Something to take note of.. something which might pass un-noticed or given little thought..
But, the Punjab, in the north of India has traditionally been a source of some problems for the Central Indian government. Throughout the 1980s and the 1990s, Punjab was the site of a violent insurgency by Sikhs who desired an independent homeland...
Indian security forces killed a good number of Sikh militants after they seized the Golden Temple in Amritsar, the Sikh religion's most important site...
And in revenge.. Sikh soldiers shot dead Indira Gandhi, the then prime minister.
Not an area one would like to see in any turmoil.
Well, it is.
Now Sikhism is a mixture of Islam and Hinduism.. basically it is founded on the premis that ritualism is not necissary, but that one can come closer to God through meditation and devotion.
And the Punjab has Pakistan on one side, and India on the other..
Sikhism also has a few sects.. one of which is called Dera Sasha Sauda, and the leader of this sect has united all the others in common outrage, for appearing in a commercial dressed as Guru Gobind Singh.
This is comparable to Sinead O'Conner tearing up the photo of the Pope..
Thousands took to the streets last week.. one man shot and killed..
The Sikh Community throughout the Punjab has called for a general strike today..
Security Forces are reportedly on patrol..
But here again, we have a situation in the East.. motivated by religious dissention..
which could escallate, percolate, into yet another Indian 'civil war'.
Not what India needs at the moment, with both a burgeoning economy, and the immenent results of global warming, as more of the Eastern lowlands are expected to be inundated..
However.. India's current Prime Minister.. Manmohan Singh.. himself a Sikh, has called for calm.
Let it be so.