Bits and Pieces – As I
Please – 10
Sant Surinder Dass
Bawa:- I was at the
residence of Prof. Balbir Chander, my brother-in-law (Jijaji) for a
pre-marriage ceremony of my niece (Bhanji) Priya, on November 4. I met Sant
Surinder Dass Bawa at the ceremony. Santji was invited to bless the family and
invoke auspicious aura for the marriage scheduled for November 6. I may mention
that Sant Surinder Dass Bawa is one of the educated Sants of the dalit
community in the region who was a student of Prof. Balbir Chander at Doaba
College in the early 1990s. Sant Surinder took to spiritualism as a young
student under the influence of Dera Sachkhand Balan of Sant Sarwan Dassji, a
prominent
social spiritual personality of the Doaba region. He got initiated
and trained under the wings of Sant Garib Dass and Sant Ramanand and acquired
and earned good recognition in the aftermath of Sant Ramanand’s assassination
in Vienna (Austria) in a mindless shootout by some Sikh fundamentalists in May,
2009. He earned and attained further prominence in the following years as the
chief spokesperson of the Dera and Chief Aide of the Dera Chief Sant Niranjan
Dass. It is a common knowledge that Sant Surinder Dass was main adviser and
executor of the Dera Sachkhand Balan in the run up to the pronouncement and
propagation of Ravidassia Dharam in 2010-11. He is said to be one of the major
contributors to the compilation and making of the Amrit Bani, the said to be
holy book (Religious Granth) of the Ravidassia Dharam. But due to reasons not
available in the public domain, Sant Surinder Dass Bawa fell from grace and was
made to part ways with the Dera in the following years. Sant Surinder Dass Bawa
now runs his own Dera in a village in the outskirts of Jalandhar. He resisted
the unpleasant fallout but could not gain the confidence of Sant Niranjan Dass
and his coterie. Though we knew each other somewhat earlier as well, in this
meeting we could interact a bit more seriously. I enquired about the main
thrust of his mission these days. He said of course it was to enlighten, unite
and empower the weaker sections of the society as visualized by Guru Ravidass
and Babasaheb Ambedkar. He said he was fully engaged, both in India and abroad,
in spreading and acceptance of Ravidassia Dharam and the message of Amrit Bani
for the good of the down trodden people. The accompanying Ragi Jatha of Bangar
Brothers later while singing gave the audience the fore-taste of their mission
– their unbroken allegiance to the Dera Sachkhand Balan of yore, Ravidassia
Dharam and Amrit Bani as the new identity of dalits, congruity of the
philosophy and mission of Guru Ravidas and Dr. B.R. Ambedkar etc. Currently the
underlined theme of ‘Chamar Pride’ was a visible item on their agenda. Sant
Surinder Dass started his discourse, after the singing of Banger Brothers on
the lines of the above mentioned trend setters. I had to leave midway due to
some other engagement and could not listen to him. Later my brother Paramjit
told me that Sant Bawaji spoke about his untiring efforts to enlighten the
community and carry forward the caravan of Guru Ravidass and Babasaheb
Ambedkar. He spoke very high of Prof. Balbir Chander and his alma mater, Doaba
College in shaping his personality. I respect Sant Surinder Bawa as a well
meaning Sant who has dedicated himself totally to the causes of the community.
But I have my doubts and reservations on the need and desirability of the
Ravidassia Dharam, the authenticity of the Amrit Bani as a holy granth, limited
agenda of chamar pride, confining the total thrust of the agenda of the
community to Dera Sachkhand Balan. I think, these things lead to disunity and
generate animosity which is the anti thesis of the mission and philosophy of
both Guru Ravidass and Dr. B.R. Ambedkar.
MLA Chaudhary Surinder
Singh: - Though we
nodded at each other on a couple of public occasions earlier as well, yet I had
a chance encounter with MLA Chaudhary Surinder Singh at the marriage of my
nephew (Bhanja) Kamaljit yesterday, December 3, 2017. I introduced myself and
exchanged usual courtesies and niceties. Chaudhary Sahib was harmoniously
responsive. I introduced my brothers Krishan Lal and Paramjit and Chaudhary
instantly responded that they were no strangers and he knew them already. He
came on the invitation of the girl’s side. I informed him
that it was the marriage
of my Bhanja. He was happy to know and congratulated me and my brothers. Saying
that since there were many more people waiting in the wings to meet him and say
hello, I will not like to engage him further and wished to meet him some other
time. He humbled me by saying that don’t worry on that count and added that he
was pleased to meet me as an important person of our community. I found
Chaudhary Surinder Singh a well groomed and cultured personality. His grounding
and upbringing in an important dalit family of Punjab, Master Gurbanta Singh,
who made a good and positive contribution to the polity and society was clearly
demonstrated in a few minutes of our interaction. Surinder Singh is the
grandson of Master Gurbanta Singh, a Congress leader who remained a Minister in
various governments in Punjab. Surinder Singh is the son of Chaudhary Jagjit
Singh who stepped into the big shoes of Master Gurbanta Singh and added many
feathers to the family’s turban and handed over the baton to his younger
brother MP Chaudhary Santokh Singh. Chaudhary Surinder Singh is a first time
MLA from his family’s bastion, Kartarpur Assembly segment. Sometimes it may
happen that one carries a false image of someone just on the basis of
misinformation or disinformation. I must
write that it was so with me in the case of Chaudhary Surinder Singh. I was
told that he was an alcoholic and was not a serious politician. It was wrong.
My brief encounter with the scion of Master Gurbanta Singh’s family changed my
impressions of Chaudhary Surinder Singh completely. I close this with hearty
compliments and all the best wishes to the upcoming leader of the community. It
is rightly said:
बद से बदनाम बुरा !
The significance of
December 6:- I was
to post this blog on December 6, death anniversary (Mahaprinirvan Diwas in
1956) of Babasaheb Ambedkar and the date of demolition of the Babri Masjid in
1992 on December 6 but could not do so because of technical reasons. The
Hindustan Times of November 4, 2017 carried a well articulated article by
Shashi Shekhar, Editor -in- Chief of the paper under the heading ‘The
significance of
December 6’. The Supreme Court also started the hearing of the
Babri Masjid case on December 5, on the eve of the 25th year of the
demolition. Shashi Shekhar has raised a
valid question in his article. He
argues, “The date has a special place in the pages of Indian history. In 1992,
the Babri Masjid was demolished on this date and in 1956, Bhimrao Ambedkar
breathed his last in Nagpur (There seems some inadvertent mistake. Actually it
was in Delhi) on the same day. Why I am connecting Ambedkar with Ayodhya, you
may ask in surprise. From the outside, these two appear unrelated but the
threads of the Indian survival instincts connect the two.” He added, “Don’t be
surprised, if within the next two years, you see the temple and the mosque
being built at the same time. If that happens, as Indians, we can again proudly
declare that our model of coexistence is timeless, eternal, and indestructible.
If Ambedkar’s life struggle and teachings drive home the message of social
harmony, why can’t the city of Ayodhya become a symbol of our coexistence?” Shashi
Shekhar has given us ‘food for thought’ underlining the significance of
December 6 in the larger national interest to ward of the lingering dangers to
the social and constitutional fabric of India.
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