AAP shouldn't have apologised for Guru Granth Sahib controversy
Controversies are at once challenges and opportunities. Which of the two comes to the fore depends on the context and the players. The broom-holy scripture controversy in Punjab is, sadly, a wasted opportunity and it reflects poorly on AAP.
As a Christian, I would not mind in the least anyone printing the picture of a broom alongside the picture of the Bible or of the most revered cathedral in India.
The offence, in the current AAP manifesto controversy in Punjab stems from the opprobrium we still attach to "broom". It is part of our caste-and-class mentality.
The broom and safai karmacharis keep our streets and offices clean and our cities nearly livable. But, because they clean they are unclean!
For the same reason the broom becomes a repugnant instrument of pollution.
It is this spiritually illiterate mentality that sees offence in the juxtaposition of the AAP symbol and the Granth Sahib, which I revere.
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| The offence, in the current AAP manifesto controversy in Punjab stems from the opprobrium we still attach to "broom". |
Guru Nanak was a brilliant shaft of light in the dense darkness of religious obscurantism. He signaled the dawn of reason and common sense in the sphere of religion.
If this episode were referred to him, he would have done five things: (a) he would have smiled, (b) would have genially pointed out the difference between broom as an object and broom as a symbol, (c) would have disapproved scorning the broom on the sole basis that it is employed in lowly work, (d) would have invited Arvind Kejriwal and his volunteers to join him in cleaning Amritsar as a whole and (e) he would have congratulated Kejriwal on exalting the lowly broom to national respectability.
What is the offence in this episode? Is it the pictorial pollution of a scripture or implied politicisation of a religion?
The latter cannot be the case; for the aura of politics has enshrouded Sikhism for long.
If the lotus were printed side by side with the picture of Guru Granth Sahib, would it have caused a similar offence?
Lotus is a flower; whereas broom is a lowly implement. Taken as literal objects the contrast between them is a mere class matter.
Broom is untouchable and detestable to those who are class-conscious, rather than Guru-conscious. The underlying fear can only be that of the broom’s proximity polluting the Holy Book. Assuredly, this very thought would have offended Guru Nanak!
The offence perceived betokens spiritual crudity. The authentic expression of the power of spirituality is "transformation". Transformation is the power of exalting the humble and the lowly and imbuing them with venerable significance.
Visit Sabarmati Ashram. You will see an old, worn out tooth brush and a pair of wooden clogs once used by Gandhi. These are, but for their association with the Mahatma, lowly and useless objects.
They are venerated as national treasures because they are "transformed" and sanctified by their association with a spiritual luminary. Had they been used, instead, by a mafia don, preserving them would have been a national insult.
It is surely the case that kicking up a fuss about printing pictures of a broom and Guru Granth Sahib side by side is a greater slur on that awesome spiritual treasure. It reflects poorly on one’s faith in the spiritual merit of one’s scripture.
If the spiritual worth of the Bible were to be ruined by its proximity to a broom - pictorial or physical - I would not care even to look at it.
The AAP wasted an opportunity to educate the people and see the issue in the proper light. Winning an election is far less important as compared to enlightening the people.
The core issue in Punjab is not that this party or that party should govern. Not even that someone is pushing the drug culture and thriving on the blood of the youth (and the future) of Punjab.
It is that the true spiritual light of this great and unique spiritual tradition is not understood or respected by its own custodians.
When religion is degraded into an accessory in identity politics, it is inevitable that the wrappings become all-important and the inner spiritual core comes to be of no account.
Religious communities today are an embarrassment to the scriptures that correspond to them. I know this to be true at least of my community and me.
It is for my fellow citizens to decide what is the truth about their own religious communities. Surely, this must be a burning issue for those who claim to value and practise their religion.
I am deeply disappointed that AAP developed nerves and, in a knee-jerk reaction, capitulated to religious obscurantism. These signs of compromise do not augur well either for the party or for the country.
There are times when heresy and iconoclasm embody greater fidelity to a religious tradition than the pontifications and posturing of its unthinking, mechanically conformist followers.
The belligerent alertness to "defend" a religion, rather than live its true spirit, is a clear sign of religious decay.
This calls for scripture to be used as a broom in cleaning up the cobweb of religious obscurantism and fundamentalism from the mind of the people.
Scripture is such a divine broom. Broom is the scripture of hygiene. Both are holy. They belong together.
The offence perceived in their proximity, in truth, is an insult to Sikhism. May be AAP should apologise for apologising.