NEW DELHI, JAN 2: The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) has earned the wrath of another minority community this time. It's neither Muslims nor Christians but Sikhs this time who are much agitated over what they see as the RSS's attempts to Hinduise them.Matters reached such a head that Akal Takht Jathedar, Joginder Singh Vedanti, issued a warning to the RSS to stop its campaign portraying the Sikhs as part of the Hindu community. ``Sikhs have a different identity from the Hindus, more so because we are against idol worship,'' Vedanti said in a statement yesterday.The provocation for Vedanti's statement came from Sudarshan Chauhan, Punjab state organising secretary of the Rashtriya Sikh Sangat, an RSS affiliate, who announced celebrations of the fortnight beginning from Jan 5 by lighting up Hindu temples in the Guru Granth Sahib's honour. Vedanti as well as a number of other Sikh leaders termed the move as an ``insult to the Guru Granth Sahib''.This is the third time during the past six months when Sikh leaders have agitated against the RSS. The first time was in May last year when RSS chief K.S. Sudarshan described the Sikhs as part of the Hindus. Yet another provocation came from the Sangh when one of its posters showed India's map with a Sikh slogan ``Ek Omkar'' written below it. Sikh organisations termed it as an insult to their religion.The RSS, however, accuses leaders of various warring Akali Dal factions of trying to create disharmony between the BJP-RSS combine and the SAD (Badal).``We have all respect for the Akal Takht Jathedar and have no intention of defying him,'' Sikh Sangat organising secretary for Delhi, Ravinder Pal Singh told The Indian Express today.Singh described the call for fortnight-long celebrations given by Chauhan as ``his individual programme''. ``RSS has no such plans to hold such celebrations but we can't stop people from chalking out a programme individually,'' Singh said.The Sikh Sangat seems to have back-tracked from Sudarshan's stand that Sikhs are part of the Hindu community after Vedanti's warning. ``Sikhs do have a separate identity but, we are as much a part of the broader Hindu culture as Jains or Buddhists,'' Singh added.
