On 26th January when whole India was celebrating its 72nd republic The huge protest of mainly Sikh Farmers along with their feudal associates of market middleman and a considerable percentage of Jat farmers led by their leaders stormed the barricade planted by the police authorities to restraint the protestor .The unleash chaos and uncontrolled wave of massive crowd made the assigned authority enervated to act and even became paralyzed and non functional to resist . Khalsa was hoisted and unfurled on red fort as a mark of protest . Though protest now became a highly complex web of many narratives and political explanations the people simplistically termed these disturbing and stunning visual of hoisting of flag as anti national . It’s a people tendency that normally they demand less control of government however when matter come up for security and personal protection of life and property state power are always expected to be in full charge. The Khalsa Flag at red fort was something that was hard to imagine by common people watching live television . However people in general are unaware with circular rotation of time in which past history sometime stand before us with glaring present and if we are even slightly aware about our distant past there is a little chance of getting being surprised ..
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| Jassa Singh Ahluwalia |
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| Shah Alam II |
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| Jassa Singh Ramgarhia |
Mughal empire after the attack of Maratha , Jat and Persian invasion became almost a dead carcass however they were having still some flesh left with mughal emperor Shah Alam II on throne who was already on the pay roll of earlier Maratha now waiting to be looted and invaded by Sikh confederates who rose and organized during the later raids of Persians in India . Some historian confirms that it was rise of these confederates who put up a strong and resolute fight against Persian led by Ahmed Shah Abdali which halted his continuing incursions into India … now whatever left of Mughal was served for Sikh to be eaten who became powerful in mid eighteenth century Even Today the idea of subduing Delhi’s arrogance has been a powerful motivator in Punjab politics.
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| Khalsa Flag |
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| Mughal Flag Under Shah Alam |
By early 1783, the Sikhs commenced preparations for the capture of the Red Fort. A force of 60,000 under the leadership of Sardar Jassa Singh Ahluwalia Sardar Baghel Singh and Jassa Singh Ramgarhia assembled at Ghaziabad, continuing their attacks and capturing rich towns around Delhi. Enormous booty was collected by Sikhs, which was sent to Punjab with an escort of 20,000 soldiers. One-tenth of this booty was sent to the Golden Temple as offering to the Guru.
On March
8 the Sikhs captured Malka Ganj and Sabzi Mandi. Prince Mirza Shikoh, on orders
from the Emperor, tried to stop the invaders but suffered defeat, and fled. On
March 9 they captured Ajmeri Gate. There was a panic in the city; many took
shelter in the fort. Jassa Singh Ramgarhia joined the Sikh forces at the last
moment with 10,000 soldiers. As many as 30,000 Sikh horsemen of Baghel Singh’s
army were camping at a place now known as Tees Hazari, location of the Delhi
High Court.
The
Sikhs attacked the Red Fort on March 11,1783. The Emperor and all his guards,
in fact every one in the fort, hid themselves. The story goes that an insider
informed Sikhs of a weak spot in the wall of the fort, where the soldiers made
a hole by ramming it with wooden logs; the place is named as Mori Gate, the
location of Inter State Bus terminus (ISBT).
The Sikhs entered the Red Fort, hoisted the kesri Nishan Sahib, and occupied Diwan-e-aam, a key location in the fort, where the Emperor, sitting on the throne, used to have audience with the public. In a symbolic gesture, Jassa Singh Ahluwalia was made to sit on the throne, which made him the Emperor. His old rival and his name-sake, Jassa Singh Ramgarhia, joined by some other chiefs, opposed Ahluwalia’s sitting on the throne. Before the event took an ugly turn, Jassa Singh Ahluwalia gracefully vacated the throne and, thus, avoided a controversy amongst the chiefs at a critical moment.
The
Mughal Emperor was quick to reconcile
with the Sikhs he offered a treaty and accepted their terms. The Emperor was to
pay Rs 3 lakh as nazrana. The kotwali area was to
remain the property of the Sikhs. Baghel Singh was allowed to construct
gurdwaras on all sites connected with Sikh history.
With government machinery became ineffective and people climbed over Red Fort dome in 21st
century hoisting the Khalsa was like a déjà VU ..it is nothing new it is already
happened before . We can only learn the lesson from our bygone past that such embarrassing
situation shouldn't occur to surprise us again .
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| Protest storming at Red Fort in 2021 |
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| Khalsa Flag unfurled at red fort in 2021 |
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