The RSS has targetted Punjab as the next state to extend (its) base ... The one state in the north which had  eluded (it) so far ... Punjabi Hindus, particularly those who suffered during partition, are a natural base for the RSS to extend its anti-Muslim bias .; But the Sikhs see themselves as a separate community ... Țo increase (its) potential vote- bank, last year the Sangh expanded the term Hindu to include Sikhs, Jains and Buddhists. Of these, Sikhs hold a dominating position in Punjab and constitute a large minority in Delhi and other states. Using the tri-centenary of the Khalsa Panth, (it) has been actively engaged in organising celebrations. To bring Sikhs under the Hindu umbrella, the RSS chief K.S. Sudarshan has been propagating the idea that the community was a warrior race created to protect the Hindu religion.

The reaction from the Sikh community however is not favourable. Leading Sikh institutions see it as an attempt to subvert Sikh culture and identity and to impose a hegemonistic agenda on the community. The RSS on its part has set up a Rashtriya Sikh Sangat which projects the Khalsa Order as a sect of Hinduism. It argues that the Sikh gurus are descendants of Luv and Kush, sons of Ram. Sudarshan has equated Guru Govind Singh with Hedgewar the founder of the RSS ... Sikh religious leaders are even more annoyed at the "distorted" verses of Guru Govind Singh and the attempt to lure Sikh youths to RSS shakhas. The Sikhs ... cherish their separate identity. They will.not brook any nonsense. If the RSS hopes to rope inthem into their Hindutva agenda using the "Sikhs are Hindus first" argument, they will find the exercise self-defeating.