Four Sikhs – Paramjit Singh of Amritsar, Simarjit Singh and Jaspal Singh of Sanghe village, and Manavdeep Singh of Deenewale village – were arrested on 27 June for making “derogatory remarks against Jesus Christ”. The Christian protestors indulged in violence, pelting stones on buses and burning tires on the national highway. After an orgy of mob violence, they gave a two-day ultimatum to the administration to arrest the Sikhs, who they claimed had “blasphemed against” their deity Jesus.

After the arrests of the Sikhs, “bishop P J Suleman, who was flanked by representatives of various Christian organisations, including Punjab Christian Movement (PCM), said they were satisfied with the police action in this case” (‘Christians call off protests after arrests in video episode’, Indian Express, 28 June).

This is not the first time that the Christian community in Punjab has angrily reacted to the “blasphemy” of Sikhs against their god. On 22 May 2001, Satnam Singh, a 70-year-old lawyer, was arrested for his book on Sikhism. It had a chapter on Jesus in which the Christian deity was depicted in an unfavourable light. That was in the 1999 edition of the book. In the 2001 edition, the objectionable passages had been edited out. Even then the Christian leaders were not satisfied. They demanded the arrest of the author. Satnam Singh was arrested and, after he got bail, later offered to apologise, though the Christian leaders questioned his sincerity (Christianity Today, 1 June 2001).

The confrontation between Sikhism and Christianity is neither sudden nor relegated to isolated events. In fact, the reaction of Sikhs, which had attracted media attention in a highly unfavourable manner, is the result of Christian invasion and evangelical war on Sikhs that spans the last two centuries.

Sabu Mathai Kathettu, a Christian evangelist from Operation Mobilisation (deceptively abbreviated as “OM”), published in 2009 a report assessing Christian evangelical work in Punjab. Published by one of the apex protestant institutions in India with global connectivity, the Indian Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge (ISPCK), the book provides not just a historical account but also the theological position and methodology for conversion of Sikhs to Christianity. It shows the kind of monumental global adversary against which are pitted the rural Sikhs of Punjab.

The book’s author is well aware of the incompatibility of the fundamental tenets of Sikhism with those of Christianity. This has even created a hurdle in approaching the Sikhs, he points out: