Column Let Sikhs decide if they are Hindus too

VHP international secretary Praveen Togadia'srecent remarks at Chandigarh that Sikhs are a part of Hindu society and the Guru Granth Sahib can be preserved in Hindu shrines, has re-ignited the decades-old controversy whether Sikhs are Hindus or not. To my mind, the question of faith should be best left to an individual. Togadia should not force anybody to say he/she is a Hindu. But Simranjit Singh Mann should not also force anybody to say he/she is not. Given the history and traditions of Sikhism, Sikhs are surely a part of the Indian ethos.

Recently I received a book Don'tBreak up India?A Biography of Shaheed Sardar Nanak Singh published by S.S. Nanak Singh Foundation in Middlesex, UK. It is a tribute by the descendants of S.S. Nanak Singh, a patriot, who fell victim to the Muslim League goons on March 5, 1947 at Multan.

While tracing the inspiring life of Nanak Singh, the heavily illustrated book also recalls the times in which he lived and died. The publication vividly recalls how the Sikhs were vehemently against the Partition of India. A pledge letter composed by Shiromani Akali Dal, Amritsar, dated May 15, 1946, was circulated to its members to be ready to sacrifice their lives against the Paritition of Motherland India?Sardar Nanak Singh took the pledge letter and in a flash, took his kirpan out of his sheath and slit his left arm just above the wrist. With the blood-drenched tip of the sword, he wrote AKHAND BHARAT on the paper and invited all those present to put their names beside it.

It also provides a graphic description of the historical incident of March 3, 1947 at Lahore when iconic Akali leader Master Tara Singh had pulled out his kirpan and shouting ?Jo bole so nihal, Sat Sri Akal? tore apart a Muslim League flag hoisted atop Punjab State Assembly Hall in Lahore {p.19}. In 1964, Master Tara Singh taking part in deliberations for formation of Vishwa Hindu Parishad, said, ?Protection of Dharma is our Dharma. Khalsa Panth was born for that purpose. Never have I left Hinduism. Guru Govind Singh created a lot of Gurmukhi literature based on Vedas, Puranas and the like. Are we to leave all that…A Hindu revival movement is very necessary and it can come if Golwalkar takes it up; it could be easily started.?

A pledge letter composed by Shiromani Akali Dal, Amritsar, dated May 15, 1946, was circulated to its members to be ready to sacrifice their lives against the Partition of Motherland India?Sardar Nanak Singh, took the pledge letter and in a flash, took his kirpan out of his sheath and slit his left arm.

Whether Sikhism today is a part of the larger Hindu family or a totally separate religious identity is best left to the Sikhs to decide. But who should be their role model?Master Tara Singh or the likes of Bhindranwale and Simranjit Singh Mann? Sikhs have been the worst victims of Islamic Jehad, whose culmination came as recently as in 1947. They were hounded out virtually till the last man from their strongholds in western Punjab?Lahore, Sheikhupura, Lyallpur and Montgomery districts.

Listening to Sikh gurvanis is an ethereal experience. They are full of references to Ram, Hari, Shiva, Mata Bhagwati. A product of Bhakti movement, Sikhism'sphilosophy is subtle essence of Vedantism and Vaishnavism repackaged. Let us not confuse the form for content. Sikhs believe in nirankar (formless Divine), so do several other sects of Hindus. While a large number of Hindus do believe in idol worship, sects like Arya Samaj do not.

Sikhism was once like any other multifarious sect of Hinduism in India. The five K {kesh, kangha, kirpan, kada, kaccha}, the distinguishing badges of Sikhism, came with the formation of Khalsa Panth on Baisakhi Day, 1699. It gave a distinct Khalsa identity to the Sikhs. Yet, even a century later, we find the only consequential Sikh monarch Maharaja Ranjit Singh living and dying as a Hindu.

Maharaja Ranjit Singh was always referred to as the ?Hindoo king? by contemporary British and French officers. Of all holy shrines, he had decided to gift his cr?me de la cr?me possession, Kohinoor gem, to Puri'sJagannath mandir. However, after his death on June 27, 1839, and annexation of Punjab in the British Empire in 1849, Dr Login, the Director of the Lahore Fort and guardian of young Dalip Singh, sent the legendary diamond for the use of Queen Victoria. He also presented the famous Jwalamukhi temple with a golden dome.

After he vanquished Abdul Shah Abdali and chased him to Ghazni, the only ransom the Maharaja asked from him in exchange for sparing his life were the sandalwood doors which Mohammad Ghazni had looted from Somnath temple. The doors were brought back and gifted to Kashi Vishwanath temple.

The opening page of the military manual of Maharaja'sarmy is beautifully illustrated with the sacred evocation of OM along with pictures of Vishnu, Lakshmi, Brahma and Shiva. His last rites were performed, as eye-witness Dr Honigberger described, per Hindu customs. On the eve of second Anglo-Sikh War (1849), Sikh soldiers issued an appeal to their co-religionists in Punjab to join the Khalsa army in large numbers. The appeal read in parts: ?The Maharaja Duleep Singh will, by the Guru'sGrace, be firmly established in his kingdom, the cow and the Brahmin will be protected and our holy religion will prosper?.? (Khushwant Singh, A History of the Sikhs, Vol. 2: 1839-1988, p.69, OUP, 1989).

Much water has flown under the rivers of Punjab since the demise of its last Maharaja, also known as the lion of Punjab. The British through their selective recruitment policy to the army (insisting on Khalsa identity in the Sikh formulations) and in several other ways planted the seeds of separatism among the Sikhs. The Congress has continued with this policy and since then promoted the likes of Bhindranwale with disastrous consequences to all. In spite of all this, the glue that binds Sikhs with the rest of the country has not got weakened.

The constitutional description of the Hindu also covers Sikhs, Buddhists, and Jains. However, all of them have been given minority status for perpetuating their legitimate interests. Hindus have no grouse. But Sikhs are not a minority in the cultural or historical sense the Muslims or Christians are. Hindus have a sense of love and reverence for them. I wish the Sikhs can use that status to lead the Hindu society from the front rather than isolating themselves in a groove. From President to Prime Minister, hockey team to IB, and army to CBI, Sikhs have led India. Not unreasonably that a Sikh is called a Sardar (leader).