Should religious events be just religious and not turn into political ones?
Khalistan flags being waved at the Vaisakhi Parade 2024 in Calgary on May 11, 2024. (Photo by Uddamveer Singh/The Press)
Last month on May 11, the annual Vaisakhi parade was held in Calgary with the record attendance of over 100,000 people. The Nagar Kirtan takes place to celebrate the foundation of ‘Khalsa Panth’ – the community of Sikhs who have been baptized. The tenth Sikh guru, Gobind Singh baptized five men, known as the “Beloved Five” or Panj Piare, by sprinkling them with Amrit (holy water) and reciting prayers.
The Parade mainly comprises of Sikhs performing the ‘Gatkha’- Sikh martial arts, motorcycle rally by the Sikh Motorcycle Club, the community singing religious hymns followed by the procession of the Sikh holy book – Guru Granth Sahib, which is sacredly kept on a decorated float, also called ‘gurudwara on wheels’. The parade then proceeds to the Prairie Winds Park, where dozens of food stalls serve free food items to the attendees.
While it still is a religious event for the most of the part, it is also turning into a political one, year by year. How? This year there was a float dedicated to the Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, with a statue of him, which showcased him as a prisoner and responsible for the killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a Sikh activist in Vancouver in June 2023. The slogans of the separate nation for Sikhs – ‘Khalistan’ were raised. A popular one emerged ‘Shimla Haryana Delhi Punjab banke rahega Khalistan’, which translates to Punjab Shimla Haryana Delhi (Indian cities and states) will turn into Khalistan. The question arises that does this all actually need to be in the religious parade?
I think no, the reason being that the topic of Khalistan is a political issue rather than a religious one. In Sikh faith and events, everyone is welcome regardless of their religion, caste, sex and creed. By highlighting these separatist and exclusive elements into the parade, people who are not affiliated with these political moves and sentiments feel excluded, the irony being that the Sikh religion is all about inclusivity and no discrimination between humans. As a Sikh the feeling of the subtle exclusion.
It has not been like this forever. In the recent years, some developments in India and around the world have contributed to the merging of political issue into the religious events. I believe that he farmers protest of 2020, was the starting point of all this. The reason being that the Khalistan movement was not really popular in Punjab until 2020, even today the separatist sentiment is much popular is the western countries like Canada, U.K., U.S. and in some European countries. The argument can be made that the freedom of expression and free speech in India is not comparable to the above mentioned countries. So, people back in Punjab, who are in support of this sentiment don’t really express that due to undesirable consequences, as people in western countries can do. I agree on that, but my counter argument would be that people of Punjab have seen dark times back in the late 1980’s until mid 1990’s. The enforced disappearances and extrajudicial executions of the Punjabi youth by the Punjab Police in order to neutralize the rising ‘militancy’ in the state.The actions from the Punjab Police and other Indian security forces included not only neutralizing the militants but also individuals with no known connection to militancy. After all the trauma and pain that the Punjabi people went through not a very long time ago, people in Punjab want stability, economic growth and most importantly peace and safety. Other developments like the death of actor-turned activist Deep Sidhu in 2022, killing of Punjabi singer – Sidhu Moosewala in 2022 and the tremendous rise of Amritpal Singh, a UAE-returned Sikh activist as a to look forward to figure amongst the Punjabi youth from 2022 to present, greatly contributed to the pro- Khalistan sentiments among Punjabis living in the west.
A simple question arises, does doing all this stuff yield any outcome? A fair argument that always makes it way to the top is if the demand for a separate nation is in Punjab, India, then what’s the point of holding and waving the flags of Khalistan here in Calgary or any other place outside India. For the most part I agree to this argument, the struggle and resistance almost always takes place on ground. There are numerous examples to prove it. For instance, the Indian Independence movement took place on the Indian soil and India eventually got its independence in 1947. The Khalistan movement has an opposite story with most of its call to action, referendums and protests being held on foreign soils rather than Punjab, where the supporters want the separate nation to be made and be cut off from India.
A counter argument supporting the politicizing of the religious events like Vaisakhi Parade is that these events provide a platform and ground to present an ideology to the community. With more than 100,000 people attending, it grabs their attention and gravitate their mind towards the political movement. It is uncommon for this magnitude of mass coming together for any other thing than the Sikh faith. While the meetings, rallies and referendums can be held, but it is difficult to bring such number of people together and influence them for the support.