Episode 4
The reality of
Divya’s father
The story of
Rajwinder and Divya’s marriage had become the talking point in the whole of
West Delhi as inter-religion marriages were not so common at that time. Divya’s
father was an influential man in the area and being a politician it was a big
decision which he took and to some it was a shocking decision considering that
he had a bright political future ahead of him. This could have been a political
disaster for him. Politics was a game of perceptions and this could be
dangerous for him. So when the meeting of block national party started, most of
the questions were asked to him as to why he agreed to the proposal.
Even his
personal secretary asked, ”Sir ek to vo sardar hain aur na to vo itne ameer
hain ki aapko election main funding kar sake, yeh sir aap ko kahin le na dubey
ek taraf sardar hinduo ko buso se nikaal nikaal ke unhe chun chun ke mar rahe
hain sir yeh kahin aapko le na doob ek to aap party high command se lok sabha
ki ticket mangna chahte hain aur doosri taraf yeh mere aur hum sab ki soch se
to bahar hain” Divya’s father had a smile on his face and he asked all the
members to sit down and asked that the projector should be bought in the room.
Then he presented the whole map of his constituency. “Look many areas in the
West Delhi are dominated by the Sikhs. Sikh voters in many areas of West Delhi
are more than 50% of the total voters. So we can easily win over their votes.
Sikhs are really emotional people; you can win them not by force but only by
winning over their hearts and Sikhs are emotional fools. They are just like
hanuman in the Ramayana; Patni kisi aur ki ladhai kisi aur ki par inhone to
beech main kudna hi hain. I am no fan of the Sikh community but I have to win
this election at any cost and to win it I can go to any extent”. Saying this he
left the room as the next day was the ring ceremony of Divya and the
preparations were in full swing.
Militants
massacre
The All India
Radio was playing its daily news. Rajwinder’s father was very fond of listening
to daily news as they didn’t had a television set in their home. The news was
quite disturbing as the reporter read the news which went like,”The news is
from Punjab where a group of Sikh militants hijacked the whole bus at the
national highway one and killed forty people; all of who were Hindus. The top
sikh militant took responsibility of the attack and warned the government that
more such attacks would follow if the “bibi” sitting at the centre does not
adhere to the demands of Sikhs. And he further continued in his trademark
Punjabi style,”Singha ne is desh layi kurbaniyan ditiyan, par is desh ne kade
vi singha di manga nahin maniya”
The killings of
innocent Hindus made the matters worse for Sikhs living in other parts of
India. Sikhs were not in support of the top Sikh Militant but the perceptions
about Sikhs got really bad. In most of the Hindu dominated areas, Sikhs were
being boycotted. This also happened with Rajwinder and his family. Once
Rajwinder went to a ration shop and asked for coconut oil. The shopkeeper
refused to give him oil saying that he was out of stock. Rajwinder saw that the
drum was filled with oil. Rajwinder asked him, “Laale drum to pura bhara hua
hain phir tu jhooth kyun bol raha hain yaar jaldi de mujhe jana bhi hain
shopping pe”. The shopkeeper was in no mood to give him oil and spoke to him in
great anger, “maine kaha na tel nahin milega ab ja yahan se Punjab se tel lekar
aa delhi main kya kar rahe ho. Tum log hamare bando ko marte ho, waqt aane par
agar hum se galti hogi to yaad rakhna pehle tum log ne mara tha humare logo ko
waqt aane par hum bhi bata denge ki tumhari aukaat kya hain”. Rajwinder being a
true Sikh got agitated and was about the hit the shopkeeper. Just at the nick
of time his father arrived and somehow he took Rajwinder away from the scene.
Rajwinder was really angry as would a normal Sikh be after hearing such words.
His father tried to cool him down by explaining him that when dogs bark let
them bark and it is not at all important to give your reaction to everybody’s
comment. But in the coming days things got worse for the Sikhs as they were
being socially boycotted in most of the Hindu dominated areas and this led to a
huge degree of insecurity amongst the Sikhs.
Operation blue
star
One day was
left for the Ring ceremony of Rajwinder and Divya. But something happened which
changed their lives forever.
The prime
minister was announcing on All India Radio about “Operation blue star” saying
that the operation has been concluded successfully and most of the militants
including the top sikh militant have been killed. It was quiet unfortunate that
the operation had to be launched against our own people but the government had
no other option since protecting our nation is of utmost priority. Our army
tried their level best to cause minimal damage to the golden temple and no
damage has been caused to the sacred dome. I request all the people to be
together and stand with the government in this hour of crisis.”
Rajwinder and
his family were quite angry after hearing this news. Golden temple is the most
sacred place for the Sikhs. It is the most spiritual place for the Sikhs just
as Kashi is for Hindus and Mecca for Muslims. They were not in support of the
top sikh militant or his thoughts but no Sikh can tolerate the attack on Golden
Temple. Angered and frustrated Rajwinder stepped out of his house and went to
the park for a quick jog. There he saw that the national party workers were
giving sweets to each other. Then one clever National Party Man seeing
Rajwinder ran to him and offered sweets to him. Rajwinder got really furious
and hit many of the national party workers. Rajwinder fought really hard but in
the end he was outnumbered and they beat him quiet badly. Luckily for him there
was a group of Sikhs passing through the area and they saw Rajwinder bleeding very
badly and rushed him quickly to the nearest hospital
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