..so now the Hindu Rashtra creators take on Sikhs and Sikhism in Delhi. Given the proclivity of the hate brigade, the danger it protends, it is time to take stock and beware!

Sikhs in Delhi need to be on their toes. The march of the Hindutva zealots is making direct inroads into Sikhism and testing us by beating us again. Last night, a group of 3 young Sikhs from Ashram paying by saw a banner and as it was offensive to Sikhs, decided to remove it. As they were doing so, a gang of 40-odd Hindutva protagonists reached the scene and pounced on them.

Hindutva leaders had put up huge bill boards outside Gurdwara Bala Sahib showing Guru Nanak and Guru Gobind Singh next to the faces of Hindu God Hanuman. The style of placing the faces was like that of the ten demonly faces of Ravana.

Around 10-12 youth including Sarabjeet Singh (Raunaq), Gagan Singh, Karan Singh and Sahib Singh, tried to reason with them that the banner was being removed as it is badly conceived , but one of them roared, “Do you want us to take you back to 1984?”  Speaking to this correspondent on the phone one of the young men who was beaten up -Sarabjeet Singh (Raunaq) from Ashram said, “they were hell bent on beating us. Some of my Hindu friends who were with us, tried to convince them but they just wouldn’t yield.”  He further said that “We even told them that we are taking the banner to be kept appropriately in the Gurdwara Sahib as religious pictures are there on it”. They would not listen to anything.  They were around 10-12 boys, some ran away to escape the iron rods and three of them including Sarabjeet Singh (Raunaq) were caught and beaten. He told me, “we fought bravely, did not allow them to dislodge our turbans.”

Momentarily, on the phone, I was taken aback at the 1984 remark, so I asked Sarabjeet Singh (Raunaq), “Can I report this in WSN?  He replied, “Oh yes. The face of that man beating me with rods and I resisting him is fresh in my mind and I await the day when I will take him on again.”

Not content with beating the youth, the lumpens caught a 10 year old Sikh boy who had come on an errand to a shop nearby and was beaten mercilessly. This is threatening and sickening. The boy is okay but unable to understand what happened to him so suddenly and the reasons for it.

The police arrived on the scene but instead of stopping the perpetrators, started beating the Sikhs, who had by then gathered in large numbers. They were forced to disperse. No arrests have been made so far. A complaint had been lodged at the Sultan Nagar police station. Will the police pursue action against those who designed and displayed the poster? Will the police attempt to prosecute the person who made the 1984 remark?

Yesterday, Hindutva patriots played a song for all to listen on the streets of Ranchi -the capital city of Jharkhand, clearly saying that they would make the Muslims say Jai Shri Ram and Har Har Mahadev and that they are ready to sacrifice themselves on the altar of Hinduism.

Are you shocked? The free run given to cow protectionist vigilantes, anti-Romeo volunteers, the cry for Ram Mandir across the country is ominous of the times to come. George Orwell’s Big Brother is watching you..what you say? What you eat? What you study? What religious faith you belong to?

Will the DSGMC take this up with their BJP counterparts? Notwithstanding the victory of Maninder Singh Sirsa -Shiromani Akali Dal-Bharatiya Janata Party candidate from Rajouri Garden constituency, Sikhs of Delhi -beware!

“They are very clear in what they want.” Are we?