were agreeable to this request (Ibid., p. 266)

Mr. Jinnah had told him (Baldev Singh) only yesterday that the Sikhs should support Pakistan and provided they did so, the Muslims would see that they got a proper share of power in Pakistan. (ibid., p. 267, dated 4 Dec., 1946)

Giani Kartar Singh, the leader of the Akalis, “expressed some concern about the London Conference. I Know from intelligence reports that he thinks Baldev Singh now too much close to the Congress and Baldev Singh apparently decided to go to London without consulting Tara singh or the Giani.” (Ibid. p. 286, Sir E. Jenkins to Sir J. Colville)

8 ❖ Sikh Struggle for Survival Nehru’s assurance: Pt. Nehru stated in Indian conference in London on 6th Dec. 1946, “They could not conceive of any constitution imposed over one part of the country by another.” (Ibid., p. 299)

6. The British Cabinet Mission at Delhi (winter 1946) to S. Baldev Singh:

“The British Parliament in their solicitude for the Sikh people, was prepared to so frame the Independence Act of India, so that in respect of the Sikhs, wherever they might eventually go in Pakistan or India, no constitution shall be framed such as does not have the concurrence of the Sikhs.”

7. At the first meeting of the Constituent Assembly held on 9th December, 1946 at New Delhi, chaired by Rajindra Prasad, Jawahar lal Nehry moved first resolution:

“Adequate safeguards would be provided for minorities.

It was a declaration, a pledge and an undertaking before the world, a contract with milions of Indians, and therefore, in the nature of an oath, which we must keep.”

8. The British Cabinet’s proposal to S. Baldev Singh, “So as to enable the Sikhs to have political feet of their own which they may walk into the current of World History.”

9. Text of Resolution passed by All-India Congress Committee on 6th January 1947.

The A.I.C.C. having considered events that have taken place in the country since the Meerut Session of the Congress in

Baldev Singh ❖ 9 November last, the statement issued by the British Government on the 6th December 1946, and the statement of the Working Committee of the 22nd December 1946, advices Congressmen as follows:

1. The A.I.C.C. endorses the statement of the Working Committee of the 22nd December 1946 and express its agreement with the views contained therein…

4. The A.I.C.C. is anxious that the Constituent Assembly should proceed with the work of framing a Constitution for free India with the goodwill of all parties concerned and with a view to removing the difficulties that have arisen owing to varying interpretations, agree to advice action in accordance with the interpretations of the British Government in regard to the procedure to be followed in the Sections. It must be clearly understood however that this must not involve any compulsion of a province and that the rights of the Sikhs in the Punjab should not be jeopardized. In the event of ay attempt at such compulsion, the province or part of a province has a right to take such action as may be deemed necessary in order to give effects to the wishes of the people concerned. The future course of action will depend on the developments that take place and the A.I.C.C. therefore directs the Working Committee to advise upon it whenever circumstances so require keeping in view the basic principles of provincial autonomy. (The Transfer of Power, Vol. IX, pp. 462–63)

10. Winston Churchill had in February 1947, sent proposal to Sikh leaders of buffer Sikh state between Hindu India and

10 ❖ Sikh Struggle for Survival Muslim Pakistan and for defence treaty with U.K for 10 years, but Sikh leaders had refused!

11. “The Sikhs, who are in a position to negotiate on the spot, are disunited and poorly led by Master Tara Singh, “Stupid and emotional” Lord Wavell dt. 13.3.1947.

12. Hindu and Sikh (Congress and Akali) MLA’s Punjab Assembly at a meeting in July 1947 passed following Resolution:

“In the divided Indian Punjab special constitutional measures are imperative to meet just aspirations and right of the Sikhs.”

13. The British Government proposal dt. 27.6.47. of Sikh Eastern Punjab through their senior ICS officer Sir Edward Penderal Moon (Transfer of power, Vol. XI Document No. 371):

“It will considerably facilitate matters if it can be so arranged that the new Eastern Punjab has the strongest Sikh complexion and does not, therefore, include Gurgoan, Hisar, Rohtak and Karnal. The Sikhs have already put this demand to the Congress who hesitate to accept it. I would suggest that the Sikh demand should be encouraged and conceded. You can doubtless be of assistance in this regard.” “The step would be to indicate that it optional for this Sikh Eastern Punjab to join either Hindustan or Pakistan and there is no presumption that it must join one rather than the other. The Sikhs will probably make this clear themselves but if they make for some pronouncement to this effect from H.M.G. it will probably be advisable to accede to their request.”

Baldev Singh ❖ 11 14. Maharaja Yadavinder Singh of Patiala in his article in The Tribune, Chandigarh dt. 19.7.1959 writes:

“I remember Jinnah’s offer of Sikh State that, “the talk started and offers were made be Mr. Jinnah for practically everything under the Sun if I could agree to his plan. There were two aspects – one was based on the idea of Rajasthan and the other for a separate Sikh State – Punjab minus one or two districts in the South. I was to be head of the Sikh State, the same as in Patiala. The Sikhs would have their own army and so on. I told Mr. Jinnah that I could not accept either of his proposals”

“Dr. kirpal Singh misquotes him in The Sikh Review, Calcutta of September 1994 to m – isguide the Sikhs as follows: all these things sounded most attractive but I could not accept them being practical and neither could I change my conviction)

15. Khushwant Singh, eminent Sikh historian writes in his, A History of the Sikhs, Vol. II, at page 288:

“Jinnah told them that if they opted for Pakistan he would guarantee them protection of life, property, freedom to practice their religion and their privileges they had enjoyed under British rule. On the other hand leaders of the Congress, with whom they had much closer contacts than with those of the Muslim League, often, assured them that they should look upon India as their home. Speaking in Gurdwara Sis Ganj in Delhi March 1931, Mahatma Gandhi said: ‘Sikh friends have no reason to fear that the Congress Party will betray them. For the moment it does so, the Congress would not only thereby seal its own doom but that of the country too. Moreover the Sikhs are a great people.

12 ❖ Sikh Struggle for Survival They know how to safeguard their rights by the eercise of arms if it should come to that.”

16. JINNAH’S OFFER OF A SIKH STATE TO MAHARAJA YADAVINDER SINGH OF PATIALA: (TSR, August 1997)

It was raining heavily and my garden was enveloped in mist. We were having the first real mansoon downpour… I turned to deal with the quite formidable pile of letters on my desk. In one of these, I had been asked to write something on the various discussions I was a party to with the leaders of the political parties of India and the then Government of India, on behalf of the Indian States, during the period when negotiations were going on in Delhi for transfer of power and the establishment of our Independence. According to the writer of this letter, many of the events connected with the Indian states and the Sikhs may never be published, or at least only very briefly, depending upon who writes about them.

One could say a great deal about what took place during those days. How everyone was going about contacting every other person, thinking that he was the only one who knew the correct answer and the solution. It was a popular mental set-up. There was excitement that India would be free; yet there were long-drawn faces which thought that freedom would affect them vitally and they would lose what they possessed. On the other hand, there was feeling of helplessness and they could not do very much to continue with their old mode of life.

Of the parts of India which were going to be very vitally affected were the princely States. One of the question in regard to transfer of power was the inter-relationship between what was then called British India and the Indian States.

Baldev Singh ❖ 13 Enjoyed reading this sample?

Purchase the whole copy at