Scottish citizen Jagtar Singh Johal was today granted bail by Punjab and Haryana High court in Baghapurana (Moga) Case. Jagtar Singh, commonly known as Jaggi Johal, was picked by Punjab police up from Ramamandi (Jalandhar) on 4 November 2017. Police later recorded his arrested in FIR number 193/2016 (police station Baghapurana).
Category: Sikh Diaspora
Operation Bluestar
Chronology of Events A situation which could have been resolved without a shot being fired was allowed to deteriorate to the point where the sacred sanctity of a place of worship was desecrated in the most brutal way with death and destruction. In addition to the followers of Sant Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, thousands of innocent pilgrims who… Continue reading Operation Bluestar
Sikhs Contribution to Indian Independence & Promises Made
The Sikhs played a pioneering role in India’s struggle for independence from the British. They made sacrifices wholly out of proportion to their demographic strength (the Sikhs make up less than 2% of the Indian population). (Figures below provided by Maulana Abul Azad, President of the Congress Party at the time of Indepedence.)
Babbar Akali Movement
The Babbar Akali Movement came into existence when the peaceful Akali struggle for Gurdwara reform was passing through a crucial stage. Popular Sikh shrines like Nankana Sahib, Tarn Taran Sahib and Guru-ka-Bagh were occupied by the Mahants, who had made the shrines into their personal property, vanquishing the sanctity of the holy places. The Mahants had become… Continue reading Babbar Akali Movement
Saka Tarn Taran
A religious gathering was held at Akal Takht, Amritsar on 15th-16th November 1920. In this, a committee of 175 was formed which was named Shiromani Gurdwara Prabandhak Commitee (SGPC). The aim of the SGPC was to manage Gurdwaras and uplift the religious moral and cultural level of the Sikhs. As such, the committee was taking… Continue reading Saka Tarn Taran
Nankana Sahib Massacre
The Nankana Sahib Massacre refers to the grim episode during the Gurdwara Reform Movement / Akali Movement in which a peaceful batch of reformist Sikhs were subjected to a murderous assault on 20 February 1921 in the holy shrine at Nankana Sahib, the birthplace of Guru Nanak Dev Ji.
Gurdwara Reform Movement & Sikh Gurdwara Act
The Sikh Gurdwaras Act refers to the legislation passed by the Punjab Legislative Council which marked the struggle of the Sikhs from 1920-1925 to wrest control of their places of worship from the mahants (priests) into whose hands they had passed during the 18th century when the Sikhs were driven away from their homes to… Continue reading Gurdwara Reform Movement & Sikh Gurdwara Act
Akali Movement
The Akali Movement also known as Gurdwara Reform Movement came into full swing from the early 1920’s. It’s aim was to bring reform in the working and management of Sikh Gurdwaras. The campaign which gained tremendous support, especially, from the rural masses, took the form of a peaceful agitation-marches, divans, religious gatherings, and demonstrations for… Continue reading Akali Movement
Jallianwala Bagh
Jallianwala Bagh The Jallianwala Bagh Massacre took place on 13 April 1919 in the heart of Amritsar, the holiest city of the Sikhs, on a day sacred to them as the birth anniversary of the Khalsa. The Jallianwala Bagh Massacre lead by a senior British military officer,involved the killing of hundreds of unarmed, defenceless Indians.
Komagata Maru
Komagata Maru was a Japanese trampsteamer, renamed Guru Nanak Jahaz, launched from Hong Kong by Baba Gurdit Singh (1860-1954), an adventurous Sikh businessman, to take a batch of Indian emigrants to Canada. In the year 1900 the census reported that there where 2050 people from India on the North American continent. The majority of these… Continue reading Komagata Maru