AMRITSAR SAHIB, Punjab—For Sikhs and other minority nations living within India, there is a growing threat from the right-wing nationalist organisation ‘Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh’, or more commonly known as the ‘RSS’. Promoting ‘Hindutva’ or Hindu nationalism along with other like-minded ‘Sangh Parivar’ organisations, the RSS was formed in 1925 and is now not only apparently “the world’s largest voluntary non-governmental organisation”, but also criticised as an extremist and paramilitary group. The organisation and its affiliated groups are widely believed to manipulate the Sikh religious ideologies, distort history and propagate the “Sikhs are a part of Hindus” agenda.
Sikhs must be vigilant of the cunning attempts by those dressed in ‘Khaki shorts’ to steadily finish the unique Sikh way of life and merge the identity into merely another sect of Hinduism. In the same way how Jainism and Buddhism are now known in India no more than by just name, the Sikh nation too is under a similar threat if realisation of the dangerous RSS propaganda is not noted by the masses.
Fulfilling their responsibility to create awareness of issues affecting the Sikh nation in current times, and disseminating this information to the ground-level Punjabi masses, Panthik Parcharak Baba Ranjit Singh Khalsa Dhadrianwale explain that no one is against any religious groups that wish to peacefully practise their own beliefs within their own communities or preach their own principles to others within the law, but the malicious distortion of another’s ideologies and history in order to gradually merge the distinct identity of that community into their own is intolerable.
In the warning message, Baba Ranjit Singh Khalsa inform the masses of Punjab that the extremists in Khaki shorts are at this moment in time trying their utmost to wipe out the unique characteristics of Sikh living.
If the ground-level Sikhs do not become watchful, the likes of the RSS will succeed in their aim. However, it is saddening to note that what effort do those in Khaki shorts truly need to make if we Sikhs ourselves start replacing our ‘Kara’ with useless threads around our wrists, if we ourselves begin to base our life on horoscopes, if we ourselves begin to get advice from the Brahmins and fake God-men? Our beautiful Sikh culture is being destroyed by our own people who, perhaps naively, believe parties, alcohol, dancing, inappropriate music and certain festivals that have no place in the Sikh faith is the so-called culture of Punjab.
In such a scenario, the RSS is indeed correct in saying we do not have any distinct identity. But in reality Sikhs have their very own culture, festivals and customs. For that reason, we must not become just Sikhs by name, but Sikhs by our unique actions and our distinct way of living. We are a separate nation because our thinking is unique, a thinking that only Guru Granth Sahib Ji Maharaj can instil within us. When the people of a nation live and practise according to their own distinctive ways, different to any other, then consequentially that nation is indeed unique.
The likes of the RSS will fail miserably in their agendas when Sikhs adopt the eternally unique knowledge of Guru Granth Sahib Ji Maharaj into their thought-process and live every day of their life distinctively within Gurmat.
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