Hardeep Singh

Hindutva forces, especially ruling BJP-RSS, are making hue and cry over the vandalism of the statue of Dr. BR Ambedkar and sculpture of Indian constitution, that took place at heritage street in Amritsar. 

The vandalism took place on Indian Republic Day (January 26). A youth climbed atop the statue using a ladder put in place for political leaders to pay floral tributes on Republic Day. He allegedly attempted to damage the Ambedkar statue with a hammer and set ablaze on the sculpture of the Indian constitution book. He was apprehended immediately and handed over to the police.

Ambedkar is called as “greatest leader” of underprivileged and marginalized sections under Indian empire. These sections are also known as “dalits”. The Indian constitution recognizes them as “Scheduled Castes”. 

In Punjab, these sections had already been uplifted by Sikh Gurus by ensuring equality in the society. However, they are living miserable lives in other states which are Hindu-dominated. In other states, they are treated as “animals” by Brahmin-dominated Hindu society. Mob lynching of dalits and raps with dalit girls are very common in other Indian states. However, Hindutva forces as well as liberal Hindu civil society turned blind eyes towards this phenomenon.  They paid special attention to what happened in Amritsar. 

Members of these sections, who are followers of Sikhi, visit Sri Harmandar Sahib in large numbers to pay obeisance, like other gurdwaras where all the sections are given equal treatment and there is no caste-based or any other kind of discrimination. When the incident took place on January 26, Sikh devotees were passing through the square where the statue is situated and was built by the political parties for their vested interests. They were watching what was happening there. No devotee raised objection over it. 

However, this incident prompted BJP leader and former MP Vijay Sampla to speak out soon after the incident. In his post on X (formerly twitter), Sample attempted to target Sikhs on the pretext of registering his opposition to the vandalism. 

In the post, Sampla said that the statue was situated in the ‘galliara (open walled space/corridor)’ of Sri Harmandar Sahib (Golden Temple). “Since this incident took place in the galliara of Sri Harmandar Sahib, the SGPC and Akal Takht jathedar should also issue a clarification,” he posted. 

With this post, the design behind the vandalism got exposed as he told a blatant lie that “the statue is situated in Golden Temple galliara”. 

The SGPC, while taking a strong note of Sampla’s linking this incident to the Central Sikh shrine deliberately, uncovered the malicious agenda of the saffron party, which is aimed at creating division between Sikhs and non-Sikh dalits who have considerable population in Punjab. 

Partap Singh, the secretary of the gurdwara body which manages affairs of the holiest Sikh shrine, said: “The statue is not situated in the galliara of Sri Harmandar Sahib. It is near the Partition Museum and Kotwali police station, where the responsibility to protect it totally lies with the government and administration. Though the galliara also comes under the jurisdiction and control of the government, the statue is nearly 1km from the shrine. So, it is totally unfair for Sampla to link this incident to the Harmandar Sahib galliara.” 

He said, “Sampla’s statement is highly condemnable. Such baseless statements are unfair. Demanding a clarification from the SGPC and Akal Takht jathedar is wrong.”   

After facing backlash over social media, Sampla deleted the post, but did not rectify what he stated. His post was used by Hindutva elements to spread venom against the Sikhs and their holiest shrine. 

“Politics should not be played in the name of vandalism. Here is situated our shrine, Harmandar Sahib. In the name of Harmandar Sahib (Golden Temple), an attempt is being made to create a conflict. We will not let anyone do so. We believe in brotherhood and move forward with unity”, said Chandra Shekhar Azad, a prominent dalit face of India and Member of Parliament from UP, who visited the site on February 1. 

The BJP-led government is moving forward to implement its anti-Sikh and anti-minority agenda. Its representatives started arriving at the site one by one to provoke non-Sikh underprivileged sections against Sikhs.  

Ramdas Athawale, Union Minister of State, Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, visited the statue and demanded the accused be booked under the charges of sedition. On the other hand, BJP national president JP Nadda also joined the issue and constituted a 6-member high level panel which was assigned to visit the site and give an inquiry report of the incident. This panel also demanded sedition like section be slapped against the accused. 

Thus, the BJP created an atmosphere against the Sikhs and finally Punjab Police slapped sedition charges against the accused. 

The way BJP reacted to this incident has strengthened the belief that it is part of a nefarious design being executed against Sikhs and Punjab. 

To understand this design, first we will have to go through BJP’s Haryana strategy that led it to power a third time. 

Once the BJP had no influence in Haryana. To spread its base and gain power, it opted to play politics of polarization based on caste. It consolidated its votes on the ‘Jaat vs others’ factor. The BJP primarily targeted non-Jat and OBC voters and appeared to be successful in this strategy. Additionally, the BJP led over the Congress among Brahmins, Punjabi Khatris, Yadavs, and non-Jatav Dalits, contributing to the party’s third successive victory in the Haryana Assembly election. 

The Hindutva party wants the same model to be implemented in Punjab. It wants to create rift between Sikhs and dalits in Punjab. Actually, it has been working to execute this model for a long time here, but thanks to deep roots of Sikh ideology it is not succeeding in its agenda. Under this model, the BJP also wants to create rift between underprivileged Sikh sections and other Sikhs. The BJP is not tolerating unity among Sikhs. And it is executing this strategy through Sampla-like leaders. For his role, Sampla has been honoured with key posts in the Central government. 

Sample has history of spreading hate against Sikhs. He played a key role in fueling Dalit-Jatt dispute at a major gurdwara at Talhan in Jalandhar. For his role, he was booked for rioting.   

In May, 2021, Police arrested ‘patthi’ of a gurdwara at Bir Talab village in Bathinda district for allegedly hurting religious sentiments by holding special ‘ardas’ for the controversial Sirsa-based Dera Sacha Sauda head Gurmeet Ram Rahim and PM Narendra Modi. Sampla was National Commission for Schedule Castes chairman at that time. He opposed the FIR registered against him and sought report from the cops to ascertain on which ground the ‘pathi’ was charged under section 295-A of the IPC.

Conspiracy behind this incident was exposed later. Actually, local BJP leaders made the Patthi perform ardas against the Sikh tenets. Sample promptly reacted to it, but the Sikh unity defeated this nefarious design against Punjab which is biggest example of communal harmony and brotherhood in south Asia and has least effect of castiesm. 

Moreover, many questions arise over the incident of vandalism. “It must be asked who provided the ladder? Where was this person after placing the ladder in a busy street in a public thoroughfare? From where did this casual visitor get the idea of coming with a hammer? Do people visiting the Darbar usually come with hammers? Why was this statue near about the Darbar was selected and by whom? How did all BJP workers from lowest to the highest propound the identical theory of sacrilege in almost the same words?”, said Gurtej Singh, a Sikh intellectual and former IAS officer

A netizen Paramjit Singh said, “Why are these groups so vociferous on the statue issue? They were mum when Sikh gurudwaras were burnt down and the Sikh scripture was desecrated by hindu mobs?”

It was not the first incident of vandalism in India. These kinds of incidents have already taken place in other states, which too under the regime of BJP. Have Hindutva forces ever made hue and cry over them? Has any other accused of vandalism been slapped sedition? Has the BJP national president ever constituted a probe panel before this? 

Actually, Sikh and dalit voters acted against BJP candidates in recently held Parliamentary elections in Punjab. The BJP won no seat in Punjab. So, it is trying to create conflict and disturbance on the caste basis in Punjab with an aim to gain political mileage besides spoiling Sikh culture of Punjab. 

Some BJP leaders from Punjab, including former Cabinet Minister Manoranjan Kalia, mischievously compared the youth behind vandalism with young Sikh leader and recently elected MP Amritpal Singh who is detained at distant Dibrugarh jail of Assam under the draconian National Security Act (NSA). They said Amritpal Singh is also a Dubai-returnee and “so is Akash Singh, who allegedly vandalized the statue”.  And Godi Modi (a section of India media which violates all the norms of journalism and acts as Public Relation wing of Modi government) projected this illegitimate comparison as “Amritpal Connection” (vandalism is connected with Amritpal Singh) while telecasting the news stories on this episode. 

With these kinds of divisive, hateful and communal tactics, the Hindutva party wants to form a government in Punjab which has always defeated it so far. 

The Punjab Police is silent over the conspiracy behind the vandalism. On demand of the BJP panel, the case may be shifted to Indian Central agencies—National Investigation Agency (NIA) and Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI)—which are under control of the Hindutva government. In coming days, probe of the case may be shifted to any of these agencies to get desirous outcome and hold pro-freedom Sikhs responsible for it.  

While implementing its agenda, the BJP leaders are terming Dr. Ambedkar as “God” and the Indian constitution as “Holy religious scripture”. Many organizations which claim themselves as advocates of Dalits, are also favouring the agenda of BJP willingly or unwillingly. Their statements and actions suit the communal and fascist ideology of BJP-RSS.