The RSS has struggled in the farmers’ protest to maintain their status quo. Sikhs have taken the attacking position, and it threatens the plans of the Hindu Rashtra. The Sikhs must take a stand as the protectors or traitors of Hinduism.
Historical relation between the Sikhs and Hindus
During the Mughal Empire period, Aurangzeb had imposed Islamic laws, demolished Hindu schools and temples, and enforced new taxes on non-Muslims.
The Guru had resisted persecution, adopted and promised to protect Kashmiri Hindus. He was summoned by Aurangzeb on a pretext to offer him “to abandon his faith, and convert to Islam”.
Guru Tegh Bahadur and his colleagues refused, and he and his associates were arrested, tortured for many weeks. They fought Islam.
The Sikh community came to defend the persecuted Hindus and other non-Muslims being forcibly converted to Islam. That is why, historically, Sikhs are seen as the protectors of Hindus.
The Sikh community has a fair number of lower caste Hindus who converted due to the oppression in Hinduism. They do not practice caste and varna dharma systems. Dalit Sikhs have their Ravidasi gurudwaras around the world
They are also reasonably well-educated than the Dalit community in any other part of India.
In the modern-day and age, Sikhism has gained an international presence and established itself as an independent religion.
The notion of RSS
RSS founders and forefathers said that “The faiths such as Sikhism, Buddhism and Jainism, are all a part of Hinduism.”
The RSS uses the word ‘sect’ instead of “religion” for these religions. They consider Sikhism as the “sword arm” of Hinduism.
Dr Sukhpreet Singh Udoke, a writer who advised the Akal Takht on RSS issues, explained. “All the Indian religions are treated as a part of the Hindu rashtra even when they have a unique and independent identity. Sikhs oppose this idea because they believe that their history is not about fighting muslims… It is about standing against injustice. They fear that RSS wants to assimilate into Hinduism.”
The RSS-BJP never called for caste-free and gender-neutral participation in agricultural production or in general.
On the contrary, they emphasise maintaining the parampara of varna dharma. They want all religions like Jainism and Buddhism to be a part of the Hindu Rashtra as they are a sect of Hinduism, but that would mean the lower caste people who converted due to oppression again fall into the trap of the caste system.
With the BJP moving forward to form a Hindu Rashtra, they want the various castes and religions identified as Hindus to show a united front.
India’s government and right-wing organisations like RSS, with their strong alliance with the ruling party, have set the goal of Hindu Rashtra.
Although the Hindutva Wadi wants to portray Sikhism as part of Hinduism, their efforts don’t bear much fruit because Sikhs realise these are just co-opting methods. Sikhism has already got global recognition as an independent religion.
The clash between the RSS and Sikhs in the farmer’s protest
Sikhs have gone against the government only once so far, during the emergency period, and now they are a massive part of the Northwestern’s who initiated the farmers’ protest.
The Farmers protest is bringing all the sub-castes and communities together. The conflicts in the Sikh community were dissolving to a large extent, and that worried the RSS.
They thought the farmers’ protest against the law was turning into a Sikh movement against the Hindus.
Sikhs were the protectors of Hindus, and now when they take a stand for themselves against the government and corporatisation of the agriculture sector, it is seen as a betrayal.
Since the farmers’ protest, the RSS and BJP have painted the Sikh farmers as Khalistanis and traitors.
In one such incident, the protestors hoisted the symbol of Sikhism’ Nishaan Sahib’ flag on the Red Fort, and rumours spread around the country that it was a Khalistani flag.
The RSS and BJP speakers were quick to give out statements against the Sikhs. Narendra Kumar, the joint national secretary of the publicity department in the RSS, employed a hashtag to describe the incident as a “Khalistani_Naxali_conspiracy”—referring to separatist Sikh and militant Maoist ideologies. – Caravan.
The Sikh farmers know when and how to pick their battles. Not once have they given out a slogan that does not align with the motto of farmers’ protest. RSS – BJP has to pull their forces back.
The more they attack and create chaos, the more they end up exposing themselves and their agendas. India must learn from the Sikhs with humility.
