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Ravidassi Dera parts ways with
Sikhism
Badals
went on appeasing, dera declares new religion, new granth
WSN Bureau
 JALANDHAR: Even
as debate is on whether it is just a marginal fringe element from
the Ravidassia sect or a widespread feeling among that caste, the
fact remains that a wedge has been drived. First, they did not
bother about the respect due to Sri Guru Granth Sahib ji, then they
got into an altercation, and after the Vienna incident, mounted
violence against the Sikhs and then led a consistent movement to
move out the Sikh scriptures from their shrines.
Last week, the
Dera Sach Khand Ballan of the Ravidassia sect which has been
patronized by Parkash Singh Badal and his minions to no end,
announced a formal and complete move away from Sikhism.
In an almost
surreptitious manner, the dera leadership gathered at Seer
Gowardhanpur in Banaras, birth place of Bhagat Ravidass -- on the
occasion of 633rd birth anniversary of the leading Sant of the
Bhakti movement whose compositions were included by the Sikh Gurus
in Sri Guru Granth Sahib.
The Dera leaders
announced that from now onwards, they belong to a different
religion, called “Ravidasia Dharm” and the Ravidassias will have
their own separate religious book “Amrit Bani Guru Ravidass” which
contains 240 hymns of Ravidass, whom they preferred to call "Guru"
instead of "Bhagat".
In the statement
that marked the parting of ways, the sect said, "Our guru will be
Satguru Ravidas Maharaj ji, our religious symbol will be different
and will have the word 'Hari' in it, our salutation will be 'Jai
Gurudev' and our 'ultimate place of pilgrimage' will be 'Shri Guru
Ravidass Janam Asthan Mandir Seer Goverdhanpur Varanasi (UP)'".
Many Sikh
leaders blamed the continuous appeasement of the sect by the Akali
leadership as well as the failure of the SGPC to send out signals
that it plans to seriously work out the issues of inclusiveness and
caste equality in Sikhism for the latest turn of events.
Dera Sachkhand
Ballan has been at the forefront and was being helped by several
forces, including the RSS minded lobbies, to part ways with Sikhism,
and even more than that, to somehow move away from the larger
universal message and core values of Sri Guru Granth Sahib. The
efforts received a further boost after the killing of Sant Ramananad,
deputy of dera head Sant Niranjan Dass, in Vienna on May 24 last
year.
That attack is
still a matter of investigation by the Austrian police.
As soon as the
move was announced, the opposition to it also emerged from inside
the community with certain sections saying there was no way they can
part ways with the unifying philosophy of Guru Granth Sahib. One of
the persons heading this voice of dissent, Gian Chand, tried to hold
a press conference in Jalandhar but goons of the Dera Ballan sect
landed there and threatened him.
The new
religious book of the sect was released in the presence of dera head
Sant Ramanand. Earlier, the Sikh holy book Guru Granth Sahib was
placed and recited in Ravidass temples/gurudwaras but after the
Vienna incident, the sect people had started to restrict themselves
to reading and recitation of only 40 hymns and one salok of Bhagat
Ravidass included in the Guru Granth Sahib. In certain shrines, a
photo of late Sant Sarwan Dass, who founded the dera, was placed in
the palanquin, a development which was being objected to. Soon,
there were reports of shifting out of birs of holy SGGS from
Ravidass temples to Sikh Gurudwaras.
The Shiromani
Akali Dal and the SGPC had been bending over backwards to appease
the dera and even as an Akhand Path was organized at Akal Takht in
the memory of Sant Ramanand, an unprecedented step. SGPC president
Avtar Singh Makkar repeatedly visited the dera was had to suffer
humiliation as even a meeting with Sant Niranjan Dass did not
happen.
The development
will have a deep impact on the socio-political space in Punjab too
and possibly other parts of the country. The move is said to have
had the silent approval of some Congress leaders and administrative
officials close to the dera.
3
February 2010
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