He rebelled against the focus on ritual, terming it vacuous if not accompanied with a pure life and chanting of God’s name

Shashi Uban Tripathi

Guru Nanak has invariably been considered with the Bhakti poets and is often described as one of the leading voices of the Bhakti movement. This perception is reinforced by his emphasis on love and devotion to God, the one Creator — Ek Onkar — who is the Truth, who is without fear and without enmity, who is eternal and immortal, who is self-created and who is revealed by the grace of Guru.

This is how Guru Nanak has been perceived in the general consciousness down the ages. But a study of his life and teachings makes it quite apparent that he was a rebel with a cause. In today’s parlance, he would have been described as a social activist. He rebelled against the overwhelming focus of the day on ritual — terming it vacuous and meaningless if not accompanied with a good, pure life and the chanting of God’s name. He asked the Pandit who had come to perform his Yagnopavit ceremony to give him a thread woven of the cotton of compassion, knotted with contentment and truth and one which will neither break nor get burnt or dirty. Blessed would be the one who wore such a sacred thread, he said. If you have such a thread, give it to me, he told the non-plussed priest.

On seeing the evening worship, the aarti, being performed at the Jagannath temple in Puri, Guru Nanak thought it would be a pity to have such a small aarti for the Lord of the Universe: Let the sky be the salver, the sun and moon the lamps, and the myriads of stars the offering of pearls; let fragrant nature be the incense, and flowers of all hues deck the salver. Such an aarti is worthy of that Dispeller of all Fears, the Ultimate Reality. This poem is said to have had tremendous impact on Guru Rabindranath Tagore, who penned similar ideas in a poem in Gitanjali.

One of his most revolutionary concepts was denouncing the theory of sanyas as the means of salvation. Nanak taught that a householder who earned a living through hard work, who shared his earnings with the family and community and who managed to chant the Lord’s name, would attain salvation much faster than a mendicant or a renunciate. To live amidst temptation and yet be untouched by it was the greatest form of austerity.

After travelling the known world (including Mecca and Medina) for close to 30 years, Baba Nanak settled down in Kartarpur to the life of a simple farmer. Here he started the tradition of langar. This was later institutionalised by the second Guru, Angad Dev, and sanctified by the third Guru, Amar Das.

The idea behind langar was not just food security or feeding the poor. It went much beyond that to embrace equality of all human beings — rich and poor, Hindu and Muslim, Brahmin and Shudra. Men and women were expected to sit together on the floor and partake of the same simple meal. When one thinks of those times when untouchability was rife and Hindus and Muslims would not drink water from the same tap, let alone eat from the same kitchen, the mind is stunned at how audacious this idea was.

No less revolutionary was Guru Nanak’s defence of women. Very few people understood a young Nanak and his great mission. Of the two who did was his elder sister, Bebe Nanaki (the other being Rai Bular, the ruler of Rai Bhoi di Talwandi, where Nanak was born). It is possible that this relationship with his elder sister coloured his view and respect for women. At a time when women’s status had been seriously eroded, he raised his voice against the denunciation of women, asking why women are bad-mouthed when they are central to life and living.

Man is born of woman, nourished and nurtured by her. In youth, he befriends a woman, marries her and brings her home. When she dies, he brings another. Why then is she who gives birth to rulers and kings, abused and called bad, he asks. The only one beyond the pale of a woman’s influence is that One Cosmic Reality who embodies the Truth. Such a spirited defence of women is hard to find among the leaders and savants of the 15th century, 550 years ago.

To categorise Guru Nanak as a mere Bhakti poet is to limit the tremendous sweep of his revolutionary ideas and practices.

— The writer is a former ambassador

Jammu, November 8

A soldier was killed in a gunbattle with terrorists who, aided by cover fire by the Pakistan army, tried to cross the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir’s Poonch district on Friday, a defence spokesman said.

The Indian Army observed suspicious movement of terrorists in the Krishna Ghati Sector of Poonch district around 2.30 am, he said.

In the exchange of fire, sepoy Rahul Bhairu Sulagekar sustained gunshot wounds and was evacuated to the nearest medical aid centre, where he succumbed to his injuries. “The Pakistan Army violated ceasefire and abetted terrorists who were involved in suspicious movement in the Krishna Ghati sector in Poonch district around 2.30 am,” the defence spokesman said.

Sulagekar, 21, belonged to Uchagaon village in Belgavi district of Karnataka. He is survived by his mother.

“He was a brave, highly motivated and sincere soldier. The nation will always remain indebted to him for his supreme sacrifice and devotion to duty,” the spokesman said.

According to reports, the terrorists were part of the BAT team, who had infiltrated into this side of the LoC to attack an Army listening post. — TNS

Two Army men killed in Kupwara road mishap

Srinagar, November 7

Two Army jawans died in a road accident in Kupwara district of Jammu and Kashmir, officials said on Thursday.

An Army vehicle met with an accident in the Langate area of Kupwara on Wednesday night due to poor visibility caused by heavy snowfall, an Army official said.

Rifleman Bhim Bahadur Pun and Gunner Akhilesh Kumar died in the accident, the official said.

A wreath-laying ceremony was held here to pay tributes to the deceased jawans, the official added. — PTI

Ravi Dhaliwal

Tribune News Service

Dera Baba Nanak, November 5

The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) is yet to respond to Pakistan government’s proposal of waiving the requirement of a passport for Sikh pilgrims to travel through the corridor to Kartarpur shrine, following which confusion reigns supreme.

Five days after Pakistan PM Imran Khan tweeted about the waiver, the online portal established by India still asks for a copy of the passport to be uploaded.

Officials claim Khan’s tweet holds no relevance till the MEA comes up with clear-cut instructions. The government has also yet to make it clear the nature of the ID card to be carried by pilgrims if at all a passport is not required. Khan’s so-called waiver, meanwhile, has evoked strong reactions.

Dubai-based businessman SPS Oberoi, who is making liberal donations, said it was beyond the jurisdiction of the Pakistan PM to announce the passport waiver.

“It is a matter to be sorted out between two countries,” he said. “He can waive off the $20 fee. However, on that count he is maintaining silence. Let both countries talk and settle the passport issue while Khan should waive off the service tax fee not only on November 9 and 12 as envisaged by him but on all days,” said Oberoi.

Officials, not willing to be named, said the Pakistan PM was “politicising and communalising” the corridor opening by announcing waivers for just Sikhs.

“Perhaps Khan is unaware that thousands of Hindus, both in India and abroad, follow the teachings of Guru Nanak and regularly visit gurdwaras,” added Oberoi.

Meanwhile, the Pakistani government has announced that devotees can cross over from 7 am till 11.30 am and will have to return between 12.30 pm and 5 pm. Pilgrims will have to complete all the formalities at the Integrated Check Post (ICP) in Dera Baba Nanak before they can proceed to the Pakistan ICP, 600 m away.

The passing-out ceremony of soldiers of Ladakh Scouts Regiment in Leh on Saturday. Tribune photo

Our Correspondent

Jammu, November 2

As many as 164 youths join the Army’s Ladakh Scouts Regiment as young soldiers in Leh on Saturday.

An impressive ceremony, conducted as per the traditions of the Army, was reviewed by Major-General Sanjiv Rai, General Officer Commanding (GOC), Trishul Division. It was attended by a spectrum of civil and military dignitaries, including war heroes of the regiment and parents of the recruits.

A spectacular attestation parade was held at the Ladakh Scouts Regimental Centre, Leh, to mark the entry of 164 well-trained recruits into the regiment as soldiers.

These soldiers, hailing from all regions of Ladakh, took oath in unison to serve the nation. The reviewing officer congratulated them for the impressive parade and urged them to devote their life in service to the nation as proud soldiers of the Army.

He also complimented the parents of the young soldiers on having motivated their wards to join the regiment. He exhorted the young soldiers to continue to strive hard in pursuit of excellence in all spheres and take a solemn vow to uphold the sovereignty of the nation against all odds in the true spirit of the Army.

Young riflemen who did exceedingly well during the training were awarded medals for their outstanding performance during training. Gaurav Padaks were presented to the proud parents whose wards joined the regiment as young soldiers.

New Delhi : Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) was formally bifurcated into two Union territories with the swearing in of lieutenant governors in Srinagar and Leh on Thursday, in a historic move that was celebrated in Ladakh, cautiously welcomed in Jammu, but drew a muted response in the Kashmir valley.

STEPPING INTO HISTORY First lieutenant governor of Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir Girish Chandra Murmu (left) and his Ladakh counterpart Radha Krishan Mathur take oath of office in Srinagar and Leh, respectively, on Thursday. AFP

The event was hailed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and home minister Amit Shah, with the former saying the decision to nullify Article 370 and bifurcate the state will bring political stability and end corruption in the region. “The new system in Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh is not meant to draw a line on the land but to build a strong link of trust,” Modi said at a ceremony in Gujarat to mark the birth anniversary of Vallabhbhai Patel, the first home minister of India.

Modi said Patel inspired him to effectively revoke Article 370 and added that unity in diversity was India’s strength.

“The country took the decision to scrap Article 370, which had only given separatism and terrorism to that state,” he added.

Shah said that Article 370, which gave special status to J&K, and 35A, which gave special privileges to its residents, were gateways of terrorism that had now been closed.

The Jammu & Kashmir Reorganisation Act, passed in Parliament in early August, says J&K will be a UT with an elected legislative assembly and a chief minister, while Ladakh will be governed by the LG and have two hill development councils.

related reports, P8

New Delhi, October 30

The Centre will be in direct control of the police and the law and order in Jammu and Kashmir from Thursday when it becomes a Union Territory, while the land will be under the elected government there.

According to the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019, the land—the rights in or over it—will be with the elected government of the Union Territory (UT) of Jammu and Kashmir, unlike in Delhi where the LG exercises control through the Delhi Development Authority (DDA), a central government entity.

The Act says the Legislative Assembly of the UT of Jammu and Kashmir may make laws for the whole or any part of the union territory with respect to any of the matters enumerated in the state list of the Constitution except the subjects mentioned in entries one and two—‘public order’ and ‘police’ respectively—or the Concurrent List in the Seventh Schedule of the Constitution.

Police, and law and order in Delhi and Puducherry, both of which have their own legislative assembly, is controlled by the Centre through the Lieutenant Governor (LG).

All India Services like the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) and the Indian Police Service (IPS), and the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) will be under the control of the LG and not the elected government of the UT of Jammu and Kashmir.

The services and the ACB have been among the key reasons for frequent tussle between the Arvind Kejriwal-led Delhi government and the Lieutenant Governor.

The Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act says matters related to land, that is to say rights in or over it, land tenures, transfer and alienation of agricultural land, land improvement and agricultural loans will be under the domain of the elected government of the UT of Jammu and Kashmir.

Land revenue, including the assessment and collection, maintenance of land records, survey for revenue purposes and records of rights, and alienation of revenues will also come under the purview of the elected government of UT of Jammu and Kashmir.

Police, law and order, and land in the UT of Ladakh will be under the direct control of its LG, through whom the Centre will administer the high-altitude region. According to the Act, Ladakh will not have a legislative assembly.

On and from the appointed day, that is October 31, when the two new UTs will come into existence, the High Court of Jammu and Kashmir shall be the common high court for the UTs of Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh            The judges of the high court of J-K will become the judges of the common high court from Thursday.

The Act says the cadres of the IAS and IPS for the existing state of Jammu and Kashmir, on and from the appointed day, shall continue to function on the existing cadres.

However in future, the all India service officers to be posted to UTs of Jammu and Kashmir or Ladakh shall be borne on the Arunachal Pradesh, Goa, Mizoram and Union Territory cadre, more popularly known as UT cadre.

The total strength of the UT of Jammu and Kashmir assembly is 107 elected MLAs, which will be enhanced to 114 after delimitation. Twenty-four seats of the Assembly will continue to remain vacant as they fall under Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK). —PTI

Deepkamal Kaur

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, October 22

As many as 20 Indian-origin politicians have scripted history by making it to Canadian parliament — House of Commons — in this year’s general election. Of these, 19 are Punjabis. As many as 19 Indians, including 18 Punjabis, got elected in the 2015 elections.

Ontario alone has sent as many as 12 Indo-Canadian leaders to parliament, while British Columbia (BC) has elected four, Alberta three and Quebec one (Liberal Party’s Anju Dhillon). Like last time, Liberal Chanderkanth Arya of Karnataka is the lone non-Punjabi Indian to make it from Napean (Ontario).

While Barnala-origin Jagmeet Singh, whose National Democratic Party (NDP) won 24 seats and may turn out to be the kingmaker, won from BC’s Burnaby South, no other Punjab-origin candidate of the party could win a seat.

As expected, the Punjabi community has clearly gone with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Liberal Party, repeating the 1993 scenario. As many as 14 of the 18 Punjabi candidates fielded by the party registered wins.

These include three ministers — Hoshiarpur’s Harjit Sajjan (Vancouver South), Ludhiana’s Bardish Chagger (Waterloo) and Navdeep Bains (Mississauga Malton) — Sukh Dhaliwal (Surrey Newton), hockey legend Baljit Sikand’s son Gagan Sikand (Mississauga Streetsville), Jalandhar’s Rameshwar Sangha (Brampton Centre), Randeep Sarai (Surrey Centre), Maninder Sidhu (Brampton East), Kamal Khera (Brampton East), Ruby Sahota (Brampton North), Sonia Sidhu (Brampton South), Anju Dhillon (Lachine Lassalle) and Raj Saini (Kitchener Centre) and Anita Anand (Oakville).

Conservatives fielded 19 Punjabi candidates, but only four sailed through — former MP Tim Uppal (Edmonton Mill Woods), third-timer Bob Saroya (Markham Unionville), first-timer Jasraj Hallan (Calgary Forest Lawn) and Jagdeep Sahota (Calgary Skyview).

The most prominent candidate to lose is former minister Amarjit Sohi, who lost to Uppal, a native of Raikot’s Bassian village in Ludhiana and the brother-in-law of Jalandhar Cantt Congress MLA Pargat Singh.

Khera gets 2nd term, makes Kharar proud

Our Correspondent

Kharar, October 22

Kharar MLA Kanwar Sandhu has hailed Kamal Khera, having ancestral links with nearby Bhago Majra village, who has been re-elected as an MP from Canada’s Brampton West seat.

Hailing from Liberal Party, it will be her second term. Her first election came in 2015 in Ottawa. Khera is a practicing nurse and the first generation immigrant whose family came to Canada when she was a child. Kanwar Sandhu said when she came to India in December 2018 on a private visit, he took her to her ancestral village where she was honoured by people. She visited her ancestors’ haveli and also a gurdwara to which her grandfather Mansa Singh had given donation. The MLA had given her memento.

Sandhu said her father was a scientist and mother a teacher. They shifted to Delhi due to her father’s job. Her grandfather Mansa Singh was a prominent person of the village. “We are proud of her,” he added.

After her win, Khera told Canadian media, “The last four years have been the greatest honour of my life, representing the great people of Brampton West. We accomplished a lot together.”

When she was first elected in 2015, she was the youngest Liberal MP in Ottawa and second-youngest of any party, at just 26 years old.

NEW DELHI: A parliamentary panel headed by former Union minister Jual Oram will critically examine the cases of accidents involving defence assets and also assess the defence procurement policy. The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Defence has selected a number of subjects for examination, which include reviewing the selection procedure of officers in the armed forces, according to the Lok Sabha secretariat’s bulletin.

“Accidents involving defence assets – a critical review, an asse ..

Despite a stable relationship at the strategic level, China is annoyed with India and the reasons are not difficult to discern. China thinks of itself as a great power and, as part of its grand strategy, seeks to dominate the region and gain geopolitical influence. India, poised at a breakout moment, looks at itself as a co-equal power in Asia and a rising power.

Gurmeet Kanwal
Former Director, Centre for Land  Warfare Studies (CLAWS), New Delhi

APART from the formation of a ministerial-level group to discuss bilateral trade issues, the only positive development of the Narendra Modi-Xi Jinping summit meeting was that it was held in a cordial atmosphere and that one more will follow next year. None of India’s core concerns, like the resolution of the territorial dispute, were addressed.

China opposes India with a vengeance at international fora. It has repeatedly blocked India’s application for membership of the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG). China’s technical hold on Masood Azhar, head of the Pakistan-based terrorist organisation Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM), being designated an international terrorist by the United Nations sanctions committee was recently lifted very reluctantly. Although India was finally admitted as a full member of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) at the Astana summit on June 9, 2017, China made sure that Pakistan was given the same status simultaneously.

In the past, China has objected to India’s Oil and Natural Gas Commission (ONGC) prospecting for oil off the coast of Vietnam, even though the area was within Vietnam’s territorial waters. China, of course, claims the complete South China Sea as its territorial waters in complete disregard of the Law of the Sea Treaty.

China’s leadership loses no opportunity to show its annoyance with India over even inconsequential issues. In March 2017, the Chinese Foreign Ministry issued a statement saying that it was ‘strongly dissatisfied’ with India for inviting the Dalai Lama to open an international Buddhist conference in Nalanda, Bihar. Beijing protested even more loudly when the Dalai Lama visited Tawang in Arunachal Pradesh a few weeks later. China claims the state of Arunachal Pradesh as its own territory.

Chinese state-controlled media have made it a habit to periodically warn India of dire consequences on one pretext or the other. Global Times, a Communist Party-controlled English language newspaper, has led the charge. A commentary in the paper in 2017 warned India not to ‘meddle’ as China’s Defence Minister visited Nepal and Sri Lanka.

Around the same time, an editorial threatened to engage India in a ‘geopolitical game’: “With a GDP several times higher than that of India, military capabilities that can reach the Indian Ocean and having good relations with India’s peripheral nations, coupled with the fact that India’s turbulent northern state borders China, if China engages in a geopolitical game with India, will Beijing lose to New Delhi?” ‘Turbulent northern state’ clearly refers to Jammu and Kashmir (J&K).

China showed no concern for Indian sensitivities while finalising plans for the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) that will pass through Gilgit-Baltistan, an area that is part of J&K, but under Pakistani occupation. India’s refusal to participate in President Xi Jinping’s Belt and Road Initiative prompted Global Times to once again warn India that its shortsighted attitude could damage Sino-Indian relations.

On other occasions, Global Times has advised India not to play the Taiwan card. After India had tested the Agni-4 ballistic missile, an editorial pointed out ominously that if the development of long-range missiles by India continues, “the range of Pakistan’s nuclear missiles will also see an increase.”

Commenting on the establishment of the India-Afghanistan direct air freight corridor (Pakistan denies India access to Afghanistan through the land route), Global Times called the plan India’s ‘stubborn geopolitical thinking’. China is deeply suspicious of the growing Indo-US strategic partnership and on the eve of Prime Minister Modi’s meeting with President Donald Trump, it put out that a close watch would be kept on what is discussed.

Clearly, despite a stable relationship at the strategic level, China is annoyed with India and the reasons are not difficult to discern. China thinks of itself as a great power and, as part of its grand strategy, seeks to dominate the region and gain geopolitical influence. Also, the Chinese leadership believes in China’s “political, social and cultural superiority over its neighbours.” In short, the Chinese believe that their civilisation is far superior to the civilisations of China’s neighbours.

According to a Chinese saying, “One mountain can accommodate only one tiger.” The Chinese look at themselves as the tiger on the Asian mountain and, in their view, there is no place for a second tiger like India. If India were to play second fiddle, if Prime Minister Narendra Modi were to carry a platter of gold coins and pay obeisance to ‘King Emperor’ Xi Jinping every year, the Chinese would welcome their Indian brothers with open arms and radiant smiles. There would be more shouts of the deceptively enthralling slogan of the 1950s: Hindi-Chini, bhai-bhai.

Unfortunately for China, that is not how the script plays out in India’s scheme of things. India is conscious that China’s growing power and influence pose a long-term strategic challenge, not only for India but also for the entire Indo-Pacific region. However, India is itself growing at a rapid rate and is confident of closing the gap.

Resurgent India, poised at a breakout moment in its history, looks at itself as a co-equal power in Asia — a rising power that is conscious of its regional responsibilities and increasingly more willing to contribute positively to peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific region and the security of the global commons.

The China-India geopolitical standoff is a clash of two competing world views. China is engaged in the strategic encirclement of India through its proxies like Pakistan and its ‘string of pearls’ strategy in the northern Indian Ocean. In the South China Sea dispute as well, China has exhibited a remarkably high order of belligerence. To counter China’s increasing military assertiveness, India should join hands with the United States and other strategic partners, such as Australia, Japan, Singapore, South Korea and Vietnam, to establish a cooperative security framework for peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific.

Finally, as long as the territorial dispute with China is not resolved and transgressions by patrols from the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) continue across the Line of Actual Control, India should keep its powder dry.