The sacrilege incident in Punjab is more about corrupt politics than religion

The viciousness of communal politics has poisoned India’s democracy for decades, and Punjab has been particularly affected, having been embroiled in malicious religious terrorism for nearly a decade and a half in the 1980s and early 1990s, and thereafter in increasing communal polarization, affecting both of the state’s predominant faiths – Sikhism and Hinduism – has perverted.

While abusive exchanges between supposedly “religious” figures appear to have declined since the assassination of Sudhir Suri of the Shiv Sena-Taksali in broad daylight and in the presence of a large contingent of security personnel in November 2022, the spate of lynchings and murders is considered “sacrilegious” (Beadbi) by Sikh fanatics continues.

Suri and others made inflammatory speeches against Sikhs and Sikhism across Punjab, but Hindutva radicals in the state have toned down their rhetoric and now realize that the security provided by lenient governments is anything but fail-safe.

However, Sikhs’ alleged anger against “sacrilege” does not abate, despite the fact that the idea itself is inappropriate in the context of a faith that itself grew out of disagreements and revolutionary reforms of ancient religious authorities and practices, a warrior tradition that embraces violence against an unarmed enemy expressly prohibits. In the latest incident, a 19-year-old man was lynched at a Gurudwara in Bandala village, Firozepur on May 4, 2024 after he allegedly “desecrated” the Guru Granth Sahib. Family members of the victim, Bakshish Singh, alleged that he was mentally challenged and had been taking medication for the last two years.

This was the fifteenth case of unlawful killing for alleged “sacrilege” in Punjab since the Bargari incidents in 2015. Of these, five murders alone were related to the infamous Bargari Kand. What is crucial is that the thirst for blood remains unquenched even when cases have been registered and trials are underway. For example, in June 2019, Mohinder Pal Bittu, the main accused in the Bargari case, was beaten to death with iron rods in Nabha Jail by inmates Maninder Singh and Gursewak Singh, both serving life sentences for murder.

The killings reflect the tip of the iceberg of religious ferment over “sacrilege”, as Punjab has consistently led the country in the number of recorded sacrilege cases in recent years. Data from the National Crime Records Bureau shows that between 2018 and 2022 (the most recent year for which figures are available), Punjab consistently leads the country in the number of cases under Sections 295 to 297 of the Indian Penal Code, which relate to the malicious and deliberate intention to hurt the religious feelings of others.

For example, the sacrilege crime rate (number of cases divided by population in lakhs) in Punjab was 0.7 in 2018, while it was between 0.1 and 0.4 in other states of the country. For Punjab, the figure was 0.6 in 2019, 0.5 in 2020, 0.6 in 2021 and 0.7 in 2022. The sacrilege crime rate across India stood at 0.1 Punjab in 2022, with ongoing efforts to justify the violent response to such allegations and a cyclical attempt to stoke the fire in the run-up to elections. In the recent case in Bandala, the jathedar of Akal Takht, the highest secular seat of the Sikhs, tried to justify the incidents on the grounds that people were “forced to seek justice on their own” when the state “fails miserably.” it is his duty.’

In doing so, and in the complex efforts to solidify Sikh identity, “religious” leaders are leading believers further and further away from a faith that strives for knowledge, enlightenment, and truth, toward one that places unthinking believers in an entrenched and authoritarian system wants to subordinate political-religious priesthood, which can be exploited for party-political purposes or for mere profit. The Sikh faith – and indeed this is the current trend within the Hindutva movement – is drowning in ritualism and the oppression of new priesthoods that control the faith. There are ongoing efforts to Abrahamize Sikhism (and Hinduism), particularly in patterns that are beginning to resemble the vicious Islamist fanaticism that constantly cries for blood in neighboring Pakistan and constantly proclaims that the faith is in danger.

The growing religious intolerance is essentially part of a broader movement of chauvinism, bigotry and oppression sweeping across India under the influence of ideologically bankrupt leaderships. It is high time that the religious communities in the country realize that the real beadbi lies not in occasional physical harm or obscenities at places of worship, but in the defilement of the essence of a noble and universal faith for vile political and venal purposes.

Ajai Sahni

Managing Director, Institute for Conflict Management, South Asian Terrorism Portal

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