CJI on Dais, Ujjal Dosanjh Talks of Holocaust, Detention Centres

Dosanjh said that if Nanak was alive to see detention camps in China, US & Assam, he wouldn’t have remained silent.

CJI SA Bobde (left) and former Canada Federal Minister Ujjal Dosanjh.

(Photo: Altered by The Quint)

With Chief Justice of India SA Bobde seated on the dais, former Canada Federal Minister Ujjal Dosanjh on Saturday, 1 February, delivered a speech which mentioned detention centres in Assam, US and China as well as Nazi atrocities during the Holocaust, The Indian Express reported.

At a conference celebrating the 550th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak Dev in Chandigarh, Dosanjh also talked about how Nanak was not just a thinker but also an activist and a critic and how his teachings were relevant in today’s world.

“I cannot imagine Nanak sitting day in and day out reading poetry, spiritual poetry. My Nanak would ask me: ‘You have read it, understood it. What will you do to change the world?’”

Ujjal Dosanjh

“He would have never said Punjab is for Punjabis and Assam is for Assamese... Nanak would have never stood silent in face of all that is happening in this world,” he reportedly added.

‘Nanak Would Have Challenged Detention Centres in China, US, Assam’

Calling Nanak an “irreverent debater and challenger,” Dosanjh reportedly said that if he was alive to see the detention camps in China, US and Assam, “Nanak would not have remained silent. Nanak would have spoken out. Nanak would have been on frontline.”

Talking about the crimes committed by Hitler against Jews, Romas and Gypsies, he also recited German Lutheran pastor Martin Niemoller’s poem First they came... which talks about inaction against injustice and its consequences:

“He said first first they came for communists; and I did not speak out because I was not a communist. Then they came for the socialists; and I did not speak because I was not a socialist. Then they came for the trade unionists; and I did not speak out because I was not a trade unionist. Then they came for the Jews; and I did not speak out because I was not a Jew. Then they came for me, and there was no one left to speak out for me.”

‘Nanak Championed Cause of Equality, Justice’: CJI

CJI Bobde, in his address, said that the Sikhism founder championed the cause of equality and justice and his teachings transcend all man-made boundaries irrespective of race, caste, creed or religion, news agency PTI reported.

"Guru Nanak would demonstrate that all religions were equal and deserved to be equally respected by all,” he said.

The CJI told the lawyers and law students present at the event that they will “realise how much of this basic philosophy runs through the first couple chapters of the Indian Constitution and the Preamble, which we are sworn to uphold”.

SC Judge Justice Surya Kant, in his address at the event, said that the apex court had repeatedly emphasised that constitutional identity and morality need to be preserved, according to The Indian Express.

“Guru Nanak’s teachings are more relevant in contemporary times, when humanity is passing through all shades of serious conflicts. Many of us consider themselves, their caste or religion to be superior to others. This is root cause of all crisis,” he said.

(With inputs from PTI, The Indian Express)