9. The Morcha: My personal testimony. The Guru-ka-Bagh morcha, to call it by the name by which it was generally known at the time, was an event which would live not only in Sikh history, but also in the history of Mahatma Gandhi’s non-violent, non-co-operation movement. Having been in the thick of both the movements myself and having watched their progress from day to day from inside, I can say in all sincerity that I do not know of another instance of a large community observing absolute non-violence, in word and deed, day after day in the face of the severest provocation and suffering abuse, ill-treatment and tortures, not only without uttering a word of complaint, but literally with words “Wahi Guru, Wahi Guru Ji” on the lips of one and all members of Akali Jathas. I wish to record here that having read some of the harrowing accounts of torture which old Sikh martyrs are said to have suffered uncomplainingly and even cheerfully, I was in my hearts of hearts reluctant to believe that such things could have really happened, and that, probably, the historians of those days under the impulse of religious enthusiasm had been carried away to indulge in the language of exaggeration, but after I had myself accompanied from day to day Jathas of a hundred Akalis from their start at Akal Takhat to their place of destination till they were stopped, and having witnessed with my own eyes the inhuman beatings which they received at the hands of a batch of policemen, generally under the orders of a European officer, till they had either become unconscious or were at least unable to stand on their legs and every one of them had to be carried to a special hospital established at Amritsar, having seen all these things not for a day but for almost the whole period during which the Guru-ka-Bagh struggle lasted, I cannot but add my own personal testimony to the absolute truth of harrowing incidents I have narrated in the following pages in this chapter. I consider it a privilege, though a painful kind, to have lived through these tragic times and witnessed the strange things which not only the elect few but the masses of Sikh community suffered and bore with patience, courage and fortitude I frankly find myself unable to describe, p. 108-109. Meanwhile the usual beating of small batches of Akalis continued at Guru-ka-Bagh. Jathas of four or five men at a time attempting to go forward to cut wood from nearby lands for Guru-ka-Langar, were stopped and beaten with lathis to semi-consciousness. One day of which I am speaking an old Akali is said to have implored Mr. Beaty that he might be given a specially severe thrashing, because “that alone would purge his very sinful soul”. I know there are some sophisticated people who consider such things in the light of a joke. At one time I myself used to look upon such statements as exaggeration, but having seen such strange things to happen in connection with Guru-ka-Bagh morcha, I have come to realize better that I did before the wonderful power of the spirit in life of a man of faith, p. 130-131. Many Sikh mothers, wives and sisters garlanded their sons, husbands and brothers and gave them a loving send-off to Jaito. A mother whose eldest son had fallen in the first Shahidi Jatha, garlanded her second son for the second Shahidi Jatha and said to him, “Dear son, fight the battle of your Panth and bless your mother with the heroic sacrifices, p. 229.” Considering the limited numerical strength of the Sikh Community, I am not a little surprised that, under the stress of the times, and the new forces that arose so many heroes, big and small, should have been thrown up, nobody can say how and from where. Almost everybody, who was sworn before the Akal Takhat for the service of the Guru under the direction of his Jathedar, became a hero. He behaved in a manner in which he himself could not have expected to behave before he had heard the call and obeyed it. He went through sufferings and made sacrifices that could only have been demanded of seasoned soldiers. In their case it was not blind obedience like that of the Balaclava horsemen. Not desperate submission to an order because it must be obeyed, but the indomitable, unconquerable faith that they were doing the right thing in the service of their God and community. The stories of Crusaders pale into insignificant before the Guru-ka-Bagh or Jaito episode for instance, because, if for no other reason, the Akalis practiced non-violence such as Christ himself preached in the Sermon of the mount
Posted on: Sun, 15 Jun 2014 05:38:42 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015