https://t.co/KSI2d8hM5B

The irony here is that Indian nationalism is also a political monotheism based project. This is especially true of Hindutva ideology. So, pick your poison and conform to the messaging of the state. You can’t have your cake and eat it too.

Max Arthur Macauliffe and Khushwant Singh’s existential and fatalistic readings warn against state-sanctioned assimilationist policies, whether Hindu India’s facade of secularity or the West’s pressure to conform and reflect a Christian-inflected secularity as an integration.

Singh Sabha counteracted British missionizing, only by embracing the politics of categorization, essentialized religion, and language. This effectively silenced Christianity’s colonizing and assimilationist project as an existential threat in Punjab.

I call this one Nu Nativism

I’ve come to the conclusion that the Punjabi Christians are functionally another dera in Punjab. This conclusion fits with the Punjabi popular folk religion landscape.

Punjabi and Pashtun rivalries persist into the modern day, even within Pakistan’s own provinces. Punjab’s overwhelming presence in Pakistan acts as a reminder of this historical conflict. Lahore has always stood at odds with Kabul and Delhi, and this will remain the case.

https://t.co/ZmPUIcDNQr

Just as images of resistance have been commodified, so too have the state’s repressive censoring policies. Social media platforms have become a battleground for bot farms mass reporting, alongside backroom deals between elites to silence narratives that oppose state positions.

The images of Sant Ji reflect the commodification of resistance in a globalized Punjabi economy. These images carry resistance and represent an alternative sovereignty to India. They also represent the hyperreality of a consumerist Punjab, where resistance is historicized.

And then Bhagwant Mann said “let them drink pegs”

Ultimately, memories of violence and historical grievances still underpin the most reconciliatory advocates. Connection ends with literature, music, and lost religious heritage. Sikhs are more focused on their diasporic conditions and their volatile existence in the Indian state.

Sikhs on the other hand nationalized Punjabi as their sacred and vernacular language. Sikhi’s universality of space was compromised to fixate on its heartland instead, Punjab. The Sikh nation-building project has evolved to hold an ambivalent position on West Punjab as well.

You’re describing the nation-building process. This stems from a national policy of Urdu language instruction and demonization of Punjabi in urban settings. It also arises from Pakistani Punjabi elites constructing a nationalized culture at the expense of their regional identity.

By 1975 the Punjabi Naxalite had been crushed by the state, through a policy of police brutality and Indira Gandhi’s subsequent Emergency declaration and rule. Embers of discontent still loomed in Punjab, to be reborn as the Kharku Lehar, a new solution to the Indian problem.

The Punjabi Naxalite movement used "Kharku" in its messaging to inspire direct action against the state. They referenced Vaisakhi’s Khalsa founding as the day to rise against the state. Shaheed Baba Bujha Singh (pictured) was picked up by police and killed in a fake encounter.

Sikka zad bar har do ’ālam tegh-i Nanak wāhib ast. Fateh-i Gobind Singh Shāh-i Shāhān fazl-i Sachā Sāhib ast. Coin struck in both worlds by the grace of the True Master; victory to Guru Gobind Singh, King of Kings, the sword of Nanak is the provider.

Interestingly, both Punjab’s Naxalite movement and the Kharku Lehar’s messages were spread most effectively through music. Kavī, dhādhī, and lok sangeet functioned to disseminate intricate political ideas and mobilize the youth towards revolutionary action against the state.

The Indian state is haunted by the prospect of an undying spirit of Sikh sovereignty - this terrifying prospect continues to reappear, despite state repression and hyperreal sociopolitical adhesions.

It’s high time that Sikhs and other Canadian minorities realize that it was never about his politics. Look at what this uggo has to say on the matter.