Devil's Advocate

An old Communist adage goes like this- religion is akin to opium. And the 'rioters' in Punjab seem hell bent to prove this true. People there seem to be under the influence of some narcotics or else how do you explain all the damage to the public property inflicted by rioters. A religious leader is fired upon in Vienna and how do his supporters react to it? By going berserk and destroying 'easy targets' like buses, trains. The situation got so tense that even the army had to be called in. The police had to fire upon the same people which it swore to protect. What a sight- the state has to protect a set of civilians from another!!!

And such incidents are rising as India is 'developing' (?).

Gandhi once said that religion and politics need to be separate. But Punjab seems to believe in contradicting it. The political establishment there would not do anything to contravene the SGPC. Guru Nanak did not belong to any political establishment nor did he have any political aspirations. The things against which he founded the Sikh community such as the oppression by the clergy is precisely what is happening as of now. The SGPC calls all the shots.

There is no place for violence and vigilante justice in a society. If the public takes laws into its hands, it becomes a mob and there is only one way to curtail mob violence.

We cannot let our country become a 'banana republic'.....