AN INCIDENCE in far off Vienna in Central Europe has caused widespread violence and several deaths in India. Public property worth billions has been destroyed in Punjab by rampaging casteist Indians after news came in that Sant Rama Nand who was heading a Sikh community of so-called lower strata of Sikhs in Vienna died in an attack by high-bred Sikh community in the same country. The violence in Vienna occurred soon after the second in command of the Dera Saccha Khand Baland (a Sikh school of thought), Sant Ramanand and Sant Niranjan Dass were invited to deliver a sermon at the Gurudwara. They were allegedly assaulted by at least six followers of the other Gurudwara belonging to upper-class Sikhs.

More than 20 persons were injured in the attack. Sant Ramanand, 57, later succumbed to injuries in a hospital. The condition of Sant Niranjan Dass, 68, was described as stable after he underwent emergency surgery. As soon as the news of death of Sant Ramanand reached India, mass scale destruction of Indian public and private property followed by rampaging casteists. Two trains and an automobile showroom with more than a dozen cars were torched in Jalandhar. Mobs damaged government and private property in Jalandhar, Patiala, Nawanshahr, Banga, Moga, Nakodar, Ferozepur and Gurdaspur. The police resorted to cane-charging and burst teargas shells to disperse a mob that damaged vehicles at the bus station and ransacked commercial property near the Hall Gate in Amritsar. Rail traffic on the Delhi-Jammu, Delhi-Amritsar and the Ferozepur sectors was disrupted.

This property did not belong to NRIs who reside in Vienna, who were the root cause of the violent incident. The property belonged to India. Then why should we Indians, bear the brunt of what happens in foreign countries and over which we have no control?The answer is the multi-headed Indian dragon of casteism which is spreading its tentacles in India. The Vienna incident is ample proof of this. Says Vivek Kumar, who teaches sociology in JNU, "Caste has moved beyond India with the Indian diaspora as the latter does not move as individuals but takes its cultural baggage along. There is growing evidence that caste is showing its face in other countries." In 2001, India had to fight back a determined and coordinated bid by NGOs in Durban conference to recognise casteism as racism. The move came in the run-up to two-day review of Durban racism conference last month taking India by surprise when once again it was pleaded that casteism should be equated with universal racism . The Indian stand on the controversial issue has been that while caste system prevalent in India is a form of discrimination, casteism is an Indian phenomenon and it cannot be equated with racism, citing its constitutional commitment against casteism as proof of its credentials. With this argument, the Indian government is said to have rebuffed a fresh offensive from Scandinavian countries, strongly contending their stand on caste-race parity.

However, does one need greater proof than the intra-Sikh violence which is primarily on account of deep-rooted casteism in the Indian mindset and shows that Indians are unable to shrug off their caste discrimination even though they, after immigration, live in progressive and liberated social environment in countries like Canada and the UK. If Indians can't leave their dirty mindset behind in India before embarking on their journey to foreign countries for greener pastures, and fight among themselves, then what can the Indian Government and the Indian public do?We suffer for our actions in India and we also suffer for people who left this country. Why?