The controversy over Dera Sacha Sauda, the breakaway Sikh sect, has only just begun to wind down. Early May saw a frenzy over Dera chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh, who angered Sikhs by imitating Guru Gobind Singh, Sikhism's revered Tenth Guru. Gurmeet Singh had appeared in photographs carried in two dailies, in which he wore attire similar to the Tenth Guru in order to advertise his organisation. Gurmeet Singh apologised a few weeks later, but by then the matter had escalated so far that hardline Sikhs refused to accept his contrition. Besides being belated, the subsequent apology was undercut by Gurmeet Singh himself, who defiantly stated that he wears "whatever my followers design and give me to wear".
Groups on both sides were able to bring out supporters en masse. Under the leadership of a hardline Sikh religious group, the Damdami Taxal, more than 10,000 protesters moved towards Salabat Pura Dera, 30 km from Bhatinda, where Gurmeet Singh was alleged to have committed his act of sacrilegious imitation. There were subsequently clashes involving Sikhs and up to 3000 Dera activists, leaving at least one person killed and dozens more severely injured.
The Punjab state government, which initially attempted to maintain a distance from the issue, was forced to intervene after the supreme Sikh body, the Akal Takht, issued an ultimatum on 20 May, demanding that the state government close down all reform deras within a week. While Dera Sacha Sauda activists complained that they were being scapegoated, sword- and kirpan-bearing Sikhs blocked roads and organised dharnas. Punjabis were suddenly witness to a sight they had not seen in two decades, harking back to the days of militancy that had engulfed the state during the 1980s.
Rise of the Khalsa
Dera Sacha Sauda is one in a long line of reform movements to challenge mainstream Sikhism. But Sikhism itself initially emerged as a reform movement of sorts, in an attempt to end the caste discrimination rife in Hinduism. Established in the late 15th century by Guru Nanak (1469-1539), Sikhism grew to become the world's fifth-largest religion on the efforts of nine additional Gurus, all of whom the Sikhs believe were inhabited by a single spirit. After the death in 1708 of the Tenth Guru, Gobind Singh, this eternal spirit was said to have transferred into the sacred scripture of Sikhism, the Guru Granth Sahib, also known as the Adi Granth.