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Sikh Protests:
What next?
 For the last one
year or more, the cultist baba from Sirsa in Haryana is having a
free-run of
India, in full
view of the Indian population and with full co-operation and
assistance of the government of Haryana and
India.
Gurmeet Ram
Rahim is an enigma. In a country which is professedly secular and
just, he is the blue-eyed boy of politicians who want to use the
caste and religion card through him to establish, expand and
strengthen their support base. He is working overtime to ensure the
victory of that party who bids the maximum for his protection and
growth.
Turning a blind
eye to court proceedings against him for rape, murder and extortion,
mocking at the judiciary and the Sikhs against whom he has indulged
in blasphemy, the Haryana government has provided him Z-security
cover, the kind of cover provided to the prime minister of the
country! The Indian media deliberately avoids learning about the
genesis of the conflict or restricts itself to highlighting the
fallen turban of a Sikh or the Kirpan-wielding youth.
Political
leaders, uninformed mediamen and drawing room intellectuals are
still calling the agitation either as a conflict between two Sikh
communities or between one sect and mainstream Sikhs.
This is a
typical situation which the Sikhs faced in 1978, when the pseudo-Nirankaris,
with full blessings of the State murdered 13 Sikhs in broad daylight
in the holy city of
Amritsar.
 What is
different from that time is the kind of protests that Sikhs have
launched all over the country. Tired of the ugly behaviour of the
state, disgusted with the lackadaisical attitude of the Sikh
leadership and totally annoyed at the patronage of various
governments to the cultist baba, Sikh youth lost control of their
balance and heavily inconvenienced the common man, in some places
holding a chunk of the population to ransom, evoking unnecessary
reactions from rabidly communal leaders.
The battle that
was being fought with the baba was turned on the head of the Sikhs
by the media due to such behavior and the established Sikh
leadership, hitherto silent went on the defensive. The radical Sikh
leadership had the choice to do something different –to educate the
masses, to pursue the political masters and to define the contours
of social ramifications of the struggle. Instead, they too joined
the bandwagon and brought rail traffic to a halt in
Punjab.
There is no
doubt that Sikhs are angry. There is no doubt that the state is
pushing Sikhs to a wall. There is also no doubt that the state
agencies will continue to support the cult.
So what should
the Sikhs do? Should the Sikhs convert themselves into mobs and
indulge in vandalism? Should Sikhs go all around town brandishing
swords and burning effigies?
Should the Sikh
leadership not show sagacity and statesmanship? The Badal
leadership, always ready to flaunt their Punjabi imagery, has
suddenly turned Panthic on this issue. They have “used the good
offices” of the Damdami Taksal to indulge in a Rail Roko stir in
Punjab
without being officially involved in it.
As always, they
are playing with fire to further their political ends. The plight
of the Sikhs, the progress of the proceedings against the baba and
damage to the Sikh image has all taken a back seat. None of the
leaders who visited Mumbai –Sukhbir Singh Badal and his entourage,
Avtar Singh Makkar, Paramjit Singh Sarna and Baba Harnam Singh
Dhumma had the time and good sense to visit the 27 boys in detention
and counsel them.
The entire Sikh
leadership of all hues has failed the Sikhs in this hour of crisis.
It is unSikh like and uncivil to harm public property. Our fight is
with a rapist-murderer and his supporters not with the common man.
Let the proud Sikh community ponder over the Sikh protests so far
and ask, “What next?”
25
June, 2008
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