Why Kejriwal should treat Akal Takht Jathedar's 'warning' as wise advice
In Jerusalem, hundreds of Jews converge upon an open-air synagogue everyday to water a high wall of stones with their tears.
This scene at the Western Wall, nicknamed the Wailing Wall, represents a powerful blend of emotions and symbolism.
With their heads bowed against the surface, the Jews pour their hearts out at the remnant of the Second Temple the Romans destroyed in 70 AD. These giant chalky, yellow-white stones are one of the holiest sites in Judaism.
The reason why I gave this snapshot of a sacred spot linked to a 3,500-year-old Abrahamic faith originating in the Middle East is that sometimes people can't read a book that's held too close to their eyes.
That precisely appears to be the disorder afflicting Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal and his Aam Aadmi Party (AAP).
Their possibly well-meant apology aside, the way they came out with their Punjab youth manifesto in the first place demonstrated the AAP convenor is heavily dependent on spin doctors for his party's make-or-break campaign.
The authors of the booklet apparently lacked understanding of emotions and symbolism in public life. They were unable to fathom how faith defines lives worldwide.
Their seemingly Delhi-centric mindset appears to have blurred their vision about the complex world of human passion.
Worse, the party's so-called talent from the soil, which may have co-written the manifesto, lost the sight of the inviolability of the sanctity of the Darbar Sahib and Guru Granth Sahib, like a child who can't read a book because he's holding it too close to his eyes. Quite likely, they took religion for granted.
This syndrome also reflects political myopia.
Kejriwal went into quick damage control, and rightly so.
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| Kejriwal and the AAP need to enrich themselves with insightful perspectives on diversities. |
As I mentioned in my previous article, his party's pardon became complete when the AAP leader's trusted lieutenant HS Phoolka asked for forgiveness at the sanctum of the Darbar Sahib (the Golden Temple) and rendered a congregational service.
On Friday, news outlets carried comments of Akal Takht Jathedar Gurbachan Singh on the entire episode. He cautioned Kejriwal against using religion, religious symbols and places as a vehicle to further his political aspirations.
Giani Gurbachan Singh, or as a matter of fact any head of the supreme Sikh temporal authority of the Akal Takht, is an appointee of the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC), which is controlled by the Shiromani Akali Dal of Punjab chief minister Parkash Singh Badal and his son.
The Akal Takht was founded by the sixth Guru, Guru Hargobind, as a symbol of Sikh political sovereignty. The Jathedars of this shrine are not, technically, akin to a monarch or the Pope. They, as scholar Harjinder Singh Dilgeer says, are the spokespersons for the Sikh community.
The Jathedars, the SAD and the SGPC have themselves been subject to critical community scrutiny for any abuse of religious power.
News reports this week described Giani Gurbachan Singh's remarks on Kejriwal and the row over the youth manifesto as a "warning".
Politically, it may well be a loaded warning coming from an SGPC appointee.
But I think wrapped inside the Jathedar's comments was profound advice for Kejriwal as he spreads his bets out from Delhi to Punjab to Gujarat to Goa.
Giani Gurbachan Singh perhaps explained - as a teacher - not to treat cultural assets, tangible or intangible, as toys.
They signify the deepest roots of creeds that evolved over ages.
They bind people together over and above individual practices.
Kejriwal and his team of NGO activists, leftists and former journalists, therefore, require an intellectual vision more than ever before.
Voters aren't naive. They know that the AAP is no longer an anti-corruption movement. Like any other political party, it has its eyes set on power and greater power.
If it has managed to keep its flag fluttering in Punjab, it's because the party is seen as a possible force that may help dislodge the Badals from Chandigarh. That is it.
But the acute shortage of intellectual fuel will not help it maintain the momentum in what is not-too-long-a-run anymore.
Twitter, Facebook or soundbites do not run civilisations as old as India. Cultures do.
A Pew poll around the US presidential race this year confirmed that being a professed atheist would be a deadly liability for any White House aspirant.
You need no such Pew research for a multi-region, multi-faith India.
But Kejriwal and the AAP need to enrich themselves with insightful perspectives on diversities. Even if that means taking a sabbatical from tweets and capricious tactics.