Swapan Dasgupta
India Today
May 29, 2000
---------------------------------------------------------------------- Overseas Friends of the BJP (USA) ........... Voice: (718) 271-0453 54-15, 108th St. ............................ Fax: (718) 271-1906 Corona, NY 11368............................ WWW:http://www.ofbjp.org BJP's Website: http://www.bjp.org Title: Separatists want to distort the past but we needn't acquiesce Author: Swapan Dasgupta Publication: India Today Date: May 29, 2000 Forthose in search of The bizarre, it would be instructive to look through the US Congressional Record of March 21. Speaking in the House of Representatives, Congressman Edolphus Towns made a startling revelation. "India's pattern of terrorism," he declaimed, "is well known. It recently tried to blame the Sikhs for the murder of Christian missionary Graham Staines ..." This astounding claim was based on a statement by G.S. Aulakh, president of the grand sounding Council of Khalistan. Aulakh's case rested on the arrest of the man who went by the name Dara Singh. "Every Sikh male uses Singh in his name," said Aulakh. Therefore, by pinning the blame on Dara, the "fascist RSS" is obviously targeting Sikhs. This theory should,ideally, belong in the realms of fantasy. Unfortunately, the Khalistan movement has generated some very spurious intellectualism. Equating all Singhs with Sikhs may be one of the more laughable assertions of Khalsa separateness but there are other more dangerous manifestations of communal identity doing the rounds in Punjab. The controversy over the RSS-sponsored Rashtriya Sikh Sangat convention in Chandigarh has resurrected some of the more ugly dimensions of separatist politics. If uncontested, they could have very serious political ramifications. On the face of it, the issue began as routine political positioning. In line with its policy of reaching out, the RSS organised a Sikh convention where, among other things -- including a demand for an official apology for Operation Bluestar -- it recognised the "separate religious and cultural identity of Sikhs rooted in unified national identity". Pretty unexceptionable stuff, except when read with its strong belief that Sikhs are the "sword arm" of Hinduism. The convention produced a calculated overreaction of those Akalis opposed to Chief Minister P.S. Badal and led to an extraordinary meeting of the Akal Takht on May 14. Skirting the more extreme suggestions such as the demand for separate cremation grounds for Sikhs, the theologians stressed the importance of establishing the distinctive identity of Sikhs. They left it at that, hoping the controversy would die out naturally. It may well happen that way since the political establishment is disinclined to trigger an explosive religious debate. What, however, is disconcerting is that a largely academic debate should have generated such a fierce response. More alarming is the evidence that in the quest for an iron-clad Sikh identity, the separatists are willing to turn their back on history. Regardless of what the Institute of Sikh Studies says about the authenticity of Guru Gobind Singh's Dasam Granth, it is impossible to cast the Sikhs as a community separate -- as opposed to distinct -- from Hindus. History denies it. When it was established, the Khalsa was perceived as the "sword arm" of the resistance to the Moghuls; Maharaja Ranjit Singh did contribute to the golden dome of the new Vishwanath temple in Varanasi; and the Constitution of India did include Sikhs in the wider definition of Hindus. Sikhs are not Hindus but there is an undeniable common bonding. If the two have drifted apart, it's not because of history but because of politics. It's important to recognise the distinction. It's equally important to note the hypocrisy of those who otherwise reduce culture to a syncretic experience but maintain an expedient silence when a contrived identity leads to a clash with common nationhood. It is happening in Punjab and it's met with the deafening silence of our intellectuals. Should we be surprised?
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