New Delhi: Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar laid the inspiration stone of Baba Banda Singh Bahadur memorial within the historic city of Lohgarh in Yamunanagar district Sunday.
The announcement for the memorial was made final July, 5 years after a belief was arrange within the identify of the Sikh icon in 2017 throughout the 350th Prakash Parv (delivery anniversary) of Guru Gobind Singh, the tenth Sikh Guru.
Banda Singh Bahadur — a Hindu who transformed to Sikhism beneath the tutelage of Guru Gobind Singh and rose to turn out to be a warrior who fought the Mughals — has turn out to be part of India’s political discourse over time, with frequent references made to him by BJP leaders particularly.
In 2018, Khattar was accused by the Sikh neighborhood of “appropriating their hero into the Sangh Parivar fold” and criticised for referring to him as “Baba Banda Singh Bairagi (ascetic)”, calling the transfer a “blatant distortion of historical past”.
Throughout Sunday’s ceremony, Khattar stated: “When this monument is constructed, folks from this area will really feel proud that this is similar soil the place a saint-soldier had destroyed the Mughal military 300 years in the past.”
In accordance with a Haryana historian, who requested anonymity, that the state has a major Sikh votebank is essential to contemplate within the context of the memorial being constructed.
In June final yr, Union Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal had launched the poster of a proposed monument in honour of the Sikh warrior in Delhi and warranted he would get the proposal cleared by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
That very same yr, Manoj Sinha, turned the primary lieutenant governor (L-G) of Jammu & Kashmir to go to Dera Baba Banda Singh Bahadur — a gurudwara devoted to the Sikh warrior — within the Union territory’s Reasi district. Final week, the BJP chief introduced {that a} statue of Baba Banda Singh Bahadur will likely be put in within the Bhagwati Nagar space of Jammu, as requested by the All J&Okay Sikh Coordination Committee.
In 2020, the PM had tweeted about Baba Banda Singh Bahadur on his 350th delivery anniversary. “He lives within the hearts of thousands and thousands. He’s remembered for his sense of justice. He made many efforts to empower the poor,” Modi wrote.
Up to now, a number of leaders of the BJP and its allies — equivalent to Dr Jitendra Singh and late Ram Vilas Paswan of the Lok Janshakti Celebration — have paid tribute to Baba Banda Singh Bahadur.
Not simply him, the federal government can be making an attempt to recognise the place and space the place his followers have been martyred. Tarun Vijay, Nationwide Monuments Authority (NMA) chairman and former Rajya Sabha MP from the BJP, stated that 740 such followers have been executed in nationwide capital, the place the Delhi Public Library stands now. “There’s a backyard behind it. We’ve got surveyed that space for attainable growth of a martyrdom memorial,” he added.
The NMA has been making an attempt to “decolonise” Delhi’s historical past and a part of that initiative contains revival of the Mehrauli-based shaheedi-sthal (martyrdom place) of Baba Banda Singh Bahadur.
“Delhi’s folks have solely been taught about Mughal historical past. Those that confronted the atrocities of Mughals and different invaders have been conveniently forgotten. The sacrifices of Banda Singh Bahadur and Guru Tegh Bahadur (ninth of the ten Sikh gurus) are actually being talked about as a result of PM Modi has taken a particular curiosity in it,” stated Vijay.
In accordance with Surinder Singh Jodhka, professor and head of the Centre for the Examine of Social Techniques at Jawaharlal Nehru College (JNU), the BJP and Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) have believed Sikh icons to “be part of the bigger Hindu-Sanatani household”.
“The core of RSS and BJP has all the time glorified Sikh heroes as they see Sikhs as part of the bigger Hindu-Sanatani household. Guru Gobind Singh and his household have all the time been hailed by the RSS. Banda Singh Bahadur was earlier referred to as ‘Banda Bahadur’ by the RSS and the Hindu proper wing, which sees him as a drive in opposition to the Muslim invaders,” he instructed ThePrint.
Nevertheless, Jodhka thinks this isn’t a really latest phenomenon: “Though some sections of the appropriate wing could not agree with them, this has been part of their core politics, and is not only a phenomenon that emerged after the farmers’ agitation.”
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‘Bairagi’, warrior
Although there are numerous debates amongst historians on Banda Singh Bahadur’s life story, in keeping with Punjabi historian Ganda Singh’s e-book, Lifetime of Banda Singh Bahadur, the Sikh warrior — initially named Lachhman Dev — was born on 27 October 1670 within the Poonch district of western Kashmir to a Rajput of the Bhardwaj clan.
On the age of 15, the e-book says, he adopted the lifetime of an ascetic, left dwelling and was given the identify ‘Madho Das’ in keeping with the custom of bairagis. It’s also stated that he lived with Hindu sages to study the methods of yoga and “tantric science”.
His first assembly with Guru Gobind Singh is claimed to have taken place in 1708 in Nanded, Maharashtra, the place he provided himself to the guru as a devotee. Madho Das was then baptised, provided amrit (holy water) and renamed Banda Singh Bahadur.
Professor S Okay Chahal, dean of Kurukshetra College’s historical past division, instructed ThePrint, “Some say he was a Sikh bairagi, whereas some declare he was both a Jat or Rajput. Some check with him as ‘Banda Bairagi’ in Haryana”.
He additional stated that when Punjab separated from Haryana, it wanted its personal icons which suited its politics, and Banda Singh Bahadur was the one identify that emerged as a result of he was the follower of the final Sikh Guru — Guru Gobind Singh.
“The historical past and politics of Punjab and Sikhs revolves across the Sikh gurus. As a result of Sikhs acquired concerned in energy tussles with the Mughals, something that represents a victory over Mughals is glorified. Banda Singh Bahadur adopted Guru Gobind Singh until Nanded, then he got here again and conquered a few of the Mughal dominated areas within the Sirhind city, present-day Ambala and Yamunanagar space,” Chahal added.
Prof Ronki Ram, political scientist, Panjab College, Chandigarh, too, stated that Banda Singh Bahadur performed a significant position within the battle in opposition to Mughals and established the primary Sikh rule.
“However there are contentions amongst folks and students on whether or not he was baptised or not, whether or not he adopted the Guru’s method,” he added.
Fought in opposition to ‘tyrannies & oppressions of his time’
In Delhi and Jammu, Banda Singh Bahadur is glorified as a Sikh chief who took on the Mughal forces.
In 1710, throughout the Battle of Chappar Chiri, Sikh forces beneath the management of Banda Singh Bahadur defeated the Mughal governor of Sirhind, Wazir Khan, and killed him. Khan was additionally chargeable for the martyrdom of Guru Gobind Singh’s two youngest sons — Zorawar Singh and Fateh Singh. Banda Singh Bahadur then developed the village of Mukhlisgarh and made it his capital, which was later renamed Lohgarh (fortress of metal) — current day Yamunanagar.
He was ultimately captured by the Mughals and assassinated in 1716.
It’s believed that Banda Singh Bahadur avenged the dying of Guru Gobind Singh’s sons, however, in his e-book, Ganda Singh clarifies that this has typically been misunderstood by historians. “He’s represented to have been commissioned by Guru Gobind Singh to avenge the homicide of his sons, simply because the Guru himself is claimed to have been prompted in his early days by the will to avenge the dying of his father, Guru Tegh Bahadur. There’s nothing in the entire historical past to warrant this conclusion,” it reads.
“In fact, the Guru entrusted to him the noble process of constant the struggle in opposition to the tyrannies and oppressions of his time. And within the execution of this obligation, Banda Singh, after all, punished the wrong-doers for the cold-blooded murders of Zorawar Singh and Fateh Singh,” the e-book additional says.
Ellora Puri, assistant professor, division of political science, College of Jammu, instructed ThePrint that Banda Singh Bahadur has all the time “been part of Jammu area’s collective reminiscence”.
“There’s a tendency throughout the nation for the BJP to immortalise sure heroes, not simply in Jammu,” she added.
She additional stated: “Banda Singh Bahadur was born in Rajouri, which is part of Jammu division, and there’s a important Sikh inhabitants in Jammu. His contributions weren’t ever discounted by anybody within the area per se, however for the BJP they held extra significance as a result of he’s seen because the defender of the religion in opposition to the Mughals.”
Gurmeet Singh Sidhu, professor of non secular research at Punjabi College Patiala, although, feels the popularity ought to have come a lot earlier. “His stature among the many Sikh neighborhood is even larger than Maharaja Ranjit Singh’s as he established the primary Sikh rule and avenged the dying of Guru Gobind Singh ji’s sahibzade (sons). It can not simply be a politically-motivated motion as a result of he really deserved this.”
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‘Protector of Hindus’
By the right-wing ecosystem, Banda Singh Bahadur is hailed because the protector of Hindus and seen as an extension of Guru Gobind Singh, stated a historian from Haryana who wished to not be named.
“He additionally promoted the Khalsa idea which was initially conceptualised by Guru Gobind Singh. In Sikh historiography, he was established as an icon after Guru Gobind Singh, although he was not an enormous ruler and never very talked-about throughout his time. Some folks additionally declare he caused ‘land reforms’, however these are fashionable terminologies,” the historian stated.
Banda Bahadur appeals to the BJP is as a result of the Khalsa state’s idea originated from the struggle in opposition to Mughals, the historian claimed, including: “Guru Gobind Singh can be hailed as a protector of Kashmiri Pandits and Hindus, so the Muslims are the widespread enemy right here. The proper-wing politicians hail the Sikh gurus as a result of they’re stated to have protected Hindus. Banda Singh Bahadur additionally fits that narrative.”
On the memorial of Banda Singh Bahadur being inbuilt Haryana, the above-quoted academician stated Sikh voters type a major part of voters within the state. “Haryana has a major Sikh votebank and Sikhs from the state have been demanding recognition of Banda Bahadur Singh as an icon since he dominated in Haryana.”
NMA chief Tarun Vijay, although, stated “there’s no politics behind it”.
Calling PM Modi a ‘Sahajdhari Sikh’ (an individual who believes in Sikhism, however has not formally taken vows of Sikhism), he stated, “When he visited Amritsar, folks welcomed him by calling him ‘Sardar Narendra Modi’. He has been working for the glory of Sikh valour and braveness. No one thought of Veer Bal Diwas (honouring the sons of Guru Gobind Singh) for the previous 400 years. It’s the brainchild of PM Modi,” Vijay stated.
“Would the Sikh vote for him due to these gestures? Saying that these are politically motivated efforts is an inexpensive and shallow commentary by opposition as a result of they may not give it some thought. If in any respect, he’s appeasing Bharat Mata,” he added.
(Edited by Zinnia Ray Chaudhuri)
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