While it is to be appreciated that the Jathedars
of the Sikh Takhts correctly understood the sentiments of the
Sikh community and rejected the cleverly crafted apology of the Dera
Sauda head Gurmeet Ram Rahim, what is certainly not appreciable is
the fact that the Sikh community had to wait with bated breath
for the outcome till the clergy actually pronounced it. What
was so obvious to the Sikh community collectively — that the apology
is only a clever stratagem, that the dera head is least repentant,
that he is continuing to do exactly what he is apologizing for, that
the government has done precious little in bringing him to book,
that his followers are adamant on rather increasing the frequency of
nam-charchas, that the state establishment has made its intentions
clear by providing him with zplus security — was not considered
enough to correctly fathom the end result of the Jathedars’
confabulations.
The kind of response that the June 24 Khalsa
Chetna March received from the Sikh sangat was indicator enough of
the mood of the panth. The fact that the march was sought to be
torpedoed not only by the elements in the Akali Dal-BJP
government but even the SGPC and senior people working inside the
Khalsa Action Committee and still turned out the way it did only
sends out a positive signal. The Sikh community is aware of the hurt
caused and is determined to remove the cause of the pain by either
making the assaulter realize his mistake or taking measures to
put its own house in order so that such attacks do not succeed. It
is at junctures like these that the history records the role
of those at the helm. At a time when things move on smoothly, the
leaders become only marginal players, but when a crisis emerges, the
stuff of the leadership comes under question.
With every passing day, the dera head Gurmeet Ram
Rahim is becoming a smaller man even in the eyes of his own
followers who see that their idol is big enough to indulge in
megalomania, ridiculous enough to imitate the Sikh Guru, stupid
enough to then say that he can’t even think of doing so, and
Lilliputian enough to shirk saying a clear, candid sorry. That he is
crook enough to keep crafting multiple versions of unrepentant
apologies does no credit to a man whose avowed mission is to turn
people into real ‘insaans.’. Of course he can make a beginning by
letting the CBI complete its probe into murder charge against
himself, make clear his role in systematic molestation of the girls
at the dera and present before the people his true motives in
imitating Sikh religious lexicon.
And the Sikh leadership, including the clergy,
must also beware that with each passing day, they too are
under watch, and must not do anything to reduce their own stature.
What Paramjit Singh Sarna has done, or Avtar Singh Makkar forever
tries to do, is the one thing that a Sikh leader must stay miles
away from. The Sarnas had won considerable goodwill among the Sikhs
of Punjab, and they will have to do considerable effort now to win
it back. The only good thing they have done is to turn
themselves into befitting examples of what the leaders must not try
to do when dealing with the sentiments of the community. Be clear,
be transparent. Cloak and dagger, as we earlier said, is not a
strategy to be employed at home.
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