There have been interesting developments in Kashmir recently in the political sphere. It began with the controversial conversion of two Sikh girls to Islam, with one reconverting to Sikhism, but it has unquestioningly daunted the ‘Sikh-Muslim unity’ project.
During the controversy, attempts were made by both sides to redirect the mutual anger they harbored against one another towards ‘Sanghis’ but the reconversion of one Sikh girl and her subsequent marriage to a Sikh man has made the unity project tad bit more difficult.
While in the long run, it is indeed likely that both groups will swallow their mutual humiliation and instead find excuses to blame ‘Hindutvis’ instead in order to secure a political alliance ahead of elections, for now, the outburst of enmity has vitiated the atmosphere enough to silence such discussions for the short term future.
Nevertheless, there are important takeaways from the whole series of events that cannot be ignored.
A massive endorsement of anti-Grooming Jihad laws
Amidst increasing pressure from the Hindu community for strict laws to curb the menace of Grooming Jihad, multiple states including Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh implemented anti-conversion laws in order to achieve the same end.
When such laws were passed, Sikh proponents of the ‘Sikh-Muslim unity’ project passed inappropriate remarks against the Hindu religion and the states in question intoxicated by the false promise of the political alliance. Now the same people are demanding the same kind of laws in Jammu & Kashmir to protect their community against the same.
Manjinder Singh Sirsa is one such individual. He went from asking “How is your religion (Hinduism) so weak that they need help of law to save their religion?” to demanding the passage of the same laws for the protection of his community.
But there are numerous others who have followed the same path. It is unquestionably a massive endorsement of the anti-Grooming Jihad laws that were passed.
Khalistanis swallow a bitter pill
The Hindu and the Sikh community continue to enjoy a great relationship in most parts. However, Khalistanis in the activism sphere have made attempts to break this bond that exists between the two communities. Claims of “Assi Hinduon nu bachaya si” would often be thrown left and right in order to portray themselves as ‘Saviour of Hindus’ and Hindus as a craven lot.
Due to the nature of the tensions during the 80s and early 90s, an unspoken detente had been realised between the two communities where one side could make such outlandish claims for the sake of greater amity. Khalistanis recently have made several attempts to use these claims to assert their supremacy over Hindus. During the whole affair, they would speak of unity with Islamists against ‘Hindutvis’.
The recent cases have blown up on their faces like a nightmare. They had to swallow a bitter pill and demand the same kind of laws that were passed due to Hindu pressure. For the implementation of the same, they would have to rely on the Hindutva voter base and the BJP, people they have been slandering for quite some time now.
A victory for Hindutva Assertion
Khalistanis have been opposing Hindutva left, right and center and core agendas such as the Citizenship Amendment Act and the NRC. Now, they have been forced to rely on the party of Hindutva to protect their community from those they consider their allies. If that is not a victory for Hindutva, one wonders what is.
Furthermore, it is also a victory for what concerted Hindu Assertion can achieve. Hindus have long been demanding for anti-Grooming Jihad laws. They faced a barrage of propaganda from the mainstream media, opposition parties and the entire leftist ecosystem.
But Hindu votes and pressure resulted in states passing such laws. Now we have a situation where the blue-eyed boys of the leftist establishment are demanding the same laws for themselves. As for Khalistanis, the Sikh family in the midst of the controversy have decided to shift to Hindu-dominated Jammu, so much for the supposed ‘bhaichara’.
Some Hindus may feel that they cannot create the same high-decibel noise that the Sikh community has done over two cases but that it is not true. Hindus did exert pressure and they did succeed in having laws against the same passed, as a consequence of which numerous cases are being registered against criminals and Hindu girls are being rescued as a consequence.
There is a certain masochism that exists within online circles that leads people to refuse to see victory even when it is right in front of their eyes. If Hindus still shower praise on the other community while denigrating their own significant victory, it is equivalent to snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.
A nightmare for Liberal ecosystem
The ‘liberal’ ecosystem works on the concept that minority communities are oppressed by the majority community and in order to protect their interests, minority communities need to ally with each other to resist majority dominance.
What the concept does not account for is the fact that the minority communities are not a monolith and the different communities are often at odds with each other and in some scenarios, have more shared interests with the majority community.
Based on their flawed concept, they tried to forge a political alliance which we call the ‘Sikh-Muslim unity’ project without accounting for the fact that there exist deep fissures within the community, fissures that are much greater than the ones that exist between Sikhs and Hindus on the ground.
The recent conversion cases have brought such fissures to the fore. Liberals believed that Langar and Biryani would have been enough to forge a political alliance but reality, of course, had other plans. Now we have Sikh proponents claim that ‘Muslim radicalism’ is “worse” than ‘Sanghis’ and the other side is throwing similar accusations.
The ‘Bhaichara’ that was supposed to exist has evaporated into thin ice. It is nothing short of a nightmare for liberals.
