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The Canon
of Dissent
 The current bitter turf
war between the SGPC and the DSGMC over the printing of Guru Granth
Sahib is bringing a bad name to the community. The Sikh Diaspora
must push for logic and reason. The public squabble must stop
immediately.
Bankruptcy of ideas and
sanity is writ large among the top brass of the incumbent Sikh
leadership which is shamelessly plunging to the lowest levels of
politicking on an issue as serious and as sensitive as the printing
and publishing of the volumes of Sri Guru Granth Sahib.
Nothing describes a total lack of the ability to sanely discuss the
most sensitive matter. That there has been a continuous problem
between the Sherman Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee (SGPC) and a
particular publisher is a well known issue. There was a problem with
this publisher even when Bhai Ranjit Singh was the Jathedar of the
Akal Takht.
That the publisher seems to have transgressed his rights and
authority is clear from the way he has put up his signboards also.
Right from inside the parikarma of the Sarovar at Sri Harmandir
Sahib, the huge signboards gaping at the pilgrims present a very
ugly side but the SGPC has been able to do little about it.
Then came the totally avoidable public spectacle of a few young
enthusiasts grabbing a couple of people connected with the
publishing house and blackening their faces and confining them in a
room inside the Darbar Sahib premises. It is true that the publisher
has long been ignoring the warnings of the SGPC and even the
directive of the Akal Takht about not printing the Guru Granth
Sahib, but in a democracy where any action of the Sikhs is likely to
be twisted and tweaked by the Hindutva forces, how sane was the step
to beat up kin of the publishers publicly?
That the Punjab Government stepped in and issued a sort of ordinance
prohibiting anyone from printing and publishing the Guru Granth
Sahib clearly underlined that the authority of the Akal Takht has
been diluted to such an extent that it will require the cops of
Punjab Police to raid and arrest people who violate the hukumnama.
And what about those outside Punjab where the Punjab Government's
writ does not run? Can someone in Delhi print the copies of the Guru
Granth Sahib? Or in the USA?
 Nothing was thought through, but yes, one thing was clear. This was
a pretty good issue with which the SGPC can take up a stick and go
after those at the helm of affairs in the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara
Management Committee (DSGMC). After all, the power tussle for the
DSGMC has been seeing the Badal-led Akali Dal being trounced
repeatedly.
So,
now the SGPC is firing at the DSGMC for sending a few copies of the
scriptures through a container via the Mumbai port. Much tamasha has
already taken place and after the SGPC fact finding teams landed in
Mumbai and the container has returned to Delhi, the two sides have
been holding press conferences. The SGPC chief Avtar Singh Makkar,
whose sole achievement is that it was his name that popped out of
the envelope that Parkash Singh Badal sends for selection of the
SGPC chief, has now demanded that the Sarna brothers of Delhi be
summoned before the Akal Takht. The Sarnas are no less and the WSN
holds no brief for either party. The Sarnas have also gone on a
press conference spree and are splashing huge advertisements in the
media about how the SGPC has been publishing certain books which are
virtually derogatory to Sikh Gurus and Khalsa Panth. Their demand?
Summon Makkar and Badal to the Akal Takht.
There are always several peripheral parties which are interested in
the matter. The daily newspaper Spokesman in Punjab is one of them.
With an editor who was excommunicated from the panth amid a raging
controversy and has been on a clergy bashing trip for years now, the
Spokesman has taken it unto itself to squeeze the controversy for
all scandalous juicy stuff. It has been publishing stories to prove
how Sikhs used to take the volume of Sri Guru Granth Sahib on horses
and the riders would wear chappals and juttis. In a huge front page
article in the magazine issue, it did not forget to remind the
readers that the horses must be urinating on the way. What a way to
deal with an issue that concerns with the scriptures which the Sikhs
consider equivalent to the living Guru, and which even the Supreme
Court of India considers a juridical person?
 Only marginal voices of sanity are being heard from those who are
quickly termed radical. The Dal Khalsa so far has been one
organization which has told the media to stay off the row saying it
was an internal matter of the Sikhs. It has also appealed to all
parties to hold back and pull back from the brink situation and
resolve the matter in an intellectual fashion.
The
Sikh Diaspora must realize that their younger generation is very
vulnerable and it needs to see the community leaders taking the
course of reason and logic if they are to be weaned towards the
religion. The younger generation of Sikhs living in Punjab already
has huge illogical role models before them and there seems to be
little premium at turning towards religion. Hordes of virtual
ruffians and small time loafers form the core groups of “tall”
leaders like Sukhbir Singh Badal and and his minions. The venerable
old men of Akali politics are watching mutely from the sidelines as
the Sikh cause is being given the last burial by men like Parkash
Singh Badal. There are scores of Makkars available for the asking to
help in digging the grave of the Sikh concerns. The Khalsa Panth is
watching its religious and political leadership shamelessly using
the Guru, the ultimate Guru, the Sri Guru Granth Sahib, in settling
cheap political scores.
And
all of this is happening in a year when the world should have been
watching a strong sense of renaissance among the Sikh nation about
the teachings and significance of the scriptures. In a few days’
time, we will see the same leaders leading the panth in celebrating
the Guru’ta’Gaddi Diwas. But will they have shame writ large on
their faces? We, at the WSN, seriously doubt.
7 November, 2007
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