Monthly Archives: August 2018

While the word Panthic has a pervasive, inclusive and all-embracing meaning, it is unfortunately colloquially used in a political context by sectarian forces to try and erroneously divide politics and political constituencies between the Sikhs and non-Sikhs.

Manish Tewari
Member of Parliament, Anandpur Sahib

The Indian National Congress decided to field me from the Sri Anandpur Sahib parliamentary constituency in the recently concluded Lok Sabha elections.  Sri Anandpur Sahib is steeped in history.

Takht Sri Keshgarh Sahib, situated in the historic city of Anandpur Sahib, is among the most revered places of worship for the Sikhs. On the day of Baisakhi, April 13, 1699, Guru Gobind Singh initiated his followers into the order of the Khalsa. The Guru requested those present to volunteer their heads to him. When five brave men, now known as the Panj Piare (five beloved ones), came forward to lay down their lives, the Guru instead baptised them with amrit (holy water). The city of Anandpur Sahib began life as Chakk Nanaki, and was founded by Guru Tegh Bahadur in 1665. His son and the tenth Master, Guru Gobind Singh, spent 25 years of his life in this city.

The constituency is also home to the notable city of Chamkaur Sahib. The Battle of Chamkaur Sahib was fought between the Khalsa Army led by Guru Gobind Singh and the imperial Mughal forces commanded by Wazir Khan in 1704. It is here that Guru Gobind Singh’s two elder sons, Sahibzadas — Ajit Singh and Jujhar Singh– aged 18 and 14 years old, respectively, attained martyrdom while leading from the front. 

Hindus and Sikhs alike revere the historic shrine of Naina Devi, just 20 kilometers from Anandpur Sahib. Similarly, Khuralgarh Sahib is one of the most prominent places for the Ravidasia community. Situated in Garhshanker, Khuralgarh Sahib is also called Charan Choh Ganga Sri Guru Ravidas ji. The constituency also houses the ancestral village of Shaheed-e-Azam Bhagat Singh — Khatkar Kalan—where a memorial stands in his honour.  The constituency is also the crucible of the mighty Bhakra Nangal dam that Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru described as a temple of modern India.

Into these riveting currents of history and nationalism, I plunged headlong on April 15, 2019, after paying obeisance at the birthplace of the Khalsa. Right from the word go, my opponents started running a malicious and personalised campaign against me. The first attack was that I was an outsider, from Uttar Pradesh, since my surname ‘Tewari’ is found more in UP than in Punjab, who had just no business of contesting from a Panthic seat. Tewari is as much a common surname in Punjab as Pathak, Awasthi and Shukla. While the word panthic has a pervasive, inclusive and all embracing meaning, it is unfortunately colloquially used in a political context by sectarian forces to try and erroneously divide politics and political constituencies between the Sikhs and non-Sikhs. 

What was conveniently swept aside was that this is Guru Gobind Singh’s land who said: “Manas ki jat sabhe eke paihcanbo – recognise all of mankind as a single caste of humanity”.

What was also ignored was that my late mother Dr Amrit Kaur Tewari, a respected doctor, was a Jat Sikh and that my father late Dr VN Tewari was a distinguished scholar of Punjabi and a nominated Member of Parliament (Rajya Sabha) who fell to the bullets of terrorists. He was the standard-bearer of Punjab, Punjabi and Punjabiyat and had written a widely quoted book in the late 1960s that had established that the pre-eminent language of Chandigarh is Punjabi. It was buried in the sands of amnesia that I had been a Member of Parliament from Ludhiana earlier and had represented Punjab in the Union Council of Ministers.

The next attack came in the form of an anonymous highly defamatory and insidious video that was circulated on social media platforms like Facebook and WhatsApp. The sinister video alleged that the petrol to burn Sikhs in Delhi in November 1984 had come from my late father’s petrol pump. The video went viral in the constituency and across the world.  The fact that my late father was assassinated on April 3, 1984, by terrorists at our residence in Chandigarh a full seven months before the horrendous and macabre orgy of violence that unfolded in New Delhi and the fact that we have never ever owned a petrol pump in three generations did not stand in the way of my opponents spreading lies.  The police registered an FIR and arrested some disseminators of this malevolent video but the authors of it still remain at large.

With defeat staring my opponents in the face, they launched one final assault a day before polling. They faked my voice and put out another revolting video on social media platforms where I was ostensibly saying odious things about certain communities. I registered yet another FIR against the miscreants, though the producers and disseminators of this video still remain at large at the time of writing. All through this sustained assault, no social media platform took any responsibility for the dissemination of content on their platforms that could have brought my family and me to bodily harm in addition to whatever the political consequences could have been.

All through this Bacchanalia of odium and hate, I went about my campaign connecting with the people by looking deep into their eyes. However, in the eyes of the ordinary men and women, Sikh and non-Sikh alike, all I saw was love, care and compassion as I had seen during my earlier parliamentary campaigns in 2004 and 2009. They embraced me, blessed me as a human being surmounting all prejudices of caste, creed, religion and other forms of bigotry that divide us. No repulsive propaganda seemed to have had any impact on them whatsoever.

It once again reinforced what a Hindu father and a Jat Sikh mother had taught me and my younger sister in our growing up years in Chandigarh that the essence of Punjab is — Punjab, Punjabi and Punjabiyat. If there is truly a secular state in India, it is Punjab and I am honoured to be among the torchbearers of our composite culture.

Ghulam Nabi Azad. PTI file

New Delhi, June 24

Tearing into the BJP-led government, senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad on Monday said under the ‘New India’, humans are afraid of humans, those glorifying killers of Mahatma Gandhi are in the ruling party and hatred and lynchings are at its peak.

Speaking on the motion of thanks to the President’s address in the Rajya Sabha, Leader of the Opposition Azad said unemployment is at all-time high and heinous crime like rape on minors are abnormally on the rise.

Launching a scathing attack on the government and its policies, Azad said a party could win elections on divisive policies but the “nation stood defeated”.

He demanded: “Keep your New India to yourself but return our old India where there was a culture of love and …where there was no lynching and no hatred…Where Hindu and Muslims used to feel the pain of each other.”

Prime Minister Narendra Modi was present in the House during Azad’s address.

Referring to the President’s speech on Mahatma Gandhi’s 150^th anniversary celebrations, Azad said unfortunately a candidate of the ruling party called the killer of the Father of the Nation a patriot and no action was taken and the candidate was a parliamentarian now.

“My tongue will burn…I cannot repeat the remarks…I have a complaint to the Prime Minister, why didn’t you take action. Mahatma Gandhi may be Congress president but he was Father of the Nation…I would not have mentioned it here but President’s speech mentions his birth anniversary celebrations …the BJP should take action…It still has time till October…,” Azad said.

Azad, while attacking the BJP for defending 2008 Malegaon blast accused Sadhvi Pragya Thankur, however, did not mention her by name and said: “How is this possible and how someone can defend this? Though it doesn’t make any difference to us, this is a blot on the face of the ruling party which cannot be wiped out.”

He also referred to how former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru on complaints about a Congress candidate in 1952 had instead urged people to vote for an Independent candidate who had a clean image.

On ‘New India’, he said it was full of hatred where people were afraid of people and not afraid while being in Jungle.

“In Old India, there was no hatred, anger or lynching. New India is one where humans are enemies of each other. You won’t be scared of animals in a jungle but you’ll be scared of humans here. Give us India where Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs and Christians live for each other.”

He added: “I request you to keep the ‘New India’ to yourself and give us our old India where there was a culture of love. Hindus used to feel the pain when Muslims and Dalits used to get hurt. When something used to get into the eyes of Hindus, Muslims and Dalits used to shed tears for them.” About Jharkhand, he said it has become a lynching factory where Muslims and Dalits were lynched and attacked routinely.

Reacting to a recent case of lynching in the state, he said, “Jharkhand has become a factory of lynching and violence. Dalits and Muslims are being killed there every week. PM Modi, we are with you in the fight of ‘Sabka saath sabka vikas’ but it should be there for people to see it. We can’t see it anywhere.”

In a recent lynching incident, Tabrez Ansari, 22, died in a Jharkhand hospital on Sunday, days after he was brutally thrashed by a mob at Dhatkidih village in Seraikela district on suspicion of stealing a bike.

The lynching was reported days after similar incidents in other parts of the country.

Azad said the BJP government banked on tall promises and publicity and failed to translate things into reality.

“We prefer to remain in opposition for 1,000 years but cannot adopt your path…We cannot run government through TV..We can afford to be out of Parliament…A party can win on decisive policies but the Nation has lost..We want victory of the country,” he said.

He said rapes were at an all time high including henious crimes like rapes on minor and that  “Beti Padhao and Beti Bachao” was just plain talks.

Azad said crime against women have risen manifold  and urged government to ensure 50 per cent reservation to women in Parliament as it was having absolute majority.

He said Congress’s attempts were thwarted last time though the Women’s reservation Bill was passed in Rajya Sabha.

Unemployment, he said was at its peak with government trying to curb reports by various agencies and that the youth who voted for BJP needed justice. He said as per NSSO report, the unemployment was highest in the last five years.

Azad said the efforts to make MSME and small industries flourish were throttled in the name of “demonetisation” and poor implementation of GST and alleged the government benefitted only a few industrialists.

He also added that 73 per cent of the wealth was concentrated in the hands of 8 per cent people.

Azad said National Crime Bureau records 2016 data show that crime against women increased 83 per cent with 39 crimes in an hour and that there was 63.79 per cent increase in incidents of rape during NDA rule.

He alleged a new trend has been set by this government by curbing independent reports and the practice of reports being laid in Parliament being done away with.

Also majority of the funds of “Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao” were spent on publicity, he alleged, and added that the government failed to empower women.

He asked it to stop “shedding crocodile tears” and do something to ensure women’s empowerment.

On triple Talaq legislation, he said, the Opposition was also in favour but the government’s intent should be clean.

Azad said that rays of hope for communal harmony were not visible under the new regime as the Ministers who issued statements against minorities and Dalits were not changed and cited example of how former PM Rajiv Gandhi had removed a party general secretary for a statement against communal harmony then.

He also attacked the BJP saying if the former Prime Ministers Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi, Lal Bahadur Shastri and Rajiv Gandhi did not do anything then who laid the foundation of power plants, dams and hydro-elctric projects, and cautioned the government to not be so callous.

He said cooperative federalism has been demolished and alleged how in Arunachal Pradesh the Congress government which had 3/4^th majority was toppled with Assembly speaker election held in a restaurant and CM election in a bar.

He also cited examples of Manipur, Goa, Tripura, Gujarat and Karnataka governments.

Azad said no state was left and it left swords of Income Tax, Enforcement Directorate, CBI etc hang on them.

He said that the success of the Economic Offenders and Fugitive Bill could be understood from the fact that big offenders had left the country and small joined the party.

About Jammu & Kashmir, he said that ever since militancy was curbed 15 years ago, it witnessed highest deaths of army personnel and civilians and dared the governmet to hold elections in Jammu & Kashmir, alleging it had continued President’s Rule for its convenience. PTI

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A pall of gloom descended on Samana as the mortal remains of 27-year-old Flight Lieutenant Mohit Garg, who lost his life in the AN-32 crash in Arunachal Pradesh on June 3, reached his home on Friday.

A large number of people had turned up to bid a tearful adieu to Flight Lieutenant Mohit Garg.

Heart-rending scenes were witnessed after the mortal remains of Garg, draped in the tricolour, reached his home at Aggarsen colony here. His family members were inconsolable.

The mortal remains of Mohit were consigned to flames with full state honours at a cremation ground in Samana.

The Indian Air Force on Thursday completed the task of retrieving bodies of all its 13 personnel from the crash site of its AN-32 aircraft in the Pari mountains in Siang district of Arunachal Pradesh and flew them to Jorhat airport in Assam.

Punjab Cabinet minister Vijay Inder Singla was present to pay tributes along with senior IAF officers, besides personnel from the police and civil administration.

Slogans such as ‘Mohit Amar Rahe’, ‘Jab Tak Suraj Chand Rahega, Mohit Tera Naam Rahega’ and ‘Bharat Mata Ki Jai’ were shouted when the mortal remains were being taken to the cremation ground.

A number of relatives and family members of Garg were crying inconsolably as the mortal remains in the coffin were kept for mourners to pay their last respects.

The funeral pyre was lit by Mohit’s younger brother Ashwani Garg.

Mohit Garg (27) got married a year ago and his wife Astha was posted in a bank in Assam.

All 13 personnel aboard the Russian-made AN-32 had perished in the crash on June 3 about 30 minutes after the aircraft took off from Jorhat in Assam for Menchuka in Arunachal Pradesh.

The plane had simply gone missing and remained traceless till June 11, when its wreckage was located in the Pari mountains.

The Indian Air Force had been making efforts to retrieve the bodies from the crash site since then but the inclement weather and difficult terrain had been making the recovery difficult.  With inputs from Agencies 

Exchange of firing is on. Tribune file photo

Tribune News Service

Srinagar, June 30

A militant was on Sunday killed in a gunfight with security forces in Budgam district of Jammu and Kashmir, the police said.

Security forces launched a cordon and search operation in Bugam area of Budgam district in central Kashmir Sunday morning following specific inputs about the presence of militants there, a police official said.

He said as the forces were conducting searches, the militants fired upon them.

The forces retaliated, ensuing an encounter in which one militant was killed, the official said.

He said the body has been recovered along with arms and ammunition, adding the identity and group affiliation of the slain ultra was being ascertained.

The Indian army has revised its policy for the p ..

Read more at:
https://www.businessinsider.in/indian-army-brings-in-new-rules-for-its-officers-and-jawans-for-csd-facility/articleshow/69988073.cms?utm_source=contentofinterest&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=cppst

From June 1, only vehicles with an engine capacity up to 2,500 CC and costing up to Rs 12 lakh will be available through Canteen Stores Department for serving and retired officers of Indian defence forces.

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Ajay Banerjee
Tribune News Service
Gwalior, June 24

Just 24 hours before the Indian Air Force launched the airstrikes on Balakot in Pakistan, the Mirage 2000 fighter jet base at Gwalior was abuzz with activity.

The young pilots knew something was on since they had been sent on regular combat air patrols at night. Like all other fighter bases in North India, Gwalior was on operational readiness after the February 14 terror attack on a CRPF convoy, that killed 40 troops at Pulwama.

Around 4 pm on February 25, things became clear when technical teams started to ‘feed’ the Spice 2000 bombs with geo-coordinates of the Jaish-e-Mohammad terror camp, which was finally attacked some 12 hours later at 3.30 am on February 26.

A small chip in the Spice 2000 holds the key information on how the bomb will travel and hit the target. After its release, it travels on an inbuilt ‘seeking device’ to hit the target. “No target was missed,” say the teams.

The town hosts three squadrons of Mirage 2000 — BattleAxes, Tigers, Wolfpack.

That night, the strike pack flew off at 2 am, like on a combat patrol. A small number of Sukhoi 30 MKI fighter jets showed up at the western front over Rajasthan. In this backdrop, the Mirage pilots flew almost behind the Himalayan ridge line to avoid Pakistani radars.

The last “90 seconds” of the mission meant every  communication equipment was switched off. The pilots then turned back. Some landed at Agra, some at Adampur. Their mates back in Gwalior were all smiles,  this was the first hit into Pakistan since the 1971 Indo-Pak War.

For feb 26 air attack

The Mirage 2000 jets were armed with two separate types of Israeli ammunition.  While the Spice 2000 is designed to penetrate deep inside the structures, the Crystal Maze was to send back video feed.

When pak tried to repeat kargil in 2002

Gwalior: The IAF on Monday publically admitted that Pakistan tried to repeat a Kargil-type intrusion in July-August 2002, but was rebuffed. IAF jets straffed Pakistan occupation some 3-4 kms on the Indian side of Line of Control in ‘Kel’ sector in north-west part of J&K. Air Marshal Rajesh Kumar, who is commanding Central Air Command, said, “We wanted to send a message without declaring war. It was a secret affair.” TNS

War-footing: Soldiers of 15th Ludhiana Sikhs were among the first Indian troops to disembark at Marseille. Photo courtesy: USI, New Delhi

Singapore, June 21

Sikhs in the United Kingdom have demanded a war memorial to be dedicated to the martyred community members who fought for the British during World Wars I and II, a senior community member has said.

Statistical data has been used effectively to lobby the government and other public authorities to ensure that a space can be found in central London for the memorial, Jasvir Singh, who chaired the British Sikh Report 2019, said.

“A vast majority of Sikhs want to have a war memorial in central London dedicated to Sikhs who died in the First and Second World Wars,” he said.

“There have been memorials that have been made across the country as well and dedicated to those who died in the two wars,” he said.

Singh was in Singapore to attend the International Conference on Cohesive Societies from June 19-21.

Singh leads the ‘Grand Trunk Project’ which brings Hindu, Muslim, and Sikh communities of British-Asian heritage, along with smaller communities from the Subcontinent, together in dialogue and understanding.

In his work on Sikhs, Hindus and Muslims as minority in the UK, Singh hopes “that people are able to see the similarities, respect and celebrate the differences”. Expressing his views on the 100th anniversary of the Jallianwala Bagh massacre, he referred to the British Sikh Report 2019 and said 85 per cent of British Sikhs believe that events like this should be taught in schools in the United Kingdom.

According to the survey in the report, 79 per cent of respondents believe that the British Government should apologise for the Jallianwala Bagh massacre.

“This view was shared across the age groups with those aged 19 and under and those aged 65 or more, (who) most likely to want an apology,” Singh said.

The survey included nearly 2,500 respondents spread across the United Kingdom. PTI

New Delhi, June 18

Reversing a two-year-old order, the government today okayed the restoration of ration supply in kind for officers of the armed forces.

In July 2017, the government had stopped rations to officers on peace postings and instead started giving a monetary allowance per man per month as per instructions.

The allowance for the ongoing fiscal was Rs 117.29 per month. The decision had led to confusion as officers on peace posting frequently went out with their units for field exercises, where their troops were getting rations, but they had to make “own arrangements”. 

In the Army, when in a field exercise or on a forward location, the officers are supposed to have the same food as the troops. Similarly, some of the special forces of the Army, Navy and the IAF are based in what are classified as “peace postings” but are constantly training and the troops and officers again eat the same food. A large chunk of the forces, especially the Army, is deployed in forward areas.

The move had outraged the serving community and a serving Colonel sent a legal notice to the government, warning he would go to court if the order was not rolled back. 

Officers are required to have a daily calorie intake of 1,800 to 2,000, which was not possible with the allowance.

And the existing supply of rations was not resulting in a major fiscal outgo as bulk purchases meant cheaper rates of items. The forces have ‘scale’ of ration, which could be two eggs a day, some grams of chicken or mutton, or paneer and fresh vegetables. — TNS

Washington, June 8

The Trump administration has approved sale of armed drones to India and has offered integrated air and missile defence systems aimed at helping the country boost military capabilities and protect shared security interests in strategically important Indo-Pacific region.

The approval-cum-offer from the US came in the aftermath of the February 14 Pulwama attack in which 40 Indian soldiers were killed and the increasing militarisation and assertiveness of China in the Indo-Pacific ocean.

During the June 2017 meeting between PM Narendra Modi and President Donald Trump, the US had agreed to sell surveillance version of the Guardian drones. India was first non-treaty partner to be offered a MTCR Category-1 Unmanned Aerial System, the Sea Guardian UAS made by General Atomics. — PTI