Dalits & ‘emancipatory’ Sikhism

Rajesh Deol Mushrooming Deras in Punjab is symptomatic of religious assertion from the margins The attack at Vienna on two preachers of a religious sect, Dera Sachkhand, and its angry reverberation on the streets of Punjab last week has once again highlighted the growing tensions among mainstream Sikhs and a growing tribe of sants and babas with committed armies of devotees. The sect head, Sant Niranjan Dass who had gone to Vienna for delivering a sermon, survived the attack orchestrated by a group of radical Sikhs in a Ravidass gurdwara, while his deputy, Sant Rama Nand, succumbed to his injuries. In a spontaneous outpouring of their wrath, dalit devotees in Punjab went about burning trains and buses, blocked rail and road traffic and destroyed several crores of government property over two days of uncontrolled frenzy. Five major Punjab cities were put under curfew and the Army had to be called at several places, including at Jalandhar where the headquarter of the Dera Sachkhand is located. On the face of it, the venting of ire by the predominantly dalit followers of the sect on government property and transport system in Punjab made little sense especially since the incident took place in far-off Vienna. However, a scrape through the surface reveals a complex web of fault lines enmeshed in caste, economics and social status of a community kept on fringes for long where religion played only a superficial role in the eruption of emotions. The Dera Sachkhand, which draws a huge following among the dalits, has over the years become a symbol of dalit religious assertion. The attack on the sect preachers was seen by the devotees as an affront to their religious freedom and social assertion. The community has set up its own temples/gurdwaras in Punjab and abroad, primarily for the reason that the upper caste Sikhs, mainly Jats, have invariably controlled gurdwaras and never allowed any say to dalits in the management of gurdwaras within and outside Punjab. An economically resurgent dalit community with the help of its large diaspora has set up nearly 75 gurdwaras abroad, including in the UK, USA, Canada and Austria besides hundreds in Punjab and other states. Dera culture The mushrooming of deras In Punjab, said to be over 8,000 big and small deras, is symptomatic of this social divide between caste Sikhs and the dalits and backward classes. Contrary to the beliefs of the Sikh gurus who had agitated against the caste system in Hinduism to form a separate religion 500 years ago, the caste system ironically dominates the social and religious life in Punjab. Revolting against the discrimination based on caste in Punjabi society, dalit and backward classes have set up their own gurdwaras in major villages in Punjab. Many of them follow the Sikh tenets and bow before the Granth Sahib while also going to different deras for spiritual fulfillment. The growing financial clout of the dalit community in Punjab, nearly 30 per cent of whose three crore population constitutes the dalits (the highest density of dalits in any state in India), has often caused heartburn among caste Sikhs which often leads to tensions in villages. Another contentious issue relates to financials. The setting up of separate gurdwaras by the dalits has meant split in the lucrative income to gurdwaras which is one of the reasons for simmering tensions between mainstream Sikhs and the deras. The top Sikh shrines management body, the Shiromani Gurdwara Prabhandak Committee (SGPC), and the Sikh clergy while dissuading Sikhs from visiting the deras, regards deras as the greatest threat to the Sikh religion, though it is secretly worried about the weening away of large chunk of donations to the deras. Some of the deras like Radha Soami, Dera Sacha Sauda, Dera Sachkhand, Dera Baba Bhaniarewala enjoy huge following of devotees. Interestingly, deras preach secularism and attract Hindus and Sikhs alike and in some cases Muslims and Christians have also become their devotees. The espousal of social issues by many deras like fight against dowry and female infanticide and culture of liquor and drugs has also made them popular.  Core issue Apparently, the provocation for the Vienna attack on the sect preachers was the non-observance of Sikh rehat maryada (religious code of conduct) in the Ravidass gurdwara. Sikh radicals had been warning the sect against the practice of keeping the Sikh holy scripture, Guru Granth Sahib, at the Ravidass gurdwaras where the sect head would let his devotees touch his feet. The Sikhs regard the Granth Sahib as their guru and regard idolatry and the concept of a living guru practised by the deras as blasphemous. In fact, this perception is at the core of tensions among the mainstream Sikhs and thousands of Deras in Punjab which are headed by sants and babas.  Interestingly, the deras headed by these sants and babas have their own religious tenets and symbols but they also take spiritual inspiration from the Guru Granth Sahib. The tendency of certain Dera heads to follow the Sikh gurus in dress, mannerisms or teachings has outraged the Sikh community in Punjab and has often led to violent clashes. The most infamous of such instances was the Dera Sacha Sauda based at Sirsa in Haryana, though majority of its devotees are based in Punjab. Sikhs in Punjab hit the streets two years ago  when the Dera head, Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh, allegedly wore a dress resembling the one worn by the Sikh guru, Guru Gobind Singh. Sikhs protested violently and ransacked branches of the Dera in Punjab forcing the dera to discontinue its discourses in Punjab. In another instance, Baba Piara Singh Bhaniarewala proclaimed himself the descendant of guru Gobind Singh and wrote his own scripture. It caused outrage among Sikhs in Punjab. Interestingly, deras and politicians thrive on each other in Punjab. While deras use politicians’ patronage to attract devotees, the politicians woo dera heads with an eye on their large army of devotees whom they regard as captive vote banks. Dera Sacha Sauda played an influential role in Punjab assembly elections in 2007 when it supported the Congress in Malwa belt, which led to huge gains for the party in the Akali bastion. However, some deras like Radha Soami at Beas, the biggest dera in Punjab in terms of followers, assiduously avoid declaring support for any political party.

Crime against Dalits high in land of khap panchyats

Chandigarh 

Crime against Dalits has been on the higher side in the land of khap panchayats and is showing no signs of abating.

There have been 40 murders, 179 rapes and 107 cases of kidnapping and abduction registered under the head ‘Crime Against Scheduled Castes’ in Haryana from 2005 to 2009, as per National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB)’s recent report. In the same period, there have been 424 cases registered under SC/ST Prevention of Atrocities Act, 212 cases of hurt and 10 cases of arson.

Among the well known cases are Mirchpur, where a 70-year-old man and his handicapped daughter were torched to death on April 21 last year, Jhajjar (where five Dalits were lynched in 2002) and Gohana (where about 50 houses of Dalits were burnt).

In 2005, a total of 288 cases were registered as crimes against Dalits; in 2006 the number was 283; in 2007 it was 227. But in 2008, it jumped to 341 and in 2009 to 303.

Haryana, with a total of 1442 incidents, is also quite ahead of its neighbouring states, with Punjab at 710, Uttarakhand at 338, Himachal Pradesh at 397 and Jammu and Kashmir at 5, in the 2005-2009 period.

At the National Commission of Scheduled Castes’ (NCSC) office in Chandigarh , the record of the state is poor as well. It received 837 complaints from the period 2006-07 to 2010-2011(till date). The maximum (517) among them are connected to atrocities. There are 172 complaints about being discriminated in service matters and 25 about land matters, in the same period.

“If Dalits are alienated from the mainstream, the nation will suffer. In Haryana, whether it is Om Prakash Chautala or Bhupinder Singh Hooda, they want Jat votes. They are afraid of a clash and have natural sympathy with them. Earlier also ( in 2002), five Dalits were lynched in Jhajjar in Haryana for allegedly skinning a cow. In Haryana, Dalits are treated worse than animals,” said Dr Udit Raj, President of Indian Justice Party. He had organised conversions in Gurgaon on October 27, 2002 in response to the Jhajjar lynchings.

“It is a terrorism of Jat community. We are being threatened. In my farm house 135 Dalit families are staying after leaving Mirchpur. The government is also threatening me that the farm house is illegal. The children of families were given admissions only after a lot of hue and cry. Today, I was arrested by the police because they fear I would spoil the peace in the area on April 21. The Dalits gheraoed the SP of Hisar and then I was released,” said Ved Pal Tanwar, President, Non-Jat Organisation, who claims to represent 35 communities other than Jats.

Prof Ronki Ram, a social scientist from Panjab University, said, “The economic position in the regions of Haryana is changing fast. Expectations of people are rising. The lower castes are asserting but the dominant community is not giving them space, which is leading to conflict.”

http://www.expressindia.com/latest-news/crime-against-dalits-high-in-land-of-khap-panchyats/778931/