Thanks to the political circus unleashed by the tyrannical dynasty-duo at the helm, Congress helped to debunk the popular myth that Sikhism does not have caste.
The manner in which the political drama unfolded over the past few days in Congress-ruled Punjab is no less than a street circus. The Congress — the so-called grand old party, whose control remains in the hands of elitist and entitled dynasty-duo of Sonia Gandhi and her son, Rahul Gandhi — made it a habit to shoot itself in it’s foot time and again. Though majority of Indians continue to reject the party electorally, due to its communal, corrupt, and Islamist appeasing anti-nationalist ideology, the party managed to cling on to miniscule presence in few states of India, including Punjab.
Punjab, a Sikh-majoritarian state of India, was the venue for the recent political drama orchestrated by Congress. Shaken by the rising popularity of Captain Amarinder Singh, an army veteran, regional satrap and the only remaining leader in Congress who functions against Congress’s corrupt, Islamist-appeasing and anti-Indian ideology, the dynasty-duo unleashed a well-calculated, internal rebellion against him. Unable to bear the repeated humiliation and backstabbing from his own cadre, Mr. Singh ultimately tendered resignation from the Chief Ministerial post.
Though everyone thought Navjyot Singh Sidhu — an opportunist cricketer-turned-politician who led the internal rebellion- would replace Amrinder Singh, Mr. Charanjit Channi, former technical education minister, beat him in the race of maa-beta chamchagiri (dynasty-duo loyalty) and secured the CM chair.
This is where the real issue begins. In spite of being a wealthy and successful politician, Mr. Charanjit Channi, like many hypocritical ‘Dalits’ of India, does not shy away from using his casteist “Dalit-Sikh” tag to rake up undeserved benefits. As the Sikh-majoritarian state will be going to polls in few months, Channi’s unexpected promotion is being dubbed as Congress’s usual vote bank appeasement politics. Even many ‘Dalit’ groups have called out this political opportunism by the dynasty-duo.
Among all the political conundrum, what stands out is the myth the world has been fed for centuries — Sikhism is devoid of caste. According to the 500-year old Sikh mythology, the early Sikh philosophers carved their religion out of Hinduism, as an opposition to the caste system that was prevalent in the society at that time. However, Punjabi Sikhs and Khalistani separatists who continue to support Congress in spite of the party orchestrating 1984 anti-Sikh pogrom, successfully debunked this myth and affirmed the fact that caste hierarchy and religious supremacy is part and parcel of Sikhism. Most of the Chief Ministers of Punjab hailed from the caste of Jats, which is considered superior among the many Sikh-castes.
This becomes utmost important because for centuries, the Hinduphobic syndicate that includes ultra-leftist Indian and Western historians, Islamist-appeasing Indian politicians have successfully propagated the false narrative that caste hierarchy is exclusive to Hinduism. And in order to eradicate caste system, Hinduism and Hindus need to be dismantled. However, incidences like these not only expose such communally bigoted propaganda of the Hinduphobic syndicate, but also affirm that caste hierarchy and caste discrimination is an integral part of many organized religions, including Sikhism.