Amritsar, Punjab (KP) - Over the past several weeks Panthic Weekly (PW) has shared with its readers serial parts of an exposé regarding the RSS’s covert interactions with various Panthic individuals and organizations. These included Jathedar Vedanti, representatives of the British Sikh Council, Baldev Singh of the Parbhandaki Panchain (also known as AKJI), Bhai Mohkam Singh (DDT), various members of the Gurmat Sidhant Sant Samaj, UK and Canadian members of the ISYF and ‘ex-militants’, including Daljit Singh Bittu, who had been released from prison, after his life sentence was commuted by the Central Government of India.
While the RSS contends that the main goal behind these secret meetings was for the Khalistani ‘militants’ to come back into the mainstream, the individuals involved have given a very different reasoning. The Rulda recordings have mentioned many blacklisted individuals, some who he alleges to have persuaded to cooperate with him by abandoning the hard faught Panthic agenda and other indidviduals whom he had failed to convince. Obviously, for those who had been convinced, the outcome is evident. In North America and Europe, many ‘Khalistanis’, who had pledged to never enter Punjab while it was under Indian rule, have done a complete about-face. Perhaps Rulda’s RSS is achieving its set goal.
Many of these leaders compare their meetings between themselves and the RSS analogous to Guru Gobind Singh Ji meeting Bahadur Shah. Besides having the gall to compare themselves to the incomparable Guru Gobind Singh Ji, they have neglected to comprehend that such meetings at that time were not arranged surreptitiously, rather the Sikh Sangat was always involved. Even the Zafarnama sent via Piarey Bhai Daya Singh Ji was publicly available.
Source of the Recordings
There has been lot of misinformation put forth by various individuals regarding the source of the Rulda recordings. PW has learned that Sukhpreet Udhoke claiming to be the actual source of the audios. This is patently false. Panthic Weekly received these recordings directly from its staff in Punjab. Here are the details regarding the compilation of the Rulda audio library on file with PW :
Audio 1 : Length 1h 00m 44s
(recorded by PW contacts) of Rulda
Audio 2 : Length 4h 05m 13s
(recorded by PW contacts) of Rulda and Udhoke
Audio 3 : Length 0h 07m 48s
(recorded by Udhoke) of Rulda and Udhoke
Audio files 1 and 2 are more than five (5) hours in length, and they are both entirely from recording devices used by PW contacts and not from Udhoke. The only audios from Udhoke are two tiny, 13 second and 31 second extracts from Audio 3. The rest of the clips used in this series are from recordings made by PW discreet sources. Likewise, Udhoke had no role in the rest of the audios yet to be released. For Udhoke to state that PW has aquired his recordings is untruthful and a gross exaggeration. According to PW sources, Sukhpreet Udhoke was present during the recording Audio 2 but did not know he and Rulda were being recorded. How can he then claim to have recorded then?
As had been suggested by some other individuals, some who have an interest that these tapes not be released and heard by the general Sangat, these tapes are unaltered and undoctored in any way. The audio clips presented in this series, sometimes a bit garbled, are in their original formats. Panthic Weekly, in the spirit of service to the Khalsa Panth, has honestly reported the truth as it is and no material has been released for sensational or shock value. The material itself by its nature is rather disturbing.
At a future date, the entire set of audio recordings, totaling approximately 5 hours could be released in the general domain, so that the public can hear them for themselves and come to their own conclusions.
Coverage by the Indian Media
After PW had reported on this explosive subject, the widely read English daily Chandigarh Tribune has also picked up and covered the story at http://www.tribuneindia.com/2006/20060218/punjab1.htm. There are other media reports circulating on the same issue.
Related ‘revelations’ of interest
Along the same lines, another revelation has come out this week that ‘ex-militant’ Sukhwinder Singh Sukhi is now going by the assumed name of Harjit Singh Kahlon. He has been receiving the support from the Punjab Police, namely its Chief, DGP SS Virk. News reports stated that in order to create his new identity, Sukhi was declared dead according to government documents.
During a news conference, the DGP Virk, along with the notorious KP Gill, officially admitted that the state had developed and sponsored a covert program spanning the last two decades that recruited hundreds of so-called ‘militants’ to work as ‘cats’ (a term used for informants in Panthic circles) to eliminate activists fighting for the Sikh cause.
In his own separate news conference, Sukhi interestingly stated that he works with Shiromani Khalsa Dal (SKD) of Daljit Singh Bittu and for SKD’s periodical “Sikh Shahadat.” Panthic Weekly attempted to reach “Sikh Shahadat” office vai telpehone, but the calls went unanswered.
Treachery and Betrayal
Cunning and treachery are the offspring of incapacity. – French Proverb
The story of treachery and betrayal having existed since the very beginnings of human civilization. Our Great Gurus were not insulsated from betrayals at the hands of the Pirthias, the Chandus, and the Gangus. Like the nobles who betrayed Scottish Knight William Wallace, and Oda Nobunaga of Japan in the 16th century, the treacherous roles the Pahari Rajas played during the siege of Anandpur Sahib, are all well known and are an integral part of the Sikh lore.
Regardless of the setbacks, betrayal from within the Khalsa ranks was virtually non-existent in the 17th and 18th century. From the various chronicles recorded by the very Moguls who called the Sikhs “dogs” and from those of the British historians of that time, there is not a single mention of a Singh, Singhni or Sikh child who betrayed their faith and the Panth. If there was such a case, it would have definitely been documented by the native or foreign chroniclers.
Under King Farukhsayer, Baba Banda Singh Bahadur along with 700 Sikhs were captured after an eight month siege of their fort and marched to Delhi in a procession and treated with unimaginable cruelties along the way . The barbaric and inhumane execution of these Sikh lasted for seven days, yet not a single one turned his back on his faith.
Even Muin-ul-Muluk, commonly known as Subedar Mir Manu, who ruthlessly executed countless Sikhs in Lahore, including innocent mothers and children, could not persuade or coerce a single individual to betray the faith.
During the British Raj, when Punjab was annexed due to the betrayal of the Dogras, official British records state that whenever a Sikh was taken to be executed, and was given a chance to apologize, he would always preferred dignified death over slavery. Yet, in the last two centuries, the path carved by the noble sacrifices of the Panth’s Shaheeds is being disgraced now with shameless acts of treachery and deceit.
In the last three decades, the ‘marjeevareys’ and leaders of the Akali Dal and SGPC, who, having lived a life of luxury after the Dharm Yudh Morcha betrayed the Panth, while Surbeer Yodhays such as Baba Jarnail Singh Bhinderanwale and Bhai Shubeg Singh, Bhai Menga Singh Babbar and so many others sacrificed their lives selflessly to protect the sanctity of the Sri Darbar Sahib.
At one end of the spectrum, for the cause espoused by ‘Panthic Committees’ and ‘Governments in Exile’, which once only recognized the existence of Khalistan on Punjabi soil, Baba Gurbachan Singh Manochal and Bhai Sukhdev Singh Babbar and countless named and anonymous others stood by their principals and sacrificed their lives. On the other end of this same spectrum, many remaining members of these ‘Panthic Committees’ have accepted the authority of Hindustan and agreed to join the mainstream in exchange for stepping aside from their Panthic obligations. They include, Wassan Singh Zaffarwal, Dr. Sohan Singh, Daljit Singh Bittu, Jagjit Singh Chouhan among them.
The great forty liberated ones (Muktey), who, at one point gave their ‘bedava’ to the Guru were eventually blessed with the leadership of Bhai Mann Singh and Mai Bhag Kaur Ji, who guided them back into Guruji’s battlefield. The current leaders are nowhere like the liberated ones in terms or sacrifice and sincerity. Nevertheless, unlike the spirit of ‘Mai Bhago’, these so-called leaders only deserve to wear glass bangles in exchange for their Kirpans for having turned their backs on the Guru Khalsa Panth.
This concludes this current series on the RSS.