Dera Sachcha Sauda - The Real Deal or no Big Deal ???

It's all a problem of casteism that has crept even into the Sikh religion....
Our 10th Guru had made it clear that there shall be no sub-castes n further divisons in this religion... all followers shall be called Sikhs...But still today in Punjab there're divisions based on castes...One of the sects is Dera Sachcha Sauda....
It all began when the Sirsa-based Dera head Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh appeared at a public function on Saturday dressed as Guru Gobind Singh, the 10th Sikh Guru. The Sikhs got angry over the fact that he was trying to imitate Guru Gobind Singh himself...

Cos this is how Shri Guru Gobind Singh was dressed, the day he formed Sikh religion on 13th April 1699. That was the day he laid down principles n rules to be a Sikh, that they shall never cut their hair, they shall keep those five K's with them, there shall be no sub-castes in the religion, alll shall sit together on the floor (be it rich, poor, king or servant) to have the food, which is known as "langar" or community kitchen... n many such other rules, which promoted equality of Men n Women alike.

N those who wanted to become Sikhs were to drink 'Amrit' or Holy nectar,which was being prepared by Guru's wife...After administering it to the holy 5 persons, (if u want to know who they were, check this link http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vaisakhi) He himself asked them to bestow him with nectar n then he proclaimed himself to be a Sikh. This is how Sikh religion started...

Now the head of this Dera was dressed just like Guru Gobind Singh according to the people of Punjab. He had given some advertisement in which his photo depicted him assuming himself to be someone like Guru Gobind Singh, and had urged to followers to drink 'Amrit' and become high caste. (Sikh religion, the Gurus and his followers were considered equal to the Hindu Brahmins n other higher castes... n wen Guru Gobind Singh said anyone can become a Sikh, n ther shall be no caste distinctions in or sect, then lots of low caste Hindus came forward n got themselves converted to Sikhs...This was not liked by the high caste Hindus that time, so they were against Sikh religion...)

Now i think what this person was tryin to do here was the same thing, wat our Guru had done... But there's nothing wrong in it... Ya, if he dressed up like our Guru n acted the same way, then that's an offence for sure... If he hasnt done that, then i dont see any reason for the Sikhs to get so agitated...

But all hell broke loose after that. Sikh organisations almost immediately formed counter-attack groups and burnt effigies of Ram Rahim Singh which only instigated his supporters to go on a rampage, attacking and razing everything in their wake. Dera Sachcha Sauda has a very very large retinue of people... Enough to make congress win 15-20 seats.. N that's a huge number.. So obviously congress has had their support n has also worked in their favour...

Political parties, are all only concerned about votes as we know... N its a good time for the opposition, to target the ruling party, just like every opposition does (whether the ruling party is rite or wrong, doesn't matter) All that opposition needs is to oppose every act of theirs... least bothering bout wat's good n bad... they are trying to woo the Sikhs who opposed the Dera Sachcha Sauda n his leader...

And I feel, the issue has been blown fully out of proportion.... It's not even worth a riot... N the entire state of Punjab has been put on stake... This might change the plight of the richest state in India... It's somewhat like the Godhra issue... The police n the political parties r not co-operating at all... They are silent spectators, watching the whole thing instead of taking any action....

Cos if they speak for one side, they'll loose vote from the other side; and vice versa. So they cant take actions against the supporters or the objectioners. The leaders have asked the police also, not to take any action, n let things continue as they are...

Again, one root problem here is illiteracy... Who were the people in Gujarat who were a part of mob n went out on streets on a rampage, burning n destroying everything on their way ??? The poor ppl, the illiterate ppl, the ones who dont have the sense to think what's wrong and what's rite.. They are used upon their emotional quotient by the political parties, who emotionally charge them up, n make them think in the wrong direction.. These poor ppl, who have no sense of judgement, follow others' opinion blindly n go out on a destruction spree thinking that they are working for a noble cause, but actually they are creating mayhem....

Same's the situation here.. It's the farmers n other illiterate ppl who are out on streets protesting n creating disorder.... Neither did u see the civlised ppl out on streets in Guj riots of 2002, nor in Punjab...

N as far as Dera Sachcha Sauda is concerned, all its followers are the 'less fortunate' crowd, who haven't had the oppurtunity to study or earn much, & are working as labourers or farmers... So on both the sides, we got ppl with almost zero logic, fighting for wat's not so big an issue....

And the biggest shock is that this issue is turning into a nationwide protest.
The solution is very clear... All these protests can be stopped. In Godhra issue, the Gujarat police did act, though late, but had they acted earlier, they could've curbed the violence. Same's the case here... If the state wants, the whole thing can be calmed down... But they're being prevented from doing so... By political parties, who are worried bout upcoming elections n their vote banks....

They'll ask police to take action only after they're sure their vote bank's not in danger or wen the entire world's eyes will be fixed on this issue. Just like it happened in Gujarat...

If the Sikhs are really hurt, then they can file a petition in court n challenge the saint n leader of Dera, Ram Rahim Singh... i'm sure if the entire community in Punjab is enraged, this matter will be looked upon quickly n some or the other verdict will be out soon....

But, the scenario is going a whole different way, n lets hope we dont get to see yet another Godhra in its making...