I AND MY WORDS

Popular Front of India's Pamphlet Spreading Radicalism (courtesy: ANI ) (Warning - Long Read) News cycles this week are claiming to be horrified about the Popular Front of India (PFI) being caught training people in dealing with weapons and its pamphlet for making India an Islamic nation by 2047. However, those who have followed the organization know very well that there is nothing new about this. I had in the wake of the Delhi Riots of 2020 pointed out the troublesome body that is PFI. The very umbrella of a radical ideology, the disturbing signs about the origanization have been all too clear for the observers. In this long essay, written and published in different parts in 2020 and now compiled for the first time, I present my observations of that time, which have only been further reaffirmed. There is only one solution - ban the organization. Unlike the mistakes made at the time of the Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI), the intelligence network is far more equipped and

  Ragi Jatha Performing Kirtan (courtesy: Live Hindustan) Very recently, the Shiromani Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee (SGPC) has been pressed by the Jathedar of the Akal Takht, Giani Harpreet Singh , to stop allowing the use of harmoniums inside the precinct of Harmandir Sahib (Golden Temple). The logic provided by the Jathedar has been that Guru Nanak Dev ji never used the harmonium, and instead there was always a string instrument player accompanying him. Mardana, who accompanied Guru Nanak Dev ji across a significant part of his lifetime, has always been shown as playing a version of the rabab, a stringed instrument that gets plucked or played like the sarangi. Among the people who retain the Sikh musical tradition, very few people today can however play the instrument; instead, the harmonium has become the choice instrument. As per news reports, removing harmoniums will not be easy as of the total singers, only five can use string instruments and perform without the harmonium . G

Prime Minister Narendra Modi became the first Indian Prime Minister to deliver an address from the ramparts of the Red Fort at night time. A commemorative stamp and coin were released alongside the special Shabad kirtan that was organized for the occasion, and Prime Minister Modi reminded millions of Indians about the greatness of one man who was given a tribute – the ninth Sikh Guru, Guru Tegh Bahadur ji. The occasion of course was perhaps befitting – the four hundredth Prakash Purab of the Ninth Sikh Guru,Guru Tegh Bahadur ji , being celebrated at such a grand scale. With the place of his shaheedi, Gurdwara Sis Ganj, and his crematorium, Gurdwara Rakab Ganj, being within short distance of the Red Fort, the triangle of Dharma that arose in the night created an incomparable divine positivity. Amidst all this, it is perhaps also important to step back and briefly examine the greatness of the ninth Sikh Guru, the times he came in and how he was much more than just the man who sacrifi