Roundtable
Curiouser & Curiouser:
The Roundtable Open Forum # 33, June 16 - 22
EDITOR
The Rules of the forum are posted here on the right, and need to be followed strictly by all participants.
The following is this week's (June 16 - 22) topic for discussion, which should focus on the questions posed therein:
CURIOUSER & CURIOUSER
News report: "A few days after SGPC chief Avtar Singh exhorted Sikhs not to mention their caste during the census as the same was against Sikh ideology, it has come to light that voter forms published for SGPC elections have a column for specifying whether a person belongs to any scheduled caste ..." [The Times of India]
The term "scheduled caste" refers to the so-called low castes of Hinduism. Through recent decades, Hindu leaders have been coy and creative in pretending to do-away with the blight of castes that plagues their land, while deftly maintaining it under wraps by giving it new designations. Mohandas Gandhi, himself a member of an unscheduled caste, for example, also gave them a new label - 'harijans', people of god - and tried to improve their lot, while all the time insisting that the pimitive Hindu caste system was a correct and worthy formulation and deserved retention!
There is no room for caste practices in Sikhism; our Gurus couldn't have been more clear.
However, surrounded by a majority 40 times our size, the evil has crept back into our community. We have not been vigilant enough in protecting our precious values.
All those who fall within the definition of ‘schedule caste', if Sikh, must be treated as equals and accorded every privilege and opportunity within our community, without having to be designated as a special group and having to struggle for their rights and equality of opportunity.
Moreover, we should be working hard in eradicating the evil from everywhere, not becoming players within its devious tentacles.
POINTS TO PONDER
- Is it appropriate for the SGPC, a Sikh institution, to be subscribing to these practices, no matter how benign or helpful the intentions and goals are?
- What steps can the SGPC take, in addition to removing such an offensive column from its voters forms, to eradicate the disease of caste from Sikh and Punjabi society?
Conversation about this article
1: Balbir Singh (Chandigarh, Punjab), June 16, 2010, 11:11 AM.
The first thing we need to do is to have each 'chaudhry' in the SGPC and all the other Sikh institutions (Delhi GPC, et al) to drop their third names - be they caste-related, clan-oriented, geography-based, or whatever. They need to set the standard ... and, of course, remove the obnoxious column from the voters' forms and start treating ALL Sikhs, nay, ALL people, with respect, dignity and equality. If they won't do this FIRST and FOREMOST, they should be hounded out of their positions. Period. The use of caste designations in any form and for any reason is an outrage against the teachings of our Gurus. If there is a reason why such designations are deemed necessary, then those very ills should be addressed and resolved immediately.
2: Hardeep Kaur (New Delhi, India), June 18, 2010, 12:44 PM.
I don't get it. People allow "Sardar" to be replaced by "Shri", "Sardarni" by "Shrimati" - and then add demeaning caste names on their own volition, as a result of which SINGH and KAUR get hidden! Are we losing our self-respect and self-dignity, and sliding back into the ditch? There's been a fundamental disconnect somewhere - through external mischief or our own carelessness, or both ... and it needs to be mended immediately, before we all start behaving like Hindus! "I'd rather be a dog and bay at the moon ...!" I'm sorry - I respect the right for Hindus to be whatever they want to be, but I find it heartbreaking for us - my people - to lose all the progress we've made over so many sacrifices, so many difficult centuries!
3: Sanmeet Kaur (Brampton, Ontario, Canada), June 22, 2010, 4:15 PM.
Let's not be discouraged by our leaders. Even as we look at leaders as examples whom one might follow, there is no harm if WE take the initiative. Change starts with the individual initiative when I choose to use Kaur/ Singh as my last name, as my family name. I belong to the family of the Khalsa. No caste system divides my family. It does not matter which village, which town, which part of the world I or any of my brothers and sisters come from. We are One. Whenever we recognise this gift of Guru Gobind Singh, others are bound to acknowledge it.