Punjab: Defusion of tensions by pandering to godmen representing the warring castes

The Hindu, May 28, 2009

Editorial

The caste war in Punjab

Seven hundred years after a Dalit mystic began preaching the oneness
of God’s creation, Punjab has been set on fire by mobs fighting in his
name. Earlier this week in Vienna, Khalistan Zindabad Force terrorists
attempted to assassinate Dera Sach Khand chief Niranjan Dass, who
heads an order of followers of the poet-saint Ravidass. Punjab’s
Dalits — who make up a third of the State’s population — responded by
unleashing the most violent protest s the State has seen in years.
Behind their rage lies a century-old struggle for political rights. As
in the case of many other new religious movements in Punjab, the rise
of Dera Sach Khand was driven by Dalit deprivation. Born into the
family of a poor leather merchant, Ravidass is widely venerated; many
of his hymns are included in the Guru Granth Sahib. But where orthodox
Sikhs consider him to be a follower of Guru Nanak, Punjab’s
Ravidassiya order considers him to be a Guru in his own right. Back in
the 1920s, the revolutionary activist Mangoo Ram tapped Ravidassiya
traditions to found the Ad-Dharam movement. Dalits were, at the time,
deemed a non-agricultural caste, and denied the right to own land, the
currency of power in a rural society. Mangoo Ram saw in Ravidass’
teaching the intellectual tools for liberation.

Heirs to Mangoo Ram’s movement, Dalit orders like Sach Khand have
grown dramatically in recent years. In comparison with their
counterparts elsewhere in India, Dalits in Punjab are well off.
However, they continue to suffer social discrimination. Both the state
and the clergy have, for the most part, sided with upper-caste Sikhs —
pushing Dalits towards religious movements that voice their concerns.
Sikh neoconservatives have been attempting to stamp out the new
orders, which they insist are heretical. In 2007, tensions between the
clerical establishment and Dera Sacha Sauda head Gurmeet Ram Rahim
Singh almost precipitated large-scale violence. Worryingly, Khalistan
terror groups have been acting as the neoconservatives’ sword-arm.
Last year, the Delhi Police made four arrests in connection with a
Babbar Khalsa International plot to assassinate Dalit godman Piara
Singh Bhaniarawala. In June, 2008, the Punjab Police arrested alleged
Khalistan Zindabad Force operative Bibi Ranjit Kaur on charges of
planning to assassinate Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh. Unless a serious
political effort is made to address the causes of the bitter
caste-struggle in Punjab, the end of the rioting seen this week is
unlikely to herald the return of peace. Politicians have so far sought
to defuse tensions by pandering to godmen representing the warring
castes. But the real challenge is to build a society founded on
respect for democratic rights.