Religion and politics, according to Sikh faith, must go hand in hand if people want to enjoy peace and prosperity. This looks against the common belief. Let us analyze why it is necessary and how it works.
Greatest religion is service to people irrespective of their caste, color, creed or faith because the abode of God is the people and not a specifically reserved place in the Universe. Basic tenants of Sikhism, therefore require a person to love all human beings, earn his livelihood through honest means (unfair means are sin), help the needy and share his earnings with them, and pray every day for the welfare of whole humanity. The problems and miseries are created by the politicians who keep the above principles of the religion far away from them. How can there be peace without forcing the above religious principles on the politicians?
Religion is wrongly considered to be a set of rituals, which of course differ according to the culture of the people. It is this wrong concept of religion which makes people to say that religion and politics cannot be combined together. As mentioned earlier in (Part Il) two or more names of God and different methods of his worship do not mean there are different religions.
Politics is said to be a game of scoundrels. Having accepted the above statement to be true, politicians feel free and justified to be unscrupulous, cheap and corrupt. As everything is fair in love and war, they believe all methods, fair and foul, are permissible to grab power and a mass wealth by usurping the rights of others. They do not feel a bit guilty while committing the greatest crime or sin. They do not hesitate to sacrifice public welfare and people’s interest for the sake of their party interests; group interest is more dear to them than the party interest and their selfish interest is much more important to them than their group interest.
Making the people suffer or even getting them killed to satisfy their hunger for ego, power, money, sex is a matter of routine for them. For this, they even engage their country in wars where thousands of: innocent people are killed bringing miseries to many more people.
How can we expect justice from such politicians Those, who sincerely wish peace for the human race, would agree that politicians must adopt the basic principles of the religion stated in the beginning of this article.
May it be asked from those who want to keep religion and politics separate, why the above basic tenets of humanism cannot be adopted and religiously followed by every person, including the politicians in the interest of keeping peace on this earth.
If a religion permits hatred for others or its followers believe in forcing people
For conversion to their faith, Nanak says then it is not a religion of God. But a fake faith practiced by hypocrites and greedy people to satisfy their ego. Such fake religions should necessarily be kept away from not only the politics but also from the people. The existence of such “religions” should not become the reason for the politicians to keep themselves away from the genuine faith, Humanism, and continue to commit the people to misery for their self is motives.
A Sikh is required (by his faith) not only to provide justice and equal treatment to all people but also fight for the downtrodden (whatever their faith or caste) for their political and social rights which are usurped by the power hungry corrupt politicians.
That is why every member of the Khalsa is called a saint soldier of the Fauj (Army) of Akal Purakh (God). Khalsa believes protecting and helping the poor is their sacred God assigned duty. Guru Teg Bahadur was murdered at Delhi because he challenged the right of the ruling Emperor to torture and forcibly convert Hindus into Islam or kill them if they refuse to adopt his faith. Many battles were forced on his son, Guru Gobind Singh in Punjab surprisingly by the neighboring Hindu Rajas of the hills (now Himachal Pardesh). The reason was simple Guru loved low caste people and gave them equal treatment as he gave to other people. That hurt the ego of the high caste Hindu Rajas, they could not tolerate untouchables being missed with Brahmins and Khatris. Joint forces of Delhi and Rajas attacked the Guru to kill him and finish his faith, preaching equality of human beings. All the four sons of the guru and thousands of Sikhs were killed. Neither the Guru nor his faith could be finished. Commenting on the above, 200 years later Daulat Rai Arya observed that had the ungrateful Hindu Rajas taken the right stand of riding with the Guru, rather than opposing him, India would have won freedom at that time. Recently Bradshaw wrote “Sikhism is a universal world faith . . . a message for all men . . . The religion preached by Guru Nanak is the faith of the New Age.”
Politicians, to get rid of their guilt, mischievously say that religion is a “sacred” thing; it should not be “mixed” with “dirty” politics. The fact is that the “dirty” politics. The fact is that the “dirty” politics is the real root cause of all troubles to the public. That. is why observance of religious principles should be mandatory to keep the “dirt” out of politics. The lust for wealth, power and ego which obliges people to commit sins and crimes can be kept under control only through adoption of religious principles and not by keeping them away.
It can be concluded that the question to be asked is not whether religion and politics can go together but how politics can deliver justice and bring peace to the society without the politicians having a sincere faith in the basic principles of religion (not communalism) mentioned above.
Article extracted from this publication >> December 13, 1985
