The ushering in of the New Year and of the second decade of the new millennium is an occasion to reflect on the year gone as well as to look forward.
2009 saw the re-election of a Sikh-led Indian government but a leader often decried as being the puppet rather than the puppet master and of a party still stained horribly, after 25 years of injustice, by the harrowing massacre of the innocents in Delhi and elsewhere in 1984.
It also saw the passing of a great thinker, historian, writer, speaker, activist and the most gentle yet forceful of men, Sardar Patwant Singh. His distinguished manner combined with his insightful analysis of Sikh history and ideology, as well as modern geo-politics make him a great loss to the world.
Meanwhile continuing strife in Indian Punjab (and terribly, in Austria too) between followers of various sects and mainstream Sikhs continued to cast a dark shadow on the state. The seemingly endless number of ‘Babas’ and ‘Sants’ have continued to pepper the land with their deras and followers. And, on occasion, clashes have occurred between them and those who have sought to oppose them.
The Ludhiana violence in December led to the killing of at least one Sikh by the Police and numerous casualties on all sides. The unedifying scenes are a reminder how far reasoned debate, considered response, or reconciliation are from the Punjabi or Indian psyche – and how, it would seem, that sects and sectarianism still flourish in the land of the Gurus.
The question for Sikh temporal and spiritual leaders and bodies - and us all – must be ‘why?’
Why do so many find the ‘teachings’ of these sects so enticing? And what has been done to reawaken the people to the message of the Gurus and specifically to renounce ‘Sikh’ Babas and their henchmen and to lead people away from these money-grabbing charlatans?
Why is it that so many low caste Punjabis – Sikhs and Hindus – as well as migrants from other states, find no home in Gurdwaras or at least feel more welcome in the arms of those who claim to speak for them from often very odd and incendiary theological standpoints?
And why is it that the universality of Nanak’s message has become an ever more narrowly defined and defended creed which appears often hostile to newcomers, particularly on caste lines? And what role have politicians played in this seemingly endless drama?
My late father was a student of Khalsa College, Amritsar in the late 1940’s and early 1950’s. He told me once that one of his professors had claimed somewhat wistfully that Sikhism was wasted on Indians and that it would have been far better led, learned and lived by Westerners.
My response is that no people needed to hear such a message more than those on the Subcontinent. Whether they – we – have listened and acted in accordance with that message is still a matter of ‘work in progress’ and one it would seem in need of much remedial action.
