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... is being marked today and I think we as a Panth need to communicate knowledge of Kabir Ji’s shloks in the Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji Maharaj to a greater degree first of all to members of our community but also the significant population of 40million plus Kabirpanthi’s and Julaha’s of India. Before Indira started splintering Sikhs and other allied communities apart many, many Kabirpathi's hept SGGS Ji in their homes. Since we bow down to SGGS Ji i don’t think we as Sikhs should have any worries about accepting the fact "Guru" Kabir Ji and "Guru" Ravidas are fitting terms of respectful address for the two "Bhagats" we hold most dear. This is particularly relevant because the ancestral leatherworking communities across India number 60million strong. Instead of us thinking of these populations that number 100million as a bunch of Hindu’s from UP we need to realise that they are natural Sikhs simply from a poorer non-Punjabi background. The other alternative is to follow the line of how Indira wished to split Sikhs. And in the last 28 years we’ve continued to allowed that to happen. Certain folks whose ancestors were Sikh have now begun to call themselves Ravidassia as opposed to Sikh. When the reality is that all true Sikhs have always been true Ravidassia’s in the true sense from the very beginning way before Indira started funding DSB. Sikhs are already a minority in Doaba (as odd as that might sound to us in the Diaspora where a majority of us have Doaba roots). If all the ancrestral leatherworking population of Malwa and Majha were to suddenly state in the next census of 2021 that they are Ravidassia as opposed to Sikh, it could well be the case that Sikhs would become a minority in Punjab by then. Now we can address this issue by building links with our Ravidassia and Kabirpanthi brothers and sisters in India and ensuring social justice for all historically disadvantaged communities within Punjab or we can continue to take the exclusionary approach of they do not comply with Maryada. Granted, it’s obvious that certain religious institutions do not maintain Maryada but nevertheless conflict and communalisation should be avoided as a result of that like happened in Vienna and Talhan. As far as us Diaspora Sikhs, we need to clamp down hard on those that discriminate and who are (frankly) happy to see bakhre bakhre Gurdware. Punjab vich saaray pind’ah vich koyee bakhre bakhre Gurdware ni honay chai’de thay saaray loki de ghar ik saanjay mohr thay hohnay chy’de ‘ah agar Panchayat wale Sikhi de bhallay vasthay bolan.