On Monday (March 9), controversy rocked Panjab University (PU) in Chandigarh when protests broke out over a lecture, which included speakers such as RSS North Zone publicity chief Banveer Singh and former National Commission for Minorities chairperson and BJP leader Iqbal Singh Lalpura.
The lecture, titled “Sacrifice, Equality and Moral Authority: Sikh History, Guru Tegh Bahadur and the Panj Pyare in the Indian Civilisation Ethos”, saw protesters from Sikh and Leftist student outfits shout slogans and denounce the event as promoting RSS and BJP ideology on campus. The RSS-affiliated Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) said that the programme highlighted the Sikh gurus’ sacrifices for the nation, with the RSS speaker focusing on their history.
So, what are the links between the Sikhs and the RSS? We explain.
A complex history
Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, whom the RSS admires as a Hindutva ideologue, was inspired by the Sikh gurus. The RSS too claims to take inspiration from the Sikh gurus and even celebrates their birth anniversaries.
The Sri Akal Takht Sahib, the highest temporal seat of Sikhs, views the RSS understanding of all indigenous religions being part of “Hindu Rashtra” as problematic.
When the Atal Bihari Vajpayee-led government was in power at the Centre (1998-2004), the RSS increased its interaction with the Sikh masses. This resulted in many controversies, leading to a 2004 Sri Akal Takht Sahib decree warning Sikhs against the RSS and its affiliate bodies.
“RSS thinks that Sikhism fought Mughal invaders and saved the indigenous ideology. The RSS treats Sikhs as part of the Hindu nation like Jains and Buddhists, and unlike Christians and Muslims,” said the Sikh writer and historian Sukhpreet Singh Udhoke.
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Udhoke, who has officially advised the Sri Akal Takht Sahib on the RSS issue in the past, said that Sikhs have an ideological opposition to this idea since they believe their history is not about fighting Muslims, but standing against contemporary oppressors.
“Sikhs also perceive themselves as an independent religion and believe that they have a unique identity. They fear that the RSS wants them to assimilate into Hinduism,” he added.
RSS’s renewed outreach
Over time, the RSS and BJP have also expanded their reach into Sikh institutions. A prime example is Damdami Taksal head Baba Harnam Singh Dhuma. Dhuma’s predecessor was the firebrand Sikh preacher Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, and the Taksal still idolises Bhindranwale. Dhuma has grown close to the BJP and recently, he was part of an event organised by the BJP-led Maharashtra government to mark the 350th martyrdom anniversary of the ninth Sikh guru, Tegh Bahadur Sahib. The event featured several Hindu preachers, including Dharmendra Shastri and others, who described Sikhs as “Sanatani”.
The RSS and BJP even observed this martyrdom anniversary on a nationwide scale: the PU lecture was part of that series.
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Sikh revival in campus politics
Formed in 1943, the All India Sikh Student Federation (AISSF) is one of India’s oldest student organisations that was once the training ground for future leaders of the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD). After the events of Operation Blue Star in 1984 (in which Bhindranwale was killed), the AISSF splintered into factions, gradually losing influence. In the same period, Left-oriented student bodies rose to prominence across campuses in Punjab and Chandigarh.
In 2019, the student organisations Sath and the United Sikh Student Federation were formed: both were inspired by Sikh ideology and seen as a revival of the AISSF. Sath made its mark by winning the vice president post on the PU Campus Students’ Council in 2023 and 2025. However, direct student body elections in Punjab have not been conducted for over four decades because of concerns around violence and disruptions.
Sath was part of the protests on Monday as well. Jujhar Singh, Sath’s founder president, said that they opposed “the RSS’s intentions to misinterpret Sikh values and history on student campuses”.
Notably, the ABVP won the president post in the Panjab University student elections in 2025 for the first time. Monday’s protests were an outcome of the RSS’s increased activities on Punjab and Chandigarh campuses as well as the counter-mobilisation by Sikh and Leftist student bodies.
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While the BJP and RSS have been attempting to get validation from Sikh bodies like the Damdami Taksal, the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee, and the Haryana Sikh Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee, the Sri Akal Takht Sahib’s 2004 decree against the RSS underpins the resistance put up by Sikh student bodies.
