Skip to main content

Akali formations can ignore Sikh support to Shaheen Bagh at their own peril

Image result for images of golden temple amritsar


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.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Damage to institution of Akal Takht symbolising Sikh sovereignty more important dimension of current crisis in Sikh domain

  Ideological Damage to Akal Takht most important dimension of Akali Crisis Ground Zero By Jagtar Singh The Sikh religio-political discourse entered a new phase on Baisakhi 2025 — the historic day on which Guru Gobind Singh, in 1699, created the Khalsa at Anandpur Sahib, completing the ideological foundation laid by Guru Nanak Dev, the founder of the Sikh faith. Significant developments emerged from the well-attended Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) conference held at Takht Sri Damdama Sahib on April 13. It was the first major public appearance of Sukhbir Singh Badal since his re-election as party president on April 12, marking his return to the helm after a brief interregnum. Sukhbir, who first succeeded his father, Parkash Singh Badal, as party president in 2008, resumes leadership of a party long dominated by the Badal family—an influence that has spanned over three decades, the longest in the SAD’s history. For months, the religio-political landscape of Punjab has remained i...
Post a Comment
Read more

Strategic polarisation by BJP has potential to dislocate social secularism in Punjab

  Strategic polarisation by BJP has potential to dislocate social secularism in Punjab Jagtar Singh Chandigarh: Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s recent visit to Dera Sachkhand Ballan in the Doaba heartland—an area where Dalit social and religious formations wield considerable influence—has once again revived the debate on the role of deras in Punjab’s complex religio-political landscape. Punjab, a border state that has historically witnessed alternating cycles of violent and remarkably peaceful mobilisations over more than a century, continues to remain politically sensitive and socially layered. This is typical Punjab whose political discourse has invariably been dictated by the Sikh religio-political discourse, at least till recently. This dominant Panthic religio-political discourse has now got fragmented over the period, thereby yielding space to new permutations and combinations in the state’s religio-political matrix. It can safely be said that Punjab is in a flux. The ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Akal Takht intervenes to reset Sikh religio-political discourse

  Akal Takht intervenes to reset Sikh religio-political discourse Ground Zero Jagtar Singh Chandigarh, Dec 8: The Sikh religio-political domain has the tendency to dictate religio-political discourse of Punjab whose polity is different from other regions in the country. This is the state where a national dynamic minority is in majority. This minority was the third entity in all the political negotiations leading to India’s independence. What happened in Punjab on December 2 has to be reviewed in this backdrop as this development is going to have far-reaching impact not only on the future of the Shiromani Akali Dal but also the political tendencies at several levels. It is pertinent to mention at this stage itself that the Sikh religio-political discourse is presently affecting even India’s geo-politics, especially in the American sub-continent in the context of the activities of a section of the Sikh Diaspora. December 2 was unprecedented in the history of more than a c...
Post a Comment
Read more