Sikhism officially rejects India’s caste system, but the murder of a Sikh religious leader at a Vienna temple is believed to have been motivated by caste-based prejudice. The mayhem in Vienna sparked rioting in Punjab state, northwest India.

Dalits in Vancouver have denounced the killing, calling it an act of terrorism.

Outraged by the killing of their spiritual leader Sant Rama Nand by Sikhs opposed to his sect in Vienna, the Ravidassia community of Canada has called it an act of terrorism and violation of their right to worship .

Considered to be one of their largest groups anywhere in the West, the Canadian Dalits number about 15,000.

Sant Rama Nand, 57, who headed Dera Sach Khand Ballan near Jalandhar, succumbed to his injuries Monday in a hospital after he was attacked by a group of knife-wielding Sikhs inside a gurdwara in Vienna.
[…]
Paying tributes to their sect leader at a candle-light vigil here Monday night, the Ravidassia community – who refuse to be called Dalit Sikhs – said the killing of of [sic] their saint was “the negation” of the Sikh spiritual values.

“The shooting of preachers is an act of terrorism and an attack on democracy and on people’s right to worship,” said Michael Ghirra, president of the local Shri Guru Ravidass Sabha.

Sant Rama Nand was a preacher in the Ravidassia sect of Sikhism whose followers are mainly from lower-class social groups. He is said to have been killed by upper-caste Sikhs who opposed the opening of the Ravidassia temple in Vienna.

Canada’s Ravidassia community appeals for calm in Punjab and urges the governments of India and Austria to bring the perpetrators to justice.

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Tags: Austria, India, Injustice, Sikhism
Filed under: Asia-Pacific, Canada, Non-Christian Religions
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