Every sort of divisive force seems to tear India apart. There are the Maoists, the Kamtapuris, the ULFA, the tribal ANLA, the Telengana activists, the Naxalites, Islamic fundamentalists including SIMI, Hindu partisan forces, and various hinterland caste-protection groups like the Ranbir Sena et al. Now when we thought we have seen all the varieties of terrorists, we have new alarming news. A Babbar Khalsa International (BKI) terrorist has been caught by the Punjab police. The Times of India reports the arrest of Jagjit Singh alias Jeeta of village Rurka near Chachoki while he was traveling in a bus. Ten live cartridges and a .303 pistol were recovered from him. Gurinder Singh, another arrested BKI terrorist has been framed by Jeeta for helping him to twice attempt to assassinate Divya Jyoti Jagriti Sansthan chief, Baba Ashutosh.
Baba Ashutosh has angered orthodox Sikhs by his radical teachings which lessen the worth of the previous Sikh Gurus. Be that as it may, the recent spate of attempts to kill him shows a growing intolerance with religious freedom in our country.
India has cherished a secular, humanist tradition. But now religious intolerance is again raising its ugly head. Punjab was once terrorized by men who wanted to secede from India. This arrest and the violence provoked earlier by Baba Ashutosh remind us of this past. History teaches us that orthodoxies breed a desire for creating a land for fellow-worshippers. This means, that the BKI may be slowly reviving the scourge of Sikh separatist movements. The message is clear: in Punjab only conservative Sikhs are welcome. Baba Ashutosh may be out of line in religious matters and indeed hurts the sentiment of pious Sikhs. But the answer can never be to murder him. What I have read of Guru Nanakji’s writings, he surely is very displeased with the activities of the BKI. But like terrorists of every faith, this group too quotes the Holy Sikh scriptures for its own violent motives.
Via: Times of India
