Dharam Yudh: Fundamentalist Ramifications of Sikh Autonomy Demands in the Punjab

Abstract

This essay represents a contribution towards the verification of the hypothesis that religious fundamentalism arises in developing societies particuiarly when the infrastructure becomes more highly evolved in response to the needs of a superimposed state apparatus, antagonistic to the interests and identity of a particular regional culture. In this regard, it seeks to explore the question as to whether Sikh fundamentalism in the long run merely represents a force of equalization vis-à-vis resulting economic and other disparities or additionaliy and primarily constitutes an authentic expression of a popularist movement geared towards the restauration of an autochthonous social and cultural tradition. To help in the clarification of these points the historical background to religious revivalism was discussed along with a survey of contemporary economic and political contradictions, conducive to its most recent manifestation in the form of 'fundamentalism'. This phenomenon in the Punjab among Sikhs is viewed as denoting a resurgence of the militant symbols and traditions comprising one aspect of the ideology and polity espoused by Sikhism, reawakened to serve immediate economic and political goals, i.e., the redressal of grievances of the Sikh minority in India.