B.C. Human Rights Tribunal gives Ravidassia gurdwara special protection
A recent decision of the British Columbia Human Rights Tribunal highlights some complex clashes within the Sikh community. The B.C. Human Rights Tribunal dismissed a complaint by two members of the Canadian community who were denied membership in a Burnaby gurdwara because of their caste.
But it’s not what you think. The men who were refused membership did not belong to a caste that was historically disadvantaged, but instead, were jats. And the group who did the refusing were the historically discriminated-against Ravidassia.
Gurshinder Sahota and Sohan Shergill said they were discriminated against by the Shri Guru Ravidass Sabha Temple because they belong to a higher caste in the traditional system of social ranking than do temple members… The 900 members of the Shri Guru Ravidass Sabha Temple belong to the lowest group, Dalits, formerly referred to as “untouchables” and often considered outside the caste system altogether. Sahota and Shergill are from the jat caste, which is traditionally a land-owning class in the Punjab and now makes up much of Metro Vancouver’s Sikh community. [link]
Vancouver’s Ravidassia community celebrated the decision, affirming their right to protection from the greater Sikh community.
The decision, released this week, was hailed as an affirmation of temple members’ right to gather as a “minority within a minority,” said spokesman Jai Birdi. “Since the decision has come out, the members are feeling quite empowered by it,” he said. “They’re feeling that this really reinforces their ability to come together as a marginalized community from India to talk about their heritage and historical unresolved issues and come up with some strategies for moving forward.” He added that the complainants are welcome to attend the temple’s religious ceremonies and social programs. [link]
Considering the treatment that the Ravidassi community has historically been meted, I understand that they might feel threatened by other castes, even in Canada, where shades of caste discrimination surface when it comes to matters of marriage, or treatment at other gurdwaras. But is refusing membership, though allowing entrance to services, really the answer? The responsibility to be inclusive lies on advantaged Sikhs, and this might be a situation where the personal politics of the individuals who wanted membership played a role (can anyone shed more light on this), but instinctively, I would hope for an inclusive attitude from the Ravidassi community as well.
“Our vision is that one day the community’s confidence will increase to the point that they are not feeling oppressed . . . and then there will no longer be a need to restrict membership,” he said. The Shri Guru Ravidass Sabha Temple was formed in 1982 to meet the needs of Dalits who “felt that they weren’t fully welcome in the existing temples,” Birdi said. Members follow the teachings of a 15th-century guru who preached against the caste system. Birdi said temple-goers were worried that if membership was opened to non-Dalits, it would defeat the purpose of the organization. [link]
Part of the basis for the Human Rights Tribunal’s decision was jurisdictional, but part was also based on a prior United Native Nations decision, agreeing that membership could be restricted to a minority group in order to promote the group’s welfare.
28 Responses to “B.C. Human Rights Tribunal gives Ravidassia gurdwara special protection”
I, too, have been still trying to wrap my head around this question. I have had limited contact with the Ravidasia community, but have tried increasingly to engage with them more recently.
Amongst the youth, there are only few differences and most see themselves as wanting to be part of a greater Punjabi Sikh collective. However, their parents (having not grown up in the US and having had very different experiences probably both in Punjab and the US) want their children to not only be proud of but assert their Ravidasia identity as separate than a Sikh identity. It is a fine line because some of their leaders and intelligencia do not believe themselves to be part of the "collective Sikh fold," although there are opinions that differ from this more extreme position as well.
I, too, have been still trying to wrap my head around this question. I have had limited contact with the Ravidasia community, but have tried increasingly to engage with them more recently.
Amongst the youth, there are only few differences and most see themselves as wanting to be part of a greater Punjabi Sikh collective. However, their parents (having not grown up in the US and having had very different experiences probably both in Punjab and the US) want their children to not only be proud of but assert their Ravidasia identity as separate than a Sikh identity. It is a fine line because some of their leaders and intelligencia do not believe themselves to be part of the “collective Sikh fold,” although there are opinions that differ from this more extreme position as well.
FAIL
FAIL
It is a fine line because some of their leaders and intelligencia do not believe themselves to be part of the “collective Sikh fold,”
Can you really blame them.
I can't believe nobody wants to talk about this issue here. I wonder why that is. Is it cause most here come from a jatt background and don't want to admit that there are problems of racism in our community.
It is a fine line because some of their leaders and intelligencia do not believe themselves to be part of the “collective Sikh fold,”
Can you really blame them.
I can’t believe nobody wants to talk about this issue here. I wonder why that is. Is it cause most here come from a jatt background and don’t want to admit that there are problems of racism in our community.
Exactly it is a major problem. Jatts need to decide if they sikhs or jatts. In sikhism you cannot be both jatt and sikh or vice versa. Because if you call yourself a jatt then you believe in the caste system and if you call yourself sikh you reject caste system. The jatts need to remove this arrogance and ego from their lives and live with humility like other sikhs and have the character of 'Lalo'. Guru Nanak said 'humility is sweet'. We all know that Guru Nanak Devji was from bedi sub caste of Khatris, much much higher caste than the jatts, and never showed pride or arrogance of his back ground and had completely rejected the caste system and Brahminism from the point when he refused to wear the hindu sacred thread. Guru Nanak's, sikh revolution was a revolt against Brahmiinism.The jatts should follow his example.
Listen to what he said:
" Neecha andar neech jaat, neechi hoon at neech
Nanak theenke sangh saath, vadiyaa seown kiya reet
jithe neech samalian, thithe nadar teri bakhsheesh"
Meaning. Guru Nanak said that ' within the the low caste shudra varna thereis a low caste thus under jatts there are the backward castes like the carpenters , barbers, taylors, rai sikhs, khamboj. Under these there even lowere caste like the weavers, chamars mahjbis, Boriye, Valmik aadh. Even below them there are lower castes like bheel, kabile, nange , bhangi, ghadeele. I am with them. what do I want from the high castes or share with them. Right from the point of receiving 'sacha sauda' (sikhi) from the low caste shudra saints /bhagats he always worked with and the up liftment of the low castes. Again the langar was also initited to get people to sit together and reduce caste differences, which had been brought in by brahmins to keep the castes apart from each other so that they could never unite to challenge Brahminism. Again Guru Govind Singh created the Khalsa, 90% of whom were from the low caste shudras including tarkhan, nai, shimbe ,chamars and churas. With the creation of the Khalsa all existing castes were abolished and a new casteless society came into being. All the Gurus from Guru Nanak to Guru Teg Bahadur preached the equlity of all human beings and worked for the eradication of existing caste system, which was deep rooted in the Indian way of like.
Can the jatts take on the yoke of the Gurus. The Gurus sacrifised every thing for the cause of the mission. Don't be sikhs in name only take sikhism forward from where the Gurus had left it is you cannot leave it where it was left but don't undu the work of the Gurus. The Jatts need to decide whether do want be real sikhs or charltons sikhs ie hindus who follow and practise caste but mascerading as sikhs. Wake up for God sake for sikhi and the Gurus. and don't drive low caste sikhs away from sikhism by discriminating against them.
Powerful stuff. You speak the truth as understood and spoken by the Gurus.I am ashamed to say that we jatts have elevated our caste business to greater value than the sikhi itself but like to be known as sikhs as for names sake in reality and proud to be know as a Jatt Sikh as indentity. Is being Sikh not enough?. I dare to say we no longer have the spirit of the Gurus but only ego , arrogance, pride and racism against lower castes whether sikhs or not. We are not as soormay as we like to think . A false ego. Why is it that we cannot rest until we know the caste of another sikh we know?. I have lost good freinds, who turned out to be from other castes, because I asked them that question. Only when a higher caste person who looks down on us that we feel what it is like to be discriminated against , the very discrimination that we meet to other lower castes. Once a khatri told me that he was higher caste than me and said few thingsderogatory to me about jatts that I felt really bad and generated this inferior perenial feelings ever since and since then I feel for my sikhs brothers from the lower castes. I also know what it feels like when living in the west gooray discriminates against us or blacks stand up to us. Now I know and feel why the Gurusin their wisdom wanted to destroy the caste system and wanted to install the God's kingdom of Khasla in India , a casteless society with one God, the weheguru and sikh botherhood. We are lost and become third rate sikhs because we no longer follow and practise the true spirit of Sikhi. Our religious Sikhs are only interested in the spiritual aspects and proudly display them selves with sikh artifacts and not interested in the social aspects. I wonder what the Gurus would think if they returned and saw what has happened to what they had created when they were alive. Out of so many sikhs Is they nobdy out there who can help clean the the dirt ? Where have all the soormay jatts gone.? The truth is there aren't any.
What sikhism is all about is taking down the barriers that existed within a community in India. It started out with a good principle with the establishment of Punj piaras from a wide spectrum of the community – without any regard to high and low. In the old days during the growth period of the sikh religion, emphasis was placed on congregation and the idea was to promote goodwill among people of good faith and believers in the oneness of a universal God. As the strength of the community grew even after passing through some very difficult times during the Muslim and English era the Gurdwaras begin to emerge like political and business centres of controlling the sikh sangat. Therefore the managerial portion of the administration is beginning to drift away from the sikh principles. In principle there is no need for separate Gurdwaras for any kind of sikhs, as long as they believe and respect the teachings of Shri Guru Granth Sahib. The current state of affairs from Austraia to Punjab,India appear to have been carried on to give the entire sikh community a bad name. The participants on both sides of the fence do not represent the principles of either one of the parties and should be held responsible for their actions and dealt with accordingly with the laws of the land.
What sikhism is all about is taking down the barriers that existed within a community in India. It started out with a good principle with the establishment of Punj piaras from a wide spectrum of the community – without any regard to high and low. In the old days during the growth period of the sikh religion, emphasis was placed on congregation and the idea was to promote goodwill among people of good faith and believers in the oneness of a universal God. As the strength of the community grew even after passing through some very difficult times during the Muslim and English era the Gurdwaras begin to emerge like political and business centres of controlling the sikh sangat. Therefore the managerial portion of the administration is beginning to drift away from the sikh principles. In principle there is no need for separate Gurdwaras for any kind of sikhs, as long as they believe and respect the teachings of Shri Guru Granth Sahib. The current state of affairs from Austraia to Punjab,India appear to have been carried on to give the entire sikh community a bad name. The participants on both sides of the fence do not represent the principles of either one of the parties and should be held responsible for their actions and dealt with accordingly with the laws of the land.
THE SIKHISM WAS FOUNDED ON VERY PRINCIPLE OF EQALITY AND ONENESS OF GOD.BUT IN LAST 100 YEARS THE BASIC PRINCIPLES OF SIKHISM LOST AND NOW EXIST IN ONLY THEORY.THE SIKHISM COMPLETELY FAILED ON PRACTICAL GROUNDS TO ABOLISH CASTISM IN SIKHS.THIS IS ONE OF THE IMPORTANT REASON WHY SIKHISM IS FACING NEGATIVE GROWTH.I AM AMAZED TO SEE SOME SIKH SCHOLARS BOASTING OF ABSENCE OF CASTISM IN PUNJAB AND RAPID GROWTH OF SIKHISM.THE KILLING OF SAINT OF RAVIDASIA SACT FURTHER DEEPENED DIVISION AMONG DIFFERENT SECTIONS OF SIKH COMMUNITY .THIS ALSO SHOWED HOW SIKHISM IS BEING RUN BY ILLITERATE RELIGIOUS LEADERS WHO DO NOT UNDERSTAND THE IMPORTANCE OF DEBATE(SAVWAD) IN SIKHISM.THE GREED TO CONTROL OVER GURUDWARA BY SO CALLED UPPER CAST SIKHISM IS NOT NEW PHENOMENON.EVERYBODY KNOW WHY MASTER TARA SINGH(SO CALLED SIKH SCHOLAR ) REFUSED THE PROPOSAL OF MASS CONVERSION OF DALIT TO SIKHISM BY DR B.R AMBEDKAR.HE FEARED THAT IF IT HAPPENED, THE SO CALLED UPPER CAST SIKHS WOULD BE CONVERTED TO MINORITY IN PUNJAB AND THEIR CONTROL OVER GURUDWARA COMMITTIES WOULD LOST.THE RECENT EVENTS(UNFORTUNATE ) LIKE REMOVAL OF SHRI GRANTH SAHIB FROM GURUDWARA OF RAVIDASIA SACT(ITALY) AND REFUSAL OF MEMBERSHIP SHOWS WALL OF DIVISION HAS GROWN HIGHER .THIS CAST DIVISION WILL FURTHER PROMOTE DERAWAD IN PUNJAB.SO I THINK THS IS ONE OF THE THE MOST IMPORTANT THREAT TO VERY EXISTANCE OF SIKHISM.
Parminder Singh Ji: Totally agree! However for the sake of clarity I would like to add that Master Tara Singh was a Hindu convert (born Hindu but converted). No doubt when he converted he brought his Hindu prejudices with him. He was also at the table in 1947 when the decision not to ask for a separate homeland for the Sikhs was made. He was anti Muslim and wanted the Sikhs to stay with the majority Hindus. He `crucifixed` the Sikhs in more than one way. Had the Dalits converted Sikhs would have been in the majority and 1984 would never have occurred. Lets not blame the Jats for the actions of a Hindu. We have suffered largely because traditionally during British Raj Sikhs were given special privileges (to the Kirpan etc) and Hindus seeking those privileges would have their eldest son convert to Sikhi. Hence the mass influence of Hindu ideology amongst the Sikhs and hence casteism.
THE SIKHISM WAS FOUNDED ON VERY PRINCIPLE OF EQALITY AND ONENESS OF GOD.BUT IN LAST 100 YEARS THE BASIC PRINCIPLES OF SIKHISM LOST AND NOW EXIST IN ONLY THEORY.THE SIKHISM COMPLETELY FAILED ON PRACTICAL GROUNDS TO ABOLISH CASTISM IN SIKHS.THIS IS ONE OF THE IMPORTANT REASON WHY SIKHISM IS FACING NEGATIVE GROWTH.I AM AMAZED TO SEE SOME SIKH SCHOLARS BOASTING OF ABSENCE OF CASTISM IN PUNJAB AND RAPID GROWTH OF SIKHISM.THE KILLING OF SAINT OF RAVIDASIA SACT FURTHER DEEPENED DIVISION AMONG DIFFERENT SECTIONS OF SIKH COMMUNITY .THIS ALSO SHOWED HOW SIKHISM IS BEING RUN BY ILLITERATE RELIGIOUS LEADERS WHO DO NOT UNDERSTAND THE IMPORTANCE OF DEBATE(SAVWAD) IN SIKHISM.THE GREED TO CONTROL OVER GURUDWARA BY SO CALLED UPPER CAST SIKHISM IS NOT NEW PHENOMENON.EVERYBODY KNOW WHY MASTER TARA SINGH(SO CALLED SIKH SCHOLAR ) REFUSED THE PROPOSAL OF MASS CONVERSION OF DALIT TO SIKHISM BY DR B.R AMBEDKAR.HE FEARED THAT IF IT HAPPENED, THE SO CALLED UPPER CAST SIKHS WOULD BE CONVERTED TO MINORITY IN PUNJAB AND THEIR CONTROL OVER GURUDWARA COMMITTIES WOULD LOST.THE RECENT EVENTS(UNFORTUNATE ) LIKE REMOVAL OF SHRI GRANTH SAHIB FROM GURUDWARA OF RAVIDASIA SACT(ITALY) AND REFUSAL OF MEMBERSHIP SHOWS WALL OF DIVISION HAS GROWN HIGHER .THIS CAST DIVISION WILL FURTHER PROMOTE DERAWAD IN PUNJAB.SO I THINK THS IS ONE OF THE THE MOST IMPORTANT THREAT TO VERY EXISTANCE OF SIKHISM.
I heard some-one honorable say it that "the Sikhs are known to be invincible because the 10 Living Gurus blessed them with all their might by living exactly how they want them to live. However, only Sikhs can/will destroy Sikhs."
The popular saying goes "Je Sardar, Sardar nu na marey. Eh quam kade na harey."
We as so called "Sikhs" are disgracing the word "Sikh" and making our ten perfect Gurus look bad at the same time. But we feel proud to be a Jat, Ravidasia, Bhapa, Ramgarhia…Sikh.
We are insulting our 10 Gurus embodiment and our spiritual treasure Guru Granth Sahib by using the Living Guru in the form of a Granth as means to hate.
Guru's lifestyle is about love, inclusion, service, utmost humility and living the message at any cost. Living the message to our last breath at any cost.
Besides caste, we divide ourselves further into belonging to certain organizations, jathas, sant deras, and maintain a holier than thou attitude because we are a Sikh.
We forget neither Harmandar Sahib nor the Guru Granth Sahib are our property. We are a mere temporary blessed care-takers or custodians. We are not bound by the Punjabi language limitation or the geographic boundaries of Punjab.
A Sikh would be ashamed of himself if he made his Guru some-one pointed a finger at his Guru due to his failings.
Remember Baba Atal Rai anyone?
But we are proud Jat, Ravidasia, Punjabis,… who happen to go to a Gurdwara on occassion to keep the label of a Sikh handy for a religion. This is a serioius personal disgrace of the Guru's Panth and we are proud of it?
I heard some-one honorable say it that “the Sikhs are known to be invincible because the 10 Living Gurus blessed them with all their might by living exactly how they want them to live. However, only Sikhs can/will destroy Sikhs.”
The popular saying goes “Je Sardar, Sardar nu na marey. Eh quam kade na harey.”
We as so called “Sikhs” are disgracing the word “Sikh” and making our ten perfect Gurus look bad at the same time. But we feel proud to be a Jat, Ravidasia, Bhapa, Ramgarhia…Sikh.
We are insulting our 10 Gurus embodiment and our spiritual treasure Guru Granth Sahib by using the Living Guru in the form of a Granth as means to hate.
Guru’s lifestyle is about love, inclusion, service, utmost humility and living the message at any cost. Living the message to our last breath at any cost.
Besides caste, we divide ourselves further into belonging to certain organizations, jathas, sant deras, and maintain a holier than thou attitude because we are a Sikh.
We forget neither Harmandar Sahib nor the Guru Granth Sahib are our property. We are a mere temporary blessed care-takers or custodians. We are not bound by the Punjabi language limitation or the geographic boundaries of Punjab.
A Sikh would be ashamed of himself if he made his Guru some-one pointed a finger at his Guru due to his failings.
Remember Baba Atal Rai anyone?
But we are proud Jat, Ravidasia, Punjabis,… who happen to go to a Gurdwara on occassion to keep the label of a Sikh handy for a religion. This is a serioius personal disgrace of the Guru’s Panth and we are proud of it?
This is the first time I am hearing that Master tara singh refused
the propasal of Ambedkar .As far I know Ambedkar himself dropped the idea of converting to sikhism.
This is the first time I am hearing that Master tara singh refused
the propasal of Ambedkar .As far I know Ambedkar himself dropped the idea of converting to sikhism.
Dr Ambedkar had studied Sikhism very well and was impressed with its tenets, message of equality and fratenity etc. It was his first choice religion. He was disapointed that the sikh leaders ,acting on the advice of Gandhi, at the time had refused his proposal and advised his to embraced another. He only dropperd the idea after the bad decision of sikh leadership. If they had accepted the proposal Sikhism would have spread to India and Sikhs would today number around 250 to 300 millions. Sikhism is locked up in the punjab by the Jatt as they do not want to lose vitual monoply of control. That is why they refused Ambedkars proposal. If they had accepted the proposal Sikhism would have been a formidable force in India. What had happened to sikhs in 1984 would never have happened .Master Tara Singh was duped by Gandhi/brahmical forces to refuse as these forces did not want the message of equality to spread to India, the land of caste. Sikhs should try and spread sikhism to India and not concentrate on Punjab and not follow Jatts agenda of creating little Khalistan for themselves. They need the Vision of the GURUS, but they cannot or won't see that because they are blinded by their own caste prejudices and fear loss of power.
I agree sikhism was not created for Punjab or the jatts alone, the Gurus agenda was for the whole of India . The Jatts are the agents of Brahmins in the Punjab. Evidently the Jatts politcal party the Akali Dal even have political allegiance with the BJP(Brahmin Jati Party). So While Brahminism prevails in India , Jattism prevails in the Punjab. The jatts have highjacked Sikhism for their own agenda. This bhago caste is destroying the the very religion the Gurus created for the lalo castes. They were a lalo caste but thanks to the British and the Sikh rulers, the Jatts were rewarded with land for their service to their political masters effectively put them with bhago castes. Guru Nanak despised bhago castes for their corruption and dishonesty. Jatts should leave sikhism en mass and call themselves hindus because that is what they are behind the facade of the 5 Ks, because they are doing the work of Brahminism in Punjab. Shameless lot.
Partly true but do not forget the sacrifices of the Sikhs Jats for Sikhi as well as for the freedom of India. Certain individuals are agents of the Brahmins. Remember `Giani` Zail Singh was a lower cast Sikh; as were other Chief Ministers of Punjab.
Freedom of India from the British only benefitted the high castes. The British were only the political masters. The shudras and the untouchable were victims of the Brahminical system before the British came and remain victims after the British left. The high caste of the three varnas were beneficiaries of the system then and even now control all the power structures in India. In population brahmins are only 4%, thakurs (kshatriya)6%, and Bania(vaisha) 5%..They are the minority that rules india since independence and yet they have been wrongly calling the majority population as minorities. They have been playing a deception game. Between them they control and dominate political parties, the indian adminstrative service, trade and commerce, culture,military, the law enforcement agencies, religion and land amonst others. Take politics for example 44% of political leaders are brahmins and others from thakurs and bania. The main larger political parties have brahmin dominance. They have representative from the low caste untouchable and shudras ( ie backward and sc st) as mere tokenism brought in boster vote banks. Zail Singh and others before him like Jagjivan Ram were were stooges of the Congress Party who weilded no power and were just ceremonial figures. Since independence the high castes being only a minority in India created these political parties to keep political power in their own hands, so that the majority of India's population who come from the backward and sc st continued to vote for the parties of the oppressors. Now these oppressed, are waking up and becoming politically aware and they know that since independence they have gained nothing but kept their opressors in power and they are ambitious for the raj. This ambition is reflected in the emergence of the new backward and dalit political parties.
As for the jatts contribution to sikhi is well recognised but the sikhs only joined in the independence struggle after Gandhi/Nehru promised to look at the sikh demands for autonomy after independence. The muslims got their Pakistan, the Dalits/untouchable got their demand thanks to Dr Ambedkar . But the poor sikhs led by the jatts advised by brahminical agents simply got used to get independence for India. Nehru subsequently broke that promise. The suffering of the sikhs as a minority started. Sikh leadership was foolish then as indicated by the above contributor as is now. The sikh have to realise that political revolution is preceded by religious revolution. the strength of the sikhs lies in the ideology of sikhism. Why do they keep working with the bahminical forces, which Guru Govind Singh had forbidden.. Guru Govind Singh himself said 'jab ye h gaye biprin kee reet mein na karoon enke prateet'. Because the sikhs havenot been able to get rid of brahminism sikhism will continue to suffer and so will the sikhs. The Jatts need to forge alliances with the dalits, which has a large intellectual and highly educated pool that has spearheaded evidently the political rise of the dalits in India. Similarly Guru Nanak worked with the shudra bhagats, who gave sikhi to him in the form of 'sacha sauda', Guru Govind Singh also had planned khalsa recruiting 90% of sikhs from the shudras and atishudra , the modern day backward and sc st castes. Will the sikhs leadership learn. If history has anything to tell us they will not.
Master Tara Singh was a Hindu convert….what did you expect
It is very sad to hear and read the comments that we are sikhs. The teaching of Guru Govind Singh is not followed by the sikhs themselves. Man should only have singh as their last name and Kaur for females. If anyone carries their last name then they are hindu's behind the turban. the culprit of all this BS is "Manu" Again if you really know what a Gortra is then its a shame because its a clan system that was created to keep humans at different levels. Bhramins, Shatriya, Vaisnav and Shudra. All this is man made and people still are so stupid to follow this? Jatt means a person who is a farmer. In Canada farmers should be called Jatt's and you will find out real quick who you will be treated. All I can say the INDIAN'S bring their garbage all over.
It is very sad to hear and read the comments that we are sikhs. The teaching of Guru Govind Singh is not followed by the sikhs themselves. Man should only have singh as their last name and Kaur for females. If anyone carries their last name then they are hindu's behind the turban. the culprit of all this BS is "Manu" Again if you really know what a Gortra is then its a shame because its a clan system that was created to keep humans at different levels. Bhramins, Shatriya, Vaisnav and Shudra. All this is man made and people still are so stupid to follow this? Jatt means a person who is a farmer. In Canada farmers should be called Jatt's and you will find out real quick who you will be treated. All I can say the INDIAN'S bring their garbage all over.
I agree. I think I have a solution to surnames problem. If sikhs want to have and use surnames then they should simply use their ancestral village names ,instead of gotra names,like some sikh already use. This does not infringe sikhism. Lot of western surmanes carry the names of villages or towns. So if you come from village called Johal, Randhwa,Todarpur, Ajnoha,etc….That would your surname for adminstrative or official purposes. This will reduce the caste distinctions.
I share your sentiments and your pain of what has happened to sikhism. Today I believe the sikhism is being destroyed from within by the followers and externally by brahminical forces. Today sikhs need to know that the jatts in particular, are the perpertrators, who are in reality hindus who mascerades as sikhs by wearing the 5Ks. For some odd reason they think they are the only proper sikhs and every body else is not fit to be a sikh and looks down on other sikh communities. I have personally heard one jatt say 'he's a chamar and yet he calls himself a singh'. The Jatt forgets or conveniently like to forget that Guru Nanak spent his life time with the low caste bhagats and included their shloks in the GGS bani. He himself called himself bhagat and not Guru. In japji sahib he says ' nanak bhagta tu sadaa vigaas'. Favoured Lalo not Bhago. Guru Govind Singh's 5 pyare were low caste and sikhs in the khalsa were recruited from low caste shudras. When Guru Govind Singh saw that virtually all the khalsa membership volunteers came from the low caste shudras he said 'en gareeb sikhan ko mein doun me badshahi' 'raj karega Khalsa'. During and before Khalsa was created Jatts contribution was nil. Today sikhism has been hijacked by the charlitan Sikhs – the Jatt., who have no interest in promoting sikhsim. What is the solution? I believe the lalo castes sikhs need to organise themselves as the majority sikhs in the punjab and start a forum to correct the power structure and reinstate the mission of the Guru which has been stunted since 1925. Jatts have done so much damage to sikhism. Why do the jatts turn a blind eye to these issues and do not wish face it. virtually all sikh communities privately despise them.
Sad Singh: I agree with the injustice meeted out to the lower castes but I question the divisive tone of certain individuals. Perhaps Brahmins are now masquerading as lower caste Sikhs and encouraging a `divide and rule strategy`…turn brother against brother. What 1984 could not do lets do by creating a them and us strategy.
what is happening to us we only have our selves to blame. we are weak that is why others infiltrate us us and weaken us even more. The brahmins are good at this game of divide and rule, a game which we dont understand or guard ourselves against .they have been doing this for 2500 years can you beat that . they have beaten everybody even us. we must continue to blame others when we as sikhs should look inward see our own weaknesses and faults. waheguruji ka kalsa vaheguruji ki fateh.