It came to me while I was on the train. Bored of watching the same buildings fly by day after day, I decided to search for songs on YouTube and came across a song by Gurdas Maan called “Dharti Punjab di.” In this song, Gurdas Mann chronologically highlights the wrongdoings against the state of Punjab. Naturally, with Punjab being homeland to the Sikhs, issues surrounding Sikhism are brought into light with this song. So I found myself thinking — how many Sikh children would proudly be able to say that they knew the history of each or most of the things Gurdas Maan was singing about? Udham Singh, The Jalleanwala Bagh, the people that gave their lives for India but never received anything in return except for flowers on their graves. How many Punjabi children know Punjab was torn in half during 1947? Who can tell me the name of the other two Shaheeds hung with Shaheed Bhagat Singh? Punjabi parents need to educate their children on such topics; they need to explain the history of our heritage. Parents need to show children that being Punjabi isn’t just about Bhangra, Punjabi music and pretty clothes.
Okay…back to what “came to me.” It was an idea to increase awareness all over the world of the events during Operation Blue Star in 1984. If people from the Middle East can use sites such as Twitter to start revolutions, then why not Sikhs? We need to stop using social networking sites for the purposes of hitting on girls and flirting with guys. We need to start a revolution. How long will Sikhs stay quiet? I am one hundred percent sure that if the same attack had been carried out on the holiest of places of any other religion, things would have definitely not ended this way. Punjabi’s all over the world need to unite and increase awareness of the events of 1984. I feel like the people of Punjab want to forget what happened and move on, but how can you forget something so brutal? How can you move on and pretend that it never happened? Some people say its over, Indira Gandhi was assassinated — game over, the end, but what about an explanation? What about a simple Indira Gandhi was wrong or The Indian Government was wrong, we’re sorry. Where are the apologies? Where are the official body counts? Where are the explanations for random villages found burnt to the ground? We deserve an answer.
I thought to myself. “If we could get #neverforget84 to trend on Twitter it would be unbelievable.” I started the event on Facebook and started inviting all of my friends. Everything was going quite dandy until a couple of people RSVP’d as NO. Most of the people RSVP’ing NO and MAYBE were Punjabi girls! Regardless, I rather not pass judgement, just figured I should put it out there. Anyways, all that aside, let’s all come together an make our mark.
Please RSVP to the event if you haven’t done so already. Make a Twitter account and be sure to tweet #neverforget84 on June 05, 2011!
Simrat Kaur