Sikhi’s revolutionary instinct

Contrary to popular opinion, in truth Marxism and Sikhism, or more appropriately Sikhi, have much in common, though sadly both communists and Sikhs have failed to realise this!

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By Gurnam Singh | Opinion |

The Indian Hindutva’s determination to suppress the Punjabi Sikhs has nothing to do with religion. Though they claim to be pro-Hindu, in truth the Hindutva RSS project have little regard for faith or spirituality. Theirs is a poisonous ideology of hate, violence and make-believe nationalism. It is a regressive violent ideology that is likely only to benefit the rich and powerful, who, irrespective of their religious background, will happily jump on whatever bandwagon there is to enhance their wealth.

It is only against this background that one can realise why the Hinduva RSS fears and loathes Sikhs so much. To speak truth to power and to be prepared to die for what we believe to be right is a key trait of Sikhi, and the history books provide powerful evidence to support this assertion. Through their relatively short history, periodically, from the Moguls in the 16th and 17th Century to the Afghans in the 18th and early 19th Century, the British in the late late 19th and early 20th Century, to the Indian Hindutva Nationalists of today, Sikhs have always been a thorn in their side.

Contrary to popular opinion, in truth Marxism and Sikhism, or more appropriately Sikhi, have much in common, though sadly both communists and Sikhs have failed to realise this! That is not to say that they are the same, which in a number of regards would be an absurd statement. However, there is an unfortunate mistrust between some Marxists and some Sikhs, which has resulted in mutual hostility, especially during the past 40 years. Indeed, this led to some terrible violence being exchanged in equal measure in the decade following the Indian army assault on the Darbar Sahib in June 1984.

Many communists labelled Sikhs that were fighting for more autonomy for Punjabi’s as religious fanatics and the Sikh militants attacked communists accusing them of being the stooges of their sworn enemies, namely, the ruling Congress Party, who they believed to have close ties with the Russian Community Party. In truth, mistakes were made on both sides and there is a real sense that Punjabis need to learn from the unfortunate and unnecessary antagonisms.

I think the root ideological cause for these conflicts has been a particular kind of vulgar Marxism on the hand and a similar unreflexive vulgar God worship on the other. I have always viwed Sikhi as a revolutionary movement and not a ‘religion’ in the Western sense. One of the problems with Marxist thought – both early Hegelain and his later emphasis on materialism – is its narrow conception of history, dialectics and modernity.

But the recent successful campaign against the Indian farm laws, resulting in a ‘siege of Delhi’ by the farmers of Punjab and other states, has opened up a great opportunity to reclaim the unity of these great traditions. It has reminded us of two important lessons; the importance of cross community unity and a reminder of the revolutionary aspects of Sikh teachings. Whilst being politically charged, the Punjabi Sikh farmers movement was extremely important for its educational value. It reminded us that from the beginning with Guru Nanak to the present age, Sikhi’s raison d’être is/was to feed the poor, protect the oppressed and confront the oppressor.

History has a tendency to repeat itself and tragically, like the British period and the Mahants, many Sikh institutions and Gurdwaras are now controlled by corrupt ‘god men’ under the influence by their RSS Hinduva masters. The only way forward is for Sikhs to read history and realise what their faith does, and does not, represent. And when this is done, one will realise Sikhi is not about pleasing an abstract ‘God’ who is almost impossible to evoke, it is not about sitting down and chanting mantras.

Sikhi is an awakening of the soul in order to realise one’s relationship with nature, which include human and no-human animals. And through this comes a realisation of one’s social, moral and political duties to the people and the planet. If the sole purpose of Sikhi was simple spiritual elevation through prayer, then our history would have been quite different. But the reality is our history is one fighting to establish peace, justice and liberty in this earth. As the Guru Arjan in Sri Raag (GGS 1413-21) says,

ਸਭ ਸ੍ਰਿਸਟਿ ਸੇਵੇ ਦਿਨੁ ਰਾਤਿ ਜੀਉ ॥
The whole Universe serves You, day and night.

ਦੇ ਕੰਨੁ ਸੁਣਹੁ ਅਰਦਾਸਿ ਜੀਉ ॥
Please hear my prayer.

ਠੋਕਿ ਵਜਾਇ ਸਭ ਡਿਠੀਆ ਤੁਸਿ ਆਪੇ ਲਇਅਨੁ ਛਡਾਇ ਜੀਉ ॥੧੨॥
I have thoroughly tested and seen all-You alone, by Your Pleasure, can save us. ||12||

ਹੁਣਿ ਹੁਕਮੁ ਹੋਆ ਮਿਹਰਵਾਣ ਦਾ ॥
Now, the Merciful divine has issued His Command.

ਪੈ ਕੋਇ ਨ ਕਿਸੈ ਰਞਾਣਦਾ ॥
Let no one live in fear and attack anyone else.

ਸਭ ਸੁਖਾਲੀ ਵੁਠੀਆ ਇਹੁ ਹੋਆ ਹਲੇਮੀ ਰਾਜੁ ਜੀਉ ॥੧੩॥
Let all abide in peace, under just rule. ||13||

Sikhi is a unique holistic way of life, which poses a threat to both materialists and religious fanatics, to dictators and corrupt politicians. It is for these reasons that Sikhs have faced so much persecution under different rulers. But Sikh teaching requires nothing less than a commitment to create heaven on earth, which they referred to as ‘haleimi raj’, a rule under which all live in peace and co-operation; Bhagat Ravidaas ji terms this as ‘Begumpura‘ or Place of peace, bliss and equality. These may be seen as universally accepted ideas today, but during the Guru period, they were indeed revolutionary. And it is this very same revolutionary spirit that was evident on the borders of Delhi during the farmers protest.

Gurnam Singh is an academic activist dedicated to human rights, liberty, equality, social and environmental justice. He is an Associate Professor of Sociology at University of Warwick, UK. He can be contacted at Gurnam.singh.1@warwick.ac.uk

* This is the opinion of the writer and does not necessarily represent the views of Asia Samachar.

RELATED STORY:

Miracles and Godmen (Asia Samachar, 31 July 2020)



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2 COMMENTS

  1. Gurpeet Singh, you are absolutely correct, in some senses Marxism can be seen as the antithesis of religion and hence Sikhi. Moreover, Marxism is a social, political, and economic philosophy that is concerned with the effect of capitalism on labor, productivity, and economic development, is less concerned about issues of morality.
    However, I believe there is common ground though, given the different traditions, times and cultural contexts, this needs to be inferred. So, for example, both ate concerned with dogmatic religion, both reject superstition, both talk about uplifting the poor and destruction of systems of social stratification, both are opposed to top down power and control, and both talk about redistribution of wealth and the dignity of labour.

  2. Beautifully written.
    I would like to add with different notion regarding why, “Marxism and Sikhism, or more appropriately Sikhi, have much in common, though sadly both communists and Sikhs have failed to realize this.”
    The premise of Marxism is the rejection of religion altogether. Their question about religion hold very true in a priest-controlled religions like that of Church-State relations to control society. And their concerns are 100% valid in a Brahmanical society. But their concerns hold no position in relation to Sikhi. Guru Nanak redefines Dharam (closest English word is ‘religion’) in the light of universal Hukam. The priest-class in Sikhi is artificially created to serve political interests. It’s not their in the fundamentals of Sikhi, rather Gurbani rejects priesthood. The proof of artificial creation is that from time to time we see Sikh uprising against the priest class, with no feeling of being anti-Sikh.
    Despite of the fact that Marxism and Sikhi both talk of equality and justice. Marxism is based on rejecting religion, whereas Sikhi redefines Dharam. This demolishes Marxism. On the other hand, Sikh Dharam has a history of establishing successful people-friendly Khalsa Raj, whereas Marxism has no ideal example, rather its the contrary.
    Marxism does not have ‘virtue’ of honesty to share the platform with anyone despite shared objectives. Nurturing ‘virtues’ is another important aspect of Sikh Dharam, but its missing in Marxism due to rejection of religion altogether. For the survival of Marxism, it becomes necessary to diminish Sikhi, even if it takes to align with far-right Brahmanical forces. That’s what we have seen in 80s and 90s.

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