A new dimension was added to the Sikh religio-political
discourse when a group of Muslims from a town in Punjab on Friday offered
prayers in the front of the Ghanta Ghar side (main) entrance of the Darbar Sahib
(Golden Temple) and sought support from
Akal Takht for the struggle to survive as citizens in India in the context of
the movement against the CAA-NPR-NRC narrative.
Earlier, the Shaheen Bagh people had called upon the Sikh
formations to facilitate such support from the Sikh institutions when they had
joined them in the protest in Delhi.
The Akal Takht in the Golden Temple complex is considered to
be the highest Sikh institution for prayer and politics and symbolises
sovereignty of the Sikh doctrine.
This is important as it is mainly the Sikhs of non-Akali
varieties who have joined the Shaheen Bagh struggle. The Shaheen bagh struggle
has been getting strong support from a section of the Bharatiya Kisan Union and
some other formations, including the Akali Dal (Amritsar) and the Dal Khalsa.
The Akali formations, on the other hand, were seen to be
competing a few days back to seek patronage from the Sangh Parivar and the
Bharatiya Janata Party. The Akali Dal headed by Sukhbir Singh Badal is in
alliance with the BJP. It is this Akali formation that controls the Shiromani
Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee and the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee
and by virtue of this, the Sikh institutions.
The leaders of the Delhi gurdwara panel brazenly practice
divisive politics and function as the mouthpiece of the BJP thereby lowering
whatever dignity is left of these high offices.
The Sikhs as community were targeted years back in eighties
and early nineties and the army attack on the Golden Temple code-named
Operation Bluestar and the burning of the Sikhs alive on the roads in Delhi for
three days beginning November 1, 1984 are the darkest chapters of that era.
The target of the divisive discourse is now the Muslim. It needs to be emphasised that the Kashmiri
Muslims did not get support from the Muslims in India when many of them came
under attack following revocation of the Article 370. The stranded Kashmiris
were provided all help by the Sikhs in the country and the gurdwaras opened doors
to shelter them.
The Shaheen Bagh struggle, of course, is getting support
from various sections in India that are opposed to the communal politics.
However, it is the Sikh support at Shaheen Bagh that has been the most
conspicuous.
Punjab on both sides of the Radcliffe Line has been the
worst victim of the partition in 1947 during which more than a million were
killed. The partition witnessed the worst ever transfer of population in
history. That was the worst form of divisive politics. Now the same people want
soft border like in Europe. The bitterness is over.
The Muslims are the main minority followed by the Sikhs in
India. However, the Sikhs have been more dominant and aggressive at every
level. The Sikhs are among the most prosperous people unlike the Muslims in
India.
The support of the
non-Badal Sikhs has to be seen in this context. The Badal Akali Dal has
supported the CAA in Parliament. However, the Sikh behaviour that is being
witnessed is diametrically opposite to the Akali Dal politics.
Akal Takht Jathedar Giani Harpreet Singh had earlier strongly
attacked the RSS. On the issue of CAA, he wants the Muslims to be included. The
Sikh religion is inclusive.
The Akalis of various shades cane ignore the dominant
thinking in among the Sikhs on the issue of CAA-NRC struggle symbolised by
Shaheen Bagh but only at a cost.
Going by this discourse, the space exists for an effective
third formation in Punjab.
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