Carrying of kirpan could be a basic tenet of Sikhism, but you just can’t carry it any where. That’s what 31-year-old Ripudaman Singh found out when he was arrested while visiting the US embassy in Copenhagen in 2004. A court now has upheld his conviction for violating Danish arms laws.
Religious affiliation should be confined home and places of workship. If it spills over to the streets, classrooms and workplaces there is a huge possibility of clashes. And those clashes wouldn’t be just of civilizations, it would be of cultures as well as perceptions. A knife may be a religious symbol, but it is definitely offending for many.
So symbols of offence in the tag of religion breeds animosity in a public place rather than the avowed theme of love and brotherhood which almost all religions claim to propagate and rarely do.
How many Sikhs would you see sporting kirpans in a busy Chandigarh avenue?
So why do you want to flaunt your religious affiliations? The only reason could be that you are unsure of it.
A British Muslim teacher was shown the door for wearing the niqab. The decision was challenged, but a tribunal upheld it.
Similarly, British Airways packed off its employee for wearing a necklace with a cross. Not enough. Rather unfair. Because the airline allows employees to wear bangles, turban and headscarves. Will BA allow a kirpan onboard?
Since anything and everything related to Hindus are symbols, most of them offending for faithless souls, nothing need to be told about that.
Flaunting your religion may not be the ideal thing to do, except some in medieval societies etched in modern history. Like oil rich Saudi. And the lawless, porous Waziristan on the Pak-Afghan border.
Redemption is a long way off.
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