The spreading family

Not only that, huge quantity of publicity material has been brought out,including one lakh calenders. They have been distributed all over thecountry. For the people in Punjab, the literature is in Punjabi in Devnagariscript. 8220;For us, Guru Gobind Singh is a national hero. He integrates thePunjabi society. What we are doing is also for the integration of thatsociety,8221; explained an RSS leader.

Radical Sikh leaders interpret the RSS designs as an attack on the exclusiveSikh identity. 8220;In this integration, there is negation of a separate Sikhidentity,8221; said an Akali leader. These leaders go back to earlier similarattempts when Bhai Kahan Singh Nabha, a Sikh scholar, brought out a pamphlet8220;Hum Hindu Nahin.8221;

At one stage in Punjabi, the Punjabi Hindus disowned their mother tongue toconfront the Akali demand for a Punjabi suba. The RSS move is now being seenas an attempt to decommunalise that section of the Hindu society also.The members of the Rashtriya Sikh Sangat, an organisation affiliated to theRSS, recently approached the Damdami Taksal, the Sikh seminary once headedby Sant Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, to get their men trained in Sikhreligion and philosophy.

8220;We told them we admit only Amritdhari Sikhs. They did not approach usagain,8221; said Taksal spokesman Mohkam Singh.

8220;We will become Amritdhari also,8221; says the RSS leader. The RSS treats theKhalsa as a sect of the Hindus created by Guru Gobind Singh to confrontIslam, as apparent from the literature. Hence the objection by the radicalSikhs to the designs of the RSS in this border state who assert theirexclusive identity.

The agenda of the RSS in Punjab is: 8220;The RSS is actively pursuing thephilosophy and the path shown by Guru Nanak and Guru Gobind Singh. The RSShas the same perception of a healthy society and an ideal nation as that ofthe Guru Khalsa. Both these streams are flowing to get assimilated in thesame ocean. The need is to integrate both these streams for the speedierflow of the national mainstream.8221;

The RSS extensively quotes Guru Gobind Singh to hammer the point that Khalsawas created to strengthen the Hindu society. The Sikhs are described as yetanother Hindu shakti kendra. Even the setting up of the RSS is claimed to bein accordance with the ideals of Guru Gobind Singh.

RSS leaders say that the Panj Piaras five beloved ones who were the firstto partake amrit were from all over the country on the analogy of the Hindumaths set up by the Shankaracharaya earlier. The RSS writings also refer toBachittar Natak, considered to be an autobiography of the 10th Guru to pointout that the Sikh Gurus were Suryavanshi and descendants of Lav and Kush,the sons of Bhagwan Ram.

Giani Puran Singh, the Jathedar of Akal Takht, the supreme temporal seat ofthe Sikhs, received a lot of flak from the Sikh scholars when he dwelt onthe theme of the Sikh gurus being descendants of Lav and Kush.

Then there is a questionnaire prepared by the RSS for the school-levelcompetitions which has generated a lot of controversy. Now some of thequestions:

CPI veteran Satya Pal Dang has expressed strong reservation about thequestionnaire and has brought it under the notice of Chief Minister ParkashSingh Badal. Meanwhile, the attempt of 8220;assimilation8221; continues.