vwihgurU jI kw ^wlsw]
vwihgurU jI kI &qih]
The first post was just a sort of an introduction to the whole power struggle between the so called "singhs" and the "Koamnshuts" also known as moderates. They say that it takes two to tangle, and one hand never claps. That was especially true in this case. I will never forget those days when you never knew what was going to happen next. There was so much animosity and tension for no reason. So now after like 7 years after it all happened, I am now going to attempt to analyze it as best as I could.
The "Koamnshuts"
I am first going to start with the pro-tables & chairs faction of sikhs. Actually the term sikh is the last thing I would use to describe these bunch of koamnshuts. I am writing about these guys first because most of the people that read this will agree with me to a certain extent. The vast majority of the koamnshuts are staunch communists who in a way do not believe in any supreme being (Waheguru). Well that is the general consensus that people have about them. But I know some people that side with them are very spiritual but have had bad experiences dealing with the “singhs.” Although most of them have no fear of whaeguru, they sill are not “bad” people. I know this because in high school I have had some friends that were much better than the “singhs” both personality and character wise.
The main thing that bothers me about them is that they want to mend and bend sikhi to meet their tastes and perceptions, which are sometimes innocent and no evil is intended. These people were the ones that made divisions in sikhi here in BC. Now the media had a major role to play in this but, the koamnshuts wanted to be labeled as politically correct and accepted by the society at large.
They chose to be called moderates. According to them this lifestyle that they lead was a scaled down version of the sikhi that all the other Sikhs follow. An example of this is that at their main centers in the lower mainland, there had not been even one Amrit Sanchaar done in the past 7 years. Isn’t that amazing? This is how low they have gone. Balwant gill is perhaps the most influential and powerful leader of the Koamnshuts. He was quoted as saying that, “If we have an amrit sanchaar at our gurdwara, that will mean that the Singhs will become greater in number, and we don’t want that happening.”
And when I say that these guys are Koamnshuts(communists) I am not joking. At one nagar kirtan a few years ago they had Harkrishan Surjit, the top leader of the Indian Communist Party as the chief guest. That was sick. The message that they send to all the youth is very negative. How could a bunch of communist promote religion? It’s absurd.
Alcohol in sikhi is considered a major sin. Shri Guru Granth Sahib Jee is against it. But the likes of Balwant Gill are the presidents of the No. 1 gurdwara in Western Canada, and openly drink and drive. He was caught a few years ago but Uajjal Dosanjh came to his rescue and had all the charges dropped. But that did not have any affect on these communists, there are people that say that the committee of Guru nanak Sikh Temple Surrey, Delta drink in the office. I don’t know is this is true or not, but allegations like these should not surface in the first place.
Now to the reason why they became so opposed to the “singhs.” Most of these people were involved with the nexalite movement of the late 70’s and early 80’s.(Nexlites were basically communists that wanted to take over gurdwarrai, they had contol of the Ross Street Gurdwara once) But they were committed to doing sewa and service to the community. Many of them gave money and committed labor to construct the Surrey gurdwara. When everything was finished, they ISYF took over, but the people(Balwant Gill guys) that built the gurdwara did not confront them, which was a good thing.
Everything went smoothly until Rangella came and said to the sangat the there should be no tables and chairs in the langar hall. The “singhs” used bad judgment and in the heat of the moment took action too quickly and caused a division in sangat.
Now, I could see how the communist must have felt. Basically this had been the maryada at every BC gurdwara, EXCEPT Khalsa School Surrey, where the langar maryada has been to sit on the ground since day 1. The Koamnshuts thought that the serving of langer was alright and accepted for the past 100 years and who is this one guy that’s saying that we should sit on the floor. I bet most of the “singhs” didn’t want to sit on the floor either, they just had to because they had to stick to their ISYF klan.
Some of the koamnshuts are totally anti-sikh. During this power struggle, I had started to go to a public school. I heard one guy, Garry Grewal say that his dad said,“these giani’s should have their kasharrai tied on their head and beaten up with thappai.” This is how much people among the koamnshuts hated singhs.
The koamnshuts have also done a great deal of coercion with singhs that used to go to that gurdwara and were neutral. They don’t want to see anyone with a kirpan going to that gurdwara. I needed to go there once to make a phone call and I was refused by one of the “sewadars” because I was wearing a kirpan. They have been known to harass anyone that goes in the building with a kirpan on top.
Who are responsible for putting these guys in charge of these historical gurdwarrai? The ISYF “singhs” of whom I will be discussing about in a later post. This is enough for today...
vwihgurU jI kw ^wlsw]
vwihgurU jI kI &qih]
