The roots of Punjab’s ongoing crisis of sacrilege and hurt Sikh sentiments trace back not to 2015, but to the year 2007. That year, a blasphemy case was filed against Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh after he dressed in an attire resembling Guru Gobind Singh Ji, the tenth Sikh Guru. The act sparked massive outrage across the Sikh community, leading to statewide protests and demands for his arrest. However, despite the gravity of the offense in the eyes of Sikhs, the political and law enforcement machinery moved with conspicuous slowness.
Over the years that followed, the urgency of the 2007 blasphemy case seemed to fade. As Punjab geared up for the 2012 Assembly elections, the political priorities shifted. In a quiet and highly questionable manner, the case was nullified. A cancellation report was filed without any real explanation, and in 2014, Gurmeet Ram Rahim was formally discharged from the case. The move was seen by many as a clear example of political appeasement and opportunism — an effort to win votes from the Dera’s massive following without consideration for the sentiments of the Sikh community.
But this delay in justice and silence in action had much graver consequences. In June 2015, a copy of the Guru Granth Sahib Ji, the eternal Guru of the Sikhs, was stolen from a gurdwara in the village of Burj Jawahar Singh Wala, in Faridkot district. This act shook the conscience of the Sikh community worldwide. Suspicion quickly turned toward followers of the same Dera, as their hostility toward Sikh tenets had been previously documented. Instead of decisive action, there was again a display of political and religious compromise. The same Jathedars of the Akal Takht — the highest temporal seat of the Sikhs — who were expected to safeguard Sikh dignity, astonishingly issued an apology to the Dera chief, effectively shielding him from community backlash.
This act of exoneration by the Jathedars — seen as done under political pressure — only deepened public anger and confusion. The sacrilege incidents did not stop with Burj Jawahar Singh Wala. They escalated — pages of the Guru Granth Sahib Ji were found torn and scattered across villages, triggering protests that were met with police bullets in Behbal Kalan and Kotkapura, resulting in the death of innocent Sikh protesters.
Looking back, it becomes painfully clear that the seeds of the 2015 crisis were sown in 2007. Had there been a sincere effort to investigate and prosecute the Dera chief for blasphemy then, his growing influence and audacity may have been curtailed. Had the state not caved to electoral considerations, had the religious leadership not buckled under pressure, the Guru Granth Sahib Ji — the very heart of Sikh identity — might not have suffered such public disrespect.
What unfolded was not merely a law and order failure; it was a spiritual and emotional betrayal. The delay in action, the political protection of the accused, and the religious compromise created a climate where sacrilege could be carried out with impunity. It wasn’t just an attack on scripture — it was an attack on the Sikh psyche, and it all started with a refusal to act when it mattered most.
Today, justice still limps behind those who orchestrated and abetted the chain of events. And the Sikh community continues to ask — if action had been taken in 2007, could the wounds of 2015 have been avoided? The answer, painfully, seems to be yes.