Whether it is out of ignorance–I fully doubt it–or something else, the VHP has put itself in a corner again.

In the wake of the controversy surrounding VHP’s reported assertions of Sikhs being part of Hindus, the outfit’s supremo Ashok Singhal has said from the time of 10th Sikh Guru Gobind Singh they “grew as a separate religious community”.

“From the time of Guru Gobind Singhji only, Sikhs grew as a separate religious community. That is why like other schools of Bharatiya religion, VHP looks upon the Sikh panth with great admiration and pride”, he said in a letter to National Minorities Commission chairman Tarlochan Singh.

Expressing “admiration and pride” is separate from confounding it with facts of history. Sikhs are very much Hindus and Sikhism is but a variant of Hinduism. Painting it as a separate “religious community” will only roll the clock back to the nightmarish ’80s. Remember, the idea of a separate Sikh country had its genesis in precisely such statements: they sound loose, irresponsible, ridiculous and harmless at first.

For starters, Singhal should read Arun Shourie’s Religion in Politics.