Thursday, May 7, 2009

Gandhi: The Movie


A must see

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5 comments:

Mai said...

O! Dear Oberon! Now, perhaps I will astonish, surprise, amaze, even (lol) offend you.

For the most part, the Sikh community does not share the adoration the rest of the world has for this man. He used us to obtain independence for India, belittled our accomplishments by ignoring the Sikh blood shed for independence and calling it his 'nonviolent' revolution, made promises to us he didn't keep, ultimately betraying our trust in him, setting the stage for the Khalistan movement. A story that is not widely known outside of our (relatively) small group.

May 8, 2009 at 12:50 AM
Oberon said...

...not being intimately connected to the sikh community as you are, i am at a disadvantage....but all my research on gandi, and the separation and independence of india has indicated that gandi was strongly against partition and that it was jinnah who was most instrumental it the creation of pakistan, forcing gandhi to go along with the idea ultimately.
...jinnah ordered total extermination of minorities, he said...I do not care how sikhs cross the border of pakistan...the great thing is to get rid of them as soon as possible.....there was a complete genocide of sikks in pakistan carried out under the orders of state officials.

...i also did some reading here
http://sikhcentre.wordpress.com/2009/02/24/a-look-at-pre-1947-leadership-of-sikhs-muslims-and-hindus/

.....please elucidate on your comments so i might research the facts.

May 8, 2009 at 8:37 PM
Mai said...

It is, of course, always dangerous to suggest that a cultural icon, let alone one who has been worshipped as a god, as Gandhi is in some Hindu households. It causes me some pain to criticize someone who many love and draw inspiration from. I do not do so without good reason.

While I simply do not have time to track down a bunch of links right now, perhaps this one will give a good idea of why we Sikhs, as a whole, do not share in the hero worship of this man. I will send only a couple for now. http://www.sikhfreedom.com/gandhi.html You see, to him, we simply do not exist as Sikhs. To him, we are and have always been Hindus. To deny our separate identity is an ultimate insult.

Although "Mahatma Gandhi and Nehru gave the Sikhs assurances that after India achieves political freedom no Constitution shall be framed by the majority community unless it is freely acceptable to the Sikhs," that constitution of India denies our separate existence, making us legally Hindus.(Article 25)http://www.sikhiwiki.org/index.php/Sikhs_&_Indian_Independence

In fact, my husband and I did not get married in that country because our marriage would have had to be registed as Hindu. It might interest you to know that "The Sikhs therefore refused to sign the Constitution and have never accepted it."

There is too much to be said for a comment here, and , as I said, I just cannot make the time to make the whole argument right now, however, if the subject interests you, you might get ahold of the book "Gandhi and the Sikhs," by Gurmit Singh.

I have an analysis of the move which is far too long to include here; I'll send it by e-mail.

(BTW, my refusal to admire this man has lost me many friends over the years. It is a difficult topic. I'm sorry it came up, but I am simply unable to remain silent when he has done such damage to us Sikhs.)

May 10, 2009 at 5:29 PM
Oberon said...

...in the end
...there is no fault
...there is no blame
...there is only responsibility
...gandhi's mantra was do or die, he was fearless and acted, he did something he was willing to die for, unhindered by fallibilities
...he was not a saint, only a man

May 13, 2009 at 3:02 PM
Mai said...

One of the big advantages of living in a "Star Trek Universe" is that we can strongly disagree on matters great and small without being disagreeable or abusive and, in fact, maintainung not only civility but also friendliness.

It might interest you to know that in a Sikh forum right now, we are having a discussion about how to handle the subject of this man diplomatically, yet truthfully.

May 14, 2009 at 2:06 PM

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