On Sunday 14th March, mothers and children throughout the world will celebrate mother’s day. You may be one of the many millions pondering what to buy, is it the standard bunch of flowers or a box of chocolates, or is it about doing something for your mom, like breakfast in bed or well-earned day off? The possibilities abound.
As humans, our innate nature tells us, that a mother’s role is to nurture, care, protect and educate her offspring. This is why we all care so much for our mothers as we are indebted to them – hence the creation of mothers’ day.
India as a country is sometimes fondly referred to as Mother India – thus a country which nurtures and cares for its offspring as any other mother would do. But is this in fact true for Sikhs and Muslims as minorities in Mother India?
Go back 26 years to November 1984 – when Sikhs were openly murdered on the streets of Delhi in a planned and orchestrated pogrom of ethnic cleansing. Go back to 2004, when in Gujrat the same methods were enacted to murder Muslims in the state. Are these the actions of a mother who nurtures or tortures? You decide.
You may be one of the unfortunate people to have had a bad natured mother, who deprived you of her love, but the Sikhs in 1984 and Muslims in 2004 – were brutally murdered, raped and made refugees in what they saw as their motherland. Let’s spare a thought for these victims of Mother India.
Please pay your homage to these mothers and widows – who will never forget seeing their husbands and sons murdered in front of their eyes, who will never forget the demonic screams and actions of the organised mobs. They don’t request your sympathy, but their consistent demand has and still is, for justice, for those in power who orchestrated the pogroms to be brought to justice.
Please make a heartfelt prayer that these mothers get the justice, they so deserve. Let’s be grateful that many of us will not have to witness or endure the pain, suffering, torture and mental trauma they underwent and undergo. Please participate in the recital of Chaupai Sahib www.chaupaisahib.org to help realise the goals of justice for our mothers.
Some question and doubt, how these prayers may get us nearer to justice, Sri Guru Arjan Dev Jee enlightens us, ‘Remembering Him, all sins are erased, and ones ancestors are emancipated’ (Gujri, Limb 496, Sri Guru Granth Sahib Jee). Through prayer if our ancestors can get emancipation, I’m sure our prayers can lead to getting nearer to the justice our mother’s so yearn.
On a practical level, we can and should also support www.carnage84.com, www.thewidowcolony.com, www.amuthefilm.com. The efforts of these organisations and films, has brought the truth of the atrocities to the public, and their stride towards justice.
by Akaal Publishers
(Revised by SikhRoots, March 2010)
