Indian socio-religious milieu

This is just pathetic

Indian media and government spare no opportunity in targeting Pakistan and making it the butt of criticism of letting Hafiz Saeed and his ilk being present in Pakistan despite his being under house arrest. Somehow the “biggest democracy” in the world wilfully remains oblivious to its own pathetic socio-religious milieu, where politicians exploit the coalition with so called religious leaders like Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh, who rule the roost in the Indian Union. The case in point being the state of Haryana, which has recently been exposed as being devoid of the Indian government’s writ of the state and where thugs prevail undeterred.

It is unimaginable that a religious sect leader wields tremendous social and political muscle. However, the situation prevails in India that Gurmeet Ram Singh has been incarcerated, tried and convicted by a special CBI court for raping two of his followers but there has been no note of assent or welcome from any of India’s political leaders or parties.

One does come across sporadic tweets and sound bites overcoming the political divide to register dissent with the prevailing violence, arson and murder but for Gurmeet Ram Singh’s heinous crimes against humanity, there has been no approval of the justice being meted out. Both Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi have expressed shock and anguish at the turn of events where a demon has been chained but his ardent followers are protesting. The duo has appealed for peace and calm.

Gurmeet Ram Singh, is the devil incarnate, who resided in a fortress, raised a private militia, and has now been convicted of murder, rape and castration. One would have expected the Indian political leaders to have welcomed the guilty verdict. Nary a whimper from even the otherwise vociferous opposition to denounce the controversial guru. Here was a golden opportunity to strike a blow against the ruling Bharatya Junta Party (BJP), which has been severely reprimanded by the Punjab and Haryana High Court for its grave dereliction of duty.

Just to remind the readers, through his sect Dera Sacha Sauda (DSS), Gurmeet Ram Singh Insan (a moniker to reflect his secular credentials), claims to have the following of 50 million souls globally. From Akali Dal, National Lok Dal to Congress to BJP, his massive and loyal fan base constrained all political parties to pay homage to him for electoral support.

It speaks volumes for the failure of the low-capacity Indian state, which fails to provide even basic amenities to its populace, where people have to turn to qausi-religious sects to acquire an array of social services.

It is ironic that despite the fact that Sikhism does not believe in caste systems, yet the Jat-Khatri fraternity reigns supreme in the corridors of power. This dominance has now been challenged from the lower rungs, led by power brokers like Ram Rahim. That is the reason radical Sikhs stand isolated in welcoming the court verdict against Ram Rahim.

It is not a quirk of fate that Ram Rahim Singh was an RSS ploy inducted into Punjab and Haryana with the heinous objective of dividing the Sikh and Muslim communities and drive a deep crevice between them. DSS was always rejected by mainstream Sikh organisations and leaders. The rioting and killing by DSS followers paralyzed Haryana and Indian Punjab and exposed the fact that the writ of law does not prevail even in the settled areas of India, what to talk of the Kashmir freedom movements or the Naxalite social revolution.

Indian pretences of secularism get bogged down in the quagmire of bigotry, narrow nationalism and extremism. The advent of the Narendra Modi government has ushered in an era of hate and targeting minorities including Muslims, Christians, Sikhs and even low caste Dalit.

One would expect that a country plagued with over 22 secessionist movements would be motivated to set its own house in order but India seems hell bent to rake trouble for Pakistan, perhaps to divert attention from its own problems. Recently, Hind-Baloch forum was created in India with Mr Pawan Sinha as the President of the forum while Swami Jitendranad Sarswati was appointed its General Secretary.

On 20 June 2017, the forum organised a seminar titled “How Indians can play a role in the freedom struggle of Balochistan” at Hotel Howard Plaza Fatehabad Road, Agra, Uttar Pradesh India. Speakers on the occasion included Major General G.D. Bakhshi, ex RAW Director Colonel RSN Singh, Mr Pushpendra Kulshrestha, Bureau Chief Aaj TV News and Govind Sharma General Secretary, Ganga Mahasabha.

The rationale behind Indian machination to create unrest in Balochistan is to disrupt the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).

India went to the extent of trying to create mayhem at Geneva by sponsoring the banned outfit Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) to spread anti Pakistan propaganda and raise slogans and banners depicting the message “Free Balochistan”. Expressing his disappointment and dismay at allowing the Swiss soil to be used by the dissidents, Pakistani envoy to Switzerland Farrukh Amil lodged a formal protest with Ambassador Valentin Zellweger, the permanent representative of the Swiss government at the United Nations. The honourable Pakistani plenipotentiary extraordinary termed the incident as a belligerent assault on the “sovereignty and territorial integrity of Pakistan by giving calls for free Pakistan.”

India should know that if it digs a ditch for others, it is likely to fall in it itself. It needs to set its house in order before it can turn a critical eye towards others.