News 24 Desk
New Delhi: How are you,Vivek Vihar ji ? “ Well, I am okay and doing well,`` replies Bhogal. Then both Vivek Vihar and Bhogal started discussing from local to international issues. Hold on, it is not two key areas are talking to each other. Understandably,it is not possible either.
Actually, when two known Sikh leaders of capital meet,they do not address with their names. Rather than that,they call from their appended names. It can be from Rohini to Pahar Ganj and from Vivek
Vihar to Greater Kailash. Welcome to brand new world of Sikh leaders of the capital who are in a tearing hurry to append the name of their area with their names.
Balbir Singh Vivek Vihar, who is on the Board of many governing bodies of Sikh colleges and schools of Delhi, says that he appended Vivek Vihar to his name couple of years to be different. There were close to 10 Balbir Singhs in my area and even in my circle of friends.
It was really tough to little different. “ As i have been doing the politics of Delhi Gurudwara since long, i thought i must do something to be different. After discussing the issue with my family and friends, i decided that i should add `Vivek Vihar` to my name. I have been staying here since long and now people easily recognize me with my new name. Even in the marriage card of my daughters, my new name was mentioned. My identity is incomplete without Vivek Vihar with my name."
Kuldeep Singh Bhogal,a social worker and a close confident of Punjab Chief Minister Prakash Singh Badal, has one claim to fame that he was perhaps the first Sikh leader of the capital to append name of his area with his own name. His claim was not challenged by anybody.
Recalling the story behind his new name though even it is long since he added Bhogal with his name. Jathedar Kuldeep Singh Bhogal informs it was at the behest of Sant Harcharan Singh Longowal that he added Bhogal to his name. "We gave him a rousing welcome at Bhogal in1985 when he came to meet the victims of the anti-Sikh riots of 1984 in Delhi.
Santji had never imagined that he would get such great reception. Before leaving Delhi, Longowal asked me to add Bhogal to my name. I followed his instructions there and then. And since then I became Kuldeep Singh Bhogal. Now, i am more popular as Bhogal than my original real name in the political circles of the Capital.” Bhogal is now a senior leader of the Akali Dal (Badal) in Delhi and is currently involved in the construction of a hospital inside the gurudwara in South Delhi.
A Sikh businessman,Avtar Singh is now Avtar Singh Jhilmil colony. “ My life has changed for good since i became Avtar Singh Jhilmil colony. There were so many Avtar Singhs in and around my area that it was tough to be different from the crowd. Once i was suggested by a close friend that by appending name of Jhilmil Colony with my name, i can be different. His suggestion was spot on and i put Jhilmil Colony with my name. Now,my friends and other business partners call me Jhilmil veer ji rather than Avtar ji or Avtar paaji.And since i took a major stepin terms of name, my two-three friends followed me.
They became Hardeep Singh Shahdara to Kirpal Singh Janakpuri. ” Well,it is an old practice among Jat Sikhs to append the name of their village to their names in Punjab. Who has not heard the names of Sikh leaders like Kairon, Barnala, Badal and Ajnala? But what about leaders like Mr. Greater Kailash, Vivek Vihar Paaji, Rohini Veerji and Govindpuri sahib?
It does not matter if their `pind` is left behind in Punjab - many well-known Sikhs of the Capital have solved their identity crisis by substituting their old village surname with that of their present residential colony.
With smile on his face,noted Hindi scholar Dr.Maheep Singh says such surnames are politically correct: "Sikhism and the followers of Guru Gobind Singhji do not believe in caste system at all. I feel that by discarding their traditional surnames and adding their locality names, the Sikh leaders are doing a kind of service to make our society free from the scourge of caste ," he concludes.
Manjit Singh Calcutta is another prominent Sikh of the Capital. He should better change his surname to Kolkata!. He is a Delhiites since 1976. He is probably the only Sikh in India to be called as Calcutta.
He was also the member of DSGP. Another person is Manjit Singh Govindpuri. With a smile on his face, Manjit Singh says now people of his area call him with his adopted surname. Govindpuri, who runs an air-conditioning business, and is also active in Sikh politics of Delhi, says now even those who knew him since long call him as Govindpuri, rather than his real name. Rajinder Singh Techno TV is another gentleman with a very innovative mind.
Unlike Messrs Bhogal, Tagore Garden, Rohini, this member of the SGPC, has been using the
name of his Techno TV manufacturing company. "As I am well-known in West Delhi as the owner of Techno TV, I thought I should include this with my real name", he says.
So what`s behind the name game? Eminent Sikh Scholar and MCD councilor Jitender Singh Shunty says, "It is a tradition. These leaders are just following the footsteps of other prominent Sikh leaders from Punjab to create their own identity.
As we all know that there is a paucity of good Sikh names - there is no dearth of Balbirs, Manjeets, Hardeeps, Gurpreet and they all end with Singh and Kaur - but it is really hard to distinguish one from another. Appending the names locality really helps. This very trend in capital is different from Punjab in the sense that here even non- Jat Sikhs append name of their areas. I welcome this trend ," Shunty Concludes