The Punjab Cabinet last Tuesday, 21 August, approved amendments to Code of Criminal Procedure (Cr PC ) and the Indian Penal Code (IPC) to make sacrilege of all religious texts punishable with life imprisonment. As per this new provision, “whoever causes injury, damage or sacrilege to Sri Guru Granth Sahib, Srimad Bhagwad Gita, Holy Quran and Holy Bible with the intention to hurt the religious feelings of the people shall be punished with imprisonment for life”. We are yet to understand the immediate provocation of bringing such a law but in a country which is grappling with so much of religious problems and people being divided on the basis of caste, religion and eating habits, the Congress, too, seems not to want to be left out of the religious cauldron. With its new Sacrilege Bill, Punjab Chief Minister has added fuel to the fire and at the same time in a clever move, he included almost all religious texts to the booty so that no party will oppose the bill. If you oppose you will be losing one or the other religious vote banks or the entire vote bank.

Like the Bible and Quran, the Guru Granth Sahib is also the codification of the teachings of Guru Nanak, the founder of Sikhism in the 15th century and of the 9 other Gurus of the Sikh Panth. After the tenth Guru Gobind Singh, Guru Granth Sahib became supreme and the gurus were abolished. Sikhism, on the other hand, evolved during the times of persecution of the Sikhs by Mughal kings, especially by Aurangzeb. Though Sikhism is a monotheistic religion, it is also an embodiment of essences taken from other religions like Hinduism, Islam, etc. 

The present Sacrilege Bill by the Punjab government should be seen in this context. The Bill seeks to criminalize blasphemy as in Islamic nations. Amarinder Singh’s neighbor Pakistan is the best case example of such a law where blasphemy is used to suppress the Hindu, Christian and other minorities.  What Amarinder’s government proposes is sending the heretic to life imprisonment than stoning him to death like in Pakistan or Saudi Arabia. Another Congress masterpiece in times of crisis!