The Sikhs at Vaikom

THE presence of a few Sikhs at Vaikom (Travancore) and their langar to help the Satyagrahis in their campaign against untouchability have raised doubts as to their intentions. More than one Anglo-Indian journal has made comments suspecting ulterior motives and questioning the connection between the supporters of the gurdwara reforms in the north of India and those engaged in the untouchability struggle in the southernmost part of the country. One affects the Sikh community or a very large section of it, which has differences with another section of the same community worshiping in a common place. The other affects a section of the Hindu community that is in conflict with another section of the same community. Both are regarded primarily as religious struggles, though certain political workers have expressed their sympathy with the reformers and lent their active support to some extent. In the case of both movements, certain critics have questioned the propriety of Congressmen interfering with religious problems and are anxious to isolate the religious from political reformers. A leading newspaper writes: “With the social grievance of untouchability in the extreme south of India, the Sikhs have no concern, and their presence can mean only one thing: that the Congress has decided to make the Vaikom agitation one more episode in its laborious work of undermining authority in general all over the country. The Sikhs have been taken to Vaikom to give a revolutionary glamour to the movement and stimulate morbid dreams of heroism in the minds of excitable youths.”

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