Reverse gear

After a long summer of attrition and a winter of ideological sparring, the RSS has finally seen reason and officially admitted that it does not consider Sikhism to be a part of Hinduism. What’s more, it saw Sikhism not just as a separate religion but one that has a distinct identity. For the Sangh, that has traditionally viewed all religions which had their origins in India as extensions of Hinduism, this iteration before the Minorities Commission provides a much needed corrective to a world view that beheld the variegated religious traditions existing in the country through the prism of “Hindu civilisation”.

That this is too simplistic, even dangerous, a perspective when dealing with a reality as complex as India’s became manifest recently in the organisation’s stormy relations with Sikh ideologues. From last April, when Sikh youth demonstrated outside the national executive meeting of the Rashtriya Sikh Sangat — an event in which the sarvsanghchalak of the RSS, K.Sudarshan, participated — the tensions have never been resolved. Incidentally, the Rashtriya Sikh Sangat, an affiliate of the RSS and one that shares its acronym, was meant to be the parent body’s flagship in the Sikh community. Unfortunately, its activities were invariably viewed with the deepest suspicion. It was the Sangat, for instance, that had proposed that Gurupurab would be observed in mandirs and it even had plans to instal the Guru Granth Sahib, the Holy Book of the Sikhs, in Hindu temples. All this arose from the perspective that the Khalsa, formed by Guru Gobind Singh, the Tenth Guru of the Sikhs, was basically a Hindu sect. The response from the Sikh clergy was swift. Last May, a general warning against distortions of the Sikh ethos was issued. By December, the response was sharp and focussed, with the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee decrying the attempts of the RSS to interfere in Sikh religious affairs. This was followed by the Akal Thakt Jathedar Joginder Singh Vendati issuingstrictures against the organisation for distorting Sikh tenets. When it became clear that the campaign to mobilise the Sikhs under the broad rubric of Hinduism was turning out to be more divisive than unifying in its impact, the RSS was forced to read the writing on the wall.

The person who emerges much the worse for this unseemly controversy is the chief minister of the state. Parkash Singh Badal seemed more concerned about the stability of his government and not alienating the Sangh Parivar; he did precious little to manage the crisis. In the process, it was the hardliners in the Sikh community who got the opportunity to set the agenda. This is not a happy outcome in a state that has prided itself on the cultural and linguistic bonds between its three main religious communities — Sikhs, Hindus and Muslims. Besides, Punjab finds itself in a crippled state today, with the stagnation in its agriculture sector eloquently symbolising the drift. The situation requires a concerted response from its political leaders and citizens. Focusing on divisive issues, of the kind promoted by the Rashtriya Sikh Sangat, is no answer.