As my Sikh friends argued with the Hindhus who were dressed to look particularly pious that afternoon, I walked back to the marbled area around the flame, and shouted to my Sikh friends--as I pointed to my own bedroom window at the hotel,"That is where I stay!"
Immediately, those very tall Hindhus all turned toward me and pulled me away from that particular part of the memorial and indicated angrily that they didn't want any foreigners--or anyone of any faith--desecrating the hallowed area near the "eternal flame."
As my Sikh friends and I no longer felt welcome, we left Jallianwala Bagh. I asked them, "Why did those guys do that? I mean, why are they pretending to set the rules for everyone visiting the site? Do they do this all of the time?"
I was told that this rarely happened, and there certainly were no such rules about taking one's shoes off in that park. (These Sikhs lived nearby and visited all of the time.)
The Sikhs simply added, "These Hindhu nationalists come here to stir up trouble only sometimes.
SHOOTING DEATH & SIKH RESPONSE IN MUMBAI
A few days before my visit to Amritsar in June, in the large city of Mumbai there were a series of protests by Sikhs. The first one was an attack on an MTV station due to its showing of a poster of one female Sikh giving a massage. The Sikh community in Mumbai found this degrading.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/06/17/sikhs-protest-mtv-office_n_107590.html
It should be noted that Mumbai is situated in the state of Maharashtra, which has been governed by Hindhu political parties in recent decades. The second set of protests by Sikhs in Mumbai a few days later were more serious. According to most newspapers in the area, the Sikhs had real reason to be up in arms this time:
"In a show of solidarity, hundreds of Sikh protesters of Andhra Pradesh today took out huge protest rally and burnt the effigies of controversial . . . guru of Dera Saccha Sauda chief Baba Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh whose bodyguards killed an innocent 42-year-old Sikh, Barkarar Singh Bhatti in Mumbai during a protest against the spiritual guru by a Sikh group in Mulund." http://www.sikhnet.com/daily-news/dera-row-sikh-protest-cripples-mumbai
The Dera leader referred to fled the scene and state of Maharashtra after the unwarrented shooting of the Sikh, Barkarar Singh Bhatti, in a public shopping mall. The police in Mumbai made no move to stop the Dera leader's flight.
By the way, "guru" means teacher, so a Hindu guru like Singh is equvalent to an imam in Islam. I should also note that one or two of the Mumbai editorialists did not take the Sikh protest well and complained it was all just another example of sectarianism out of control. http://www.livemint.com/2007/12/05225220/Punish-rioters-not-writers.html
This criticism of all ethnic protests may be because an editorial writer in Gujarat had been arrested earlier this year for making fun of some Hindhu political leadership. (The court freed the man and critized the Gujarati government for its not taking criticism well.) http://churumuri.wordpress.com/2008/06/01/a-disgraceful-assault-on-media-freedom/
BOMBINGS IN INDIA AND AFGHANISTAN
Now, in summer 2008, India is facing a new wave of bombings. Again, the trend seems to be one of religious bullies attacking others of another faith--or of various sorts of nationalists attempting to provoke war or civil war.
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