The recent clashes in a Vienna gurudwara revealed the growing tensions between the Dalit Ravidasi community and certain orthodox sections of the Sikh community in Europe.
The Ravidasis are not Sikhs but the teachings of guru Ravidas are mentioned in the Guru Granth. Growing disputes between gurudwaras in Europe often have roots in homeland politics and caste differences.
Some gurudwaras put up photos of Bhindranwale. And some Dalits have Ambedkar in their gurudwaras.
This is just one ideological flashpoint in Vienna. European gurudwaras, both mainstream and Ravidasi, collect annual donations worth hundreds of thousands of euros. Ravidasi dera leader Niranjan Das who survived the recent attack by hardliners raises up to 100,000 euros of funds in a single half-hour appearance at a gurudwara.
Members of the Ravidasi community in Austria are being able to afford increasingly better standards of living, growing self esteem they are also asserting for their own space but the caste divide runs deep.
Naresh Kumar, a Ravidasi, came to Austria 21 years ago. He started out washing dishes in restaurants but now he has a farm outside Vienna on leased land worth a million euros. But miles and years away from his roots, the caste conflict remains a harsh reality for him.
"We are neither this side or that. Neither the Hindus nor the Sikhs support us," he says.
Many affluent Ravidasis today employ upper cast Punjabis in their businesses -- a kind of role reversal. That may just have worsened the caste conflict in recent years.
