[Reader-list] Foreign Hand in Hyper-Masculine Sarbat Khalsa

[Kabir Khan]

Foreign Hand in Hyper-Masculine Sarbat Khalsa
<https://maleccha.wordpress.com/2015/11/17/foreign-hand-in-hyper-masculine-sarbat-khalsa/>

Recently Punjab and its looneys bounced back in national media. Farmer
suicides, later failure of cotton crop gathered news coverage. Connection
were made with global discussion on climate change.
<http://www.livemint.com/Opinion/7EGr4LSba8Jk9ox6u623DN/Why-farmer-suicides-in-punjab-is-a-climate-story.html>
The failure of cotton crop is yet another slap on the face of farmers and
agrarian labour, many of the suffering farmers are Sikhs, Dalits and
others. Still this was not very important for Sikh experts abroad to
comment on.

For them tragedies matter only when it comes to matter of faith. In an
article published on Round Table India, they chose to argue that “As
clearly, it is not possible for Sikhs to live within the Indian state as
legitimate citizens without compromising their dignity, their religion,
their life, or their struggle to survive.”
<http://roundtableindia.co.in/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=8404%3Asarbat-khalsa-historical-context-and-contemporary-framing&catid=129%3Aevents-and-activism&Itemid=195>
The
authors pointed out historical references of victimization of Sikhs by
Indian state, which were indeed interesting and relevant. But what they
failed to question or reflect on was:

Like it is not impossible for Sikhs to live in Indian state as they say- it
is impossible for Dalits of Punjab to stay within the framework of
officially endorsed Sikhism as it is dominated too much by Jatt Sikh
narrative. The writers haven’t told us anything about how caste system
within Sikhism forced many other communities like Ramdassiyas, Ravidasiyas
to have separate Gurudwaras or *Ravidas Mandirs* both in India and abroad.
There is a history to it which is as important as subjugation of Sikhs.

Lack of inclusionary spirit in mainstream Sikhism which is forcing many to
move out of Sikhism and Dera Sachkhand Balan – propagators of Saint
Ravidas’ teachings have declared that they should not be identified as
Sikhs, many have moved towards Dera Sacha Sauda for similar reasons. While
we may judge Ram Rahim Singh the way we want, but he did open the space for
Dalits of Malwa towards the Dera. Radha Swami Dera is attracting a lot of
followers for the same reason. Many are choosing Sufi Islam in Jalandhar
and finding it better than mainstream Sikhism, whether it is Murad Shah in
Nakodar or other Dargahs.

Coming from Jalandhar, seen with my own eyes and heard from my own ears of
what the saviours of* Panth *think of Dalits. Their slangs for Ravidassiyas
are still fresh in memories.

It is important that we should not get into this victim narrative and
reflect on what went wrong. The atrocities done on Sikhs by Indian state
are unjust, so are atrocities committed by Jatt Sikhs on the others. The
arrest of Sarbat Khalsa leadership under sedition charges calls for
condemnation. As by jailing these loonies, who were neither in three nor
thirteen of Punjab politics, the corrupt Badal government has brought them
back to fame. Continued here....
<https://maleccha.wordpress.com/2015/11/17/foreign-hand-in-hyper-masculine-sarbat-khalsa/>


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Regards

कबीर/کبیر

Phone:00-91-96-63-427-315

email: kabirkhan1989 at gmail.com

email: maleccha at live.com

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Website: http:www.wastenarratives.com
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