California Schools: History Framework The History-Social Science Framework for California Public Schools, available at http://www.cde.ca.gov/re/pn/fd/documents/hist-social-sci-frame.pdf , governs the topics that publishers must include in the history-social science textbooks. The current edition of the Framework does not have even a word about the Sikh identity, culture, history, or religion. It is now under revision. A Framework Focus Group met on May 7 at Sacramento, where Prof. Onkar Singh Bindra and Dr Gurtej Singh Cheema made comments. The Focus Group will meet on May 30 in the Santa Clara County, on June 5 in Los Angeles County and on June 6 in San Diego County, in County Education Offices. Sikh activists have been informed and requested to make Public Comments at those meetings, and to submit what additions/changes are needed and where. Prof. Bindra also made a Public Comment at the May15 meeting of California’s Curriculum Commission. Inviting attention to the loss of lives of five Sikhs in hate crimes, starting with that of Balbir Singh Sodhi on Sept. 15, 2001 in Mesa (AZ), and to last week’s incident of a student setting on fire the Patka of a Sikh student in a New Jersey school, he said, “What we need is education, education and education.” He requested for inclusion of images, script and activities relating to Sikh appearance, culture, history and religion in the Framework. Finally, he presented to the Chair an educational DVD, “Sikhs in America”. Produced by the KVIE Sacramento, Public Television of Northern California, it has won an Emmy award in the category of Best Historic/Cultural Program. Readers may contact www.kvie.org for a copy of the DVD and their local TV station regarding its screening. By: Onkar Singh Bindra, Ph.D. (U.C. Berkeley) Formerly Head of Entomology Dept, Punjab Agric. Univ., Ludhiana, India; Retd Entomologist, Food & Agriculture Organization of United Nations; Ex-Board Member, Renaissance Society, Calif. State Univ., Sacramento; Trustee Sikh Temple, Sacramento. Ph. (916) 858-2650 (Posted on www.ambedkartimes.com May 19, 2008 )

Sikhs, Swamis, Students and Spies
The India lobby in the United States, 1900-1946.

By Harold A. Gould
460 pp. Sage Publications.

Book Review by Dr. Amrik Singh (Sacramento, California)

Harold A Gould’s book, Sikhs, Swamis, Students, And Spies: The India Lobby in the United States 1900-1946 is a landmark study of pioneers’ quest for freedom, love and justice both in lands of their birth and the lands they bowed to make green. Their contribution, according to Gould, will remain exceptional in the annals of history. Their dream of undivided India, though, could not become a reality due to the inept handling, yet their extraordinary role in becoming catalytic agent of change would alter our perception. Gould focuses on 1900-1946 period to dig out the truth behind the British’s eviction from India. His narrative flows uninterrupted through out 460 pages, mainly because he avoids hot spots of controversies for a more authentic account. Unlike most post-independence Indian historians, Gould constructs a comprehensive image of Ghadrites in championing the cause of freedom. Obstacles in the way to attain citizenship roused their ire creating a response that ironically advanced the cause of civil rights on both sides of the globe.

The author clearly explains how a small community of not more than 5000-6000 in 1910-20, had originally conceived a dream of claiming their country from clutches of the colonialists. In their monumental efforts, they struggled on behalf of then 260 million Indians who were being magnetized and mesmerized with glamour and glitz of colonial lifestyles. Pioneers’ lobbying efforts promoted the cause of freedom in American media, academia, and the society. The armed incursion of revolutionaries, though, suffered many jolts as British intelligence had made deep inroads into the very heart of Ghadr, however, it fueled the imagination of Indians to explore possibilities of free India. The title of the book, in fact, is a quip of Lala Hardyal who used it to categorize Indians in America as Sikhs, Swamis, Students and spies; it is so apt and apposite to the subject matter that it holds readers’ interest until the end.

The main plot revolves round Ambassador William Phillips’s assignment to India and his highly confidential report on British Raj’s hollowness and callousness in suppressing the voice of freedom and jeopardizing ongoing war efforts. Through his private report, Phillips urged the President Franklin D. Roosevelt to take action against the British in view of the common agenda adopted by allies in World War II. Since the lobbyists had sympathizers in the US state department, the confidential letter to the President found its way in the most popular column of the Washington Post. Drew Pearson’s “The Washington Merry-Go-Round” created a rift right in the middle of World War II. Who had leaked the information to the press? Gould reveals the name for the first time in the book under review.

The book has been dedicated to Professor I. Crane (1922-97) whose name is linked for the first time to the greatest mystery in the state department leakage case of 1943 to one of the columnists of the Washington Post. This disclosure hit hard at the British’s orchestrated campaign of constructing myths in America about benevolence of the British Raj. J.J. Singh, who was known as ‘one-man lobby’ and a genius of public relations among his American sympathizers, had worked hard to advertise Indian freedom movement. The author comments that firebrand leader like Lala Har Dyal though provided organizational support initially, yet could not manage to run the affairs for long due to British operatives’ threat. However the recruits mostly Sikhs, some Hindus and Muslims as well stood trial and some achieved martyrdom as wages for their allegiance. Professor Crane says about Sikhs: “They were all patriots and wanted India to be free, but they also wanted American citizenship.”

The intertwined motif of ending discrimination on the basis of race made pioneers willing partners in fight to the finish. The struggle for freedom starting in 1900 in North America continued with the same fervor though different routes had to be followed for achieving results. After the First World War, Punjabi pioneers’ influence looked unstoppable as they had 122,000 acreage in their possessions. Immigration & Naturalization Services’ decision to challenge the verdict of a district court in the US Supreme Court won support of Anglo Americans as a deterrent measure. Their main angst was pioneers’ unquenchable thirst for agricultural lands. The British Raj succeeded in convincing US government to try in court of law all revolutionaries for conspiring an armed incursion with money pumped by imperial Germany. The trials, according to Gould, were a media circus. “It lasted 155 days; cost the US government $450, 000 and the British government 2.5 million. The amount the British spent is obviously a measure of how threatening they believed Ghadr, in concert with the German enemy, had become.” In trials, the British had a motive for using American media for stereotyping ‘Hindoos’ as people of violent and criminal bent of mind. The phenomenal amount of dollar spending to suppress a small group of radicals through infiltration on the one hand and to egg on non-violent movement involving a larger population was the only course left to sidetrack barrels of guns from faces of Raj’s custodians.

In the 47 years of journey, Ghadr pioneers and their friends continued financial, moral and nationalistic support to the lobbyists. The median income of Indian Americans in 2005 is over $60.000 per annum, according to Gould, higher than any other minority group. Sufferings and energies of Sohan Singh Bhakna, Har Dayal, Taraknath Das, Syud Hossain, Anup Singh, Sridharani, JJ Singh, the Sikh leaders on the Pacific Coast, and so many others like Professor Robert Crane made it possible. The tenacity of their purpose and steady financial support won a badge of American citizenship when President Harry S. Truman signed ‘Celler-Luce Bill’ on July 2, 1946. The relief applied to all people of the Indian subcontinent. Gould emphasizes that isolating Ghadr from the latter-day campaigns will result in belittling its historical role. Gould opines, “The intellectuals were especially crucial in developing the various organizations that promoted political awareness and provided framework for collective action. Ghadr was a classic manifestation of this fateful conjecture, as were the organizations that followed, such as the Friends for Freedom of India, the India League of America, the Indian Chamber of Commerce of America, and the National Committee for Indian Freedom, the India Welfare League, etc.”

The armed invasion for liberation fantasized by Ghadrites may look a mere figment of imagination today, but for British intelligence it was a big plot to single out and dispatch white people from India. The interception of a ship, Henry S loaded with 5000 pistols at the sea was though a major success of the British intelligence, yet it spread panic among whites. The great enthusiasm of revolutionaries had stunned the ruling minority of India. The intelligence planned to create a counter political movement that might be not only culturally savvy and socially well-liked, but also damaging to the radicals. The double edged sword fashioned by master minds of the British intelligence both worked to decimate the influence of radicals in India as well as in the US. The main goal of underground operatives was to send early signals of an impending uprising.
Lobbyists’ efforts definitely increased American intervention in forcing the British to leave India. The President Harry S. Truman’s declaration of citizenship to Indians in 1946, in fact, was the precursor to India’s liberation in 1947. It is a different matter though colonialism continued in post-independent era in different indigenous forms. This could have been the only reason that Indian successive governments became apathetic to the demand of erecting a commemorative structure for Ghadr martyrs.

Sage Publication has done a good job except for errors in Professor l. Crane’s year of birth. Readers won’t know which one is right— 1920, 1922 and 1927.

Posted on www.ambedkartimes.com (December 20, 2007)

Happy Guru Nanak Gurpurb Day
Guru Nanak Dev Ji: Caste and gender  

Life and teachings of Shri Guru Nanak Dev Ji brought a gigantic transformation in the way social and religious thinking were articulated in the Brahminical social order. He made the stupendous task of spiritual regeneration and social transformation his life long mission. He traveled long [Udasis] in all directions to convey the message of the oneness of the mankind and the omni-presence of the non-anthropomorphic and formless God.  

His social transformation agenda revolves around two main issues: Caste and gender. Guru Nanak minces no words in categorically condemning caste and gender based discriminations. His negation of caste is absolute. He said: Fakar Jati phakar nau, Sabhana jia ika chau [Worthless is caste and worthless an exalted name; for all mankind there is but single refuge]. Another sabad is: Neechan andar neech Jati, Neechi hun ati neech, Nanak tin ke sang sath, Vadian siyon kya rees, Jithe neech sanmalian, Tithe nadr teri Bakhshish [I am the lowest of the low castes; low, absolutely low; I am with the lowest in companionship, not with the so-called high. Blessing of God is here the lowly are cared for] (Translate. as in Harish K. Puri, "Scheduled Castes in Sikh Community: A Historical Perspective", EPW, Vol. 38 (26), June 28, 2003, p. 2694).  

Guru Nanak Dev 's concern for the eradication of caste assumes practical shape in his taking up of cultivation of land, often clubbed with low caste professions. He took to cultivation in order to assign dignity to manual labour. In fact, regard for manual labour had always remains the hallmark of the all low caste saint-poets also. In addition, Guru Nanak introduced the institutions of 'sangat' and 'pangat' (eating together in Langar). Thus Kirat Karo (do labour), Vand Chhako (eat by sharing), Naam Japo (recite God's name) became the mantra of equality for all.  

Posted on November 23, 2007

Sacramento: (Ambedkartimes.com News Bureau):- The Gurpurb of Satguru Nanak Dev Ji will be celebrated on December 2nd, 2007 (Sunday) with great dedication and spirit at Shri Guru Ravi Dass Temple, Rio Linda (California). On this auspicious occasion, the Waheguru’s blessed family of Mr. Kuldip S Mehmi s/o Mr. Bhagwan S Mehmi for the happiness and prosperity of their families will provide a three days Shri Akhand Path Sewa from November 30 to December 2, 2007. This Akhand Path will begin on November 30th (Friday) and the Bhog ceremony will be performed on December 2nd, 2007 (Sunday). Afterward, prominent kirtankars will enlighten the sangat with Gurbani and immortal teachings of Guru Ji. All sangat is, therefore, requested by the Shri Guru Ravidass Sabha Sacramento to join in this celebration with families and invoke Waheguru’s eternal blessings. May Waheguru keep the dedicated Mehmi family and all Sacramento sangat in chardi kala and fulfill their cherished desires.

Posted on www.ambedkartimes.com (November 28, 2007)

Yuba City: (Takshila Chumber) Last Sunday on November 04, 2007 the Sikh Community celebrated the 28th Nagar Kirtan/Guru Gaddi Divas (Guru Granth Sahib) in Yuba City (California). On this great occasion other communities also participated in thousands. According to the Sangat this year’s the Sikh parade broke all previous records of sangat attendances & the celebration day was peacefully. The Sangat arrived from many different parts of the state & also from other countries. The Sangat(s) were warmly greetings to each other. Besides the Sangat, the younger generation also left its imprint on the Sikh Parade, including school/college cultural clubs.

Posted on November 07, 2007

Sacramento: Three-day celebrations of 28th Annual Sikh Parade in Yuba City started with fireworks on Friday, November 2, 2007. An open seminar was held on Saturday afternoon. Lieutenant Governor John Garamendi inaugurated the seminar and congratulated organizers for their efforts to handle Sutter County’s largest religious festival. Dr. Bruce L. Brack Professor of Anthropology and International Studies of Pacific University Stockton delivered the keynote address. Sukhraj Singh, an American born Sikh spoke on challenges he had to face to keep his identity intact. Rori Ramirez, vice mayor of Yuba City shared his impressions of working with Sikhs. City Mayor John Miller talked about the significance of annual Sikh Parade and enthusiasm of Yuba City residents. Dr. Jasbir Singh Kang, M.D. introduced Professor Bruce La Brack and informed the audience of his intellectual stature and contribution. Sutter County supervisor Jim Whiteaker told about his long association with Sikhs and how incredible was the process of preparing food for such a big gathering. Later Yuba City’s Sikh City Council members Tej Mann and Kash Gill addressed the audience saying how proud they were to represent the Sikh community in the city council.

Professor Bruce La Brack who authored the book The Sikh of Northern California visited Punjab, India in 1969 for his research on Sikh religion. Due to second Indo-Pak war, however, he was not able to carry on with his project in India. He went to East Africa to construct dynamics of Sikh immigrants’ success in foreign lands. He also learnt Swahili language for that purpose. Then, he came to know about Stockton Gurudwara in California and Punjabi immigrants’ involvement in Gadhar movement (armed rebellion) against the British occupation of India. Talking about Sikh resilience and flexibility, he recalled how some Muslims were allowed to say their prayers while in the premises of Gurudwara. Gurudwara, according to him, used to be the mainstay of events important to the community. He reminisced about his 10 day stay in Yuba City with Sikhs who slogged day and night to eke out a living for their families and still participated in the community life.

Professor Brack traced causes of Punjabi immigration that were rooted in overpopulation in the state of Punjab and rising cost of land and living during the last quarter of 19th century. He recalled one incident in which 3000 Punjabis jumped the freighter illegally in Panama Canal and suffered unimaginable hostilities to reach the land of their dreams. Professor Brack wondered how Punjabis came as illiterate farmers and became a community with highest graduate and post graduate rate among ethnic groups. Besides being professional class, they maintain highest per capita income in groups of different ethnicities. Settled in 60 countries, Sikhs are the largest agriculturist community outside India.

Sikhs’ egalitarianism, competitiveness, flexibility and practicability constitute their success, according to Professor Brack. While making an observation, Professor Brack said that 10 major American values for being successful are incidentally 10 Sikh values too. He regretted that after 9/11, Sikhs had to face a wave of backlash due to mistaken identity. However, he congratulated the community in coming out in a big way to tell Americans who actually they were. Parades, fund-raising events for disasters like Katrina, 4th July, and Veteran day participations have dispelled misconceptions to a larger extent.

28th Annual Sikh Parade on November 4, 2007 saw a congregation of 75,000 to 80,000 on 4.5 mile route; scores of floats symbolizing Sikh history and periods of persecution adorned the streets. In California, November heralds a spirit of festivities. Beginning with Harvest Festival and ending with Thanksgiving, Californians in this month get in the mode of holidaying that lasts till Christmas. Annual Sikh Parade on first Sunday of November in Yuba City arouses curiosity of one and all. Sutter County administration makes special arrangements for the smooth conduct of ceremonies that include fireworks, open seminar, recitation of hymns and cooking of 200,000 meals for visitors and Sikhs who converge here from as far as Canada, England and India. Guru Nanak, born in 1469, founded Sikh religion to end poverty, oppression, and inequality by reciting One God, doing hard work and sharing food with others without any regard to race, religion, class and gender. Nine of his successors carried forward his message by demonstrating unflinching faith in the unity of mankind, voice of conscience and freedom of choice. The last Sikh Guru, Guru Gobind Singh in 1708 transferred spiritual leadership to the holy book of 1430 pages revered as Guru Granth Sahib. The parade is to commemorate the historic event of 1708.
Posted on November 07, 2007

Posted on November 07, 2007