Year 2022: Panthic Regrouping and Revival is Part of Sikh History
In 1953 late S Khushwant Singh predicted: By the end of the century, the Sikhs themselves will have passed into oblivion (Preface to The Sikhs 1953). Whilst Khushwant Singh misjudged the historical resilience of the Sikh Qaum to survive, he was right to point to the challenges which lay ahead.
I am reminded of that prediction on reading Challenges of the year 2022, the editorial of the January Issue of The Sikh Review, Kolkata, India, by S. Partap Singh (DIG Retd). Although, he concludes on a positive note, the article is a stark reminder of the state of the Panth today which should be a matter of concern for the global Sikh community.
The article lists the challenges faced by the Sikhs since 1947. They were forced to migrate from West to East Punjab followed by Sikh migration from Burma (now Myanmar) in 1959. Sikh farmers have been displaced within own country, India. S Partap Singh reminds us of the massive exodus of Sikhs in 1984 and genocide of the Sikhs which followed with migrations to Europe, North America, and Canada seeking political asylum for the safety and security of their lives due to oppression, killings of youth in fake encounters, and kidnapping for ransom by police forces in Punjab&hellip..The horrors of those dark days (third Ghallughara) are still fresh in the minds of victim families and the general public. It is refreshing that S. Partap Singh, an ex-senior police officer himself, does not mince his words when referring to state terrorism in Panjab.
While Sikhi is opposed to the oppressive caste system, the practice continues amongst the Sikhs. The result is that the lower castes are lured away from Sikhi by gurudoms, derawadis and Christian missionaries. Conversions to Christianity in Punjab have increased massively. Sikh parcharaks lack the education and missionary zeal to respond to the falsehood about Sikhi being spread by non-Sikh preachers often in Sikhi sarup! Meanwhile, vast Sikh resources are being wasted on marble-clad, gold-plated Gurdwaras as Sikh heritage buildings and artefacts are being neglected or destroyed. Neglect of duty by the politicised office-holders of the great Sikh institutions is central to the present sad state of Panthic affairs.
We are warned that if the current decline in the Sikh population in Punjab from 59 percent to around 53 percent continues, Sikhs may become a minority in their own homeland, Punjab, within the next ten years. Yet, Sikh history and the recent success of the popular India-wide farmers protest led by Panjabi Sikh farmers reminds us that the Sikh qaum has a remarkable capacity to regroup, revive and survive to defy predictions of extinction. The Sikhs derive their strength from their inherited egalitarian Sikhi values of sewa, sharing and Sarbat da bhalaa.
Quite instinctively, the Sikhs stand up for the downtrodden, the poorest and the most disadvantaged groups wherever they live. That is how, by own example, Sikhs attract converts and not necessarily by sending out missionaries to actively seek converts. Sikhi values are in their genes. That is how Panjabis, Sikh and non-Sikh, live in the Name of the Gurus. Historical evidence of survival after each ghalugharas (holocausts) gives us hope even if external and internal challenges seem overwhelming sometimes. Let the Sikhi spirit of Chardhi Kalaa prevail in Year 2022.
Gurmukh Singh OBE
Principal Civil Servant Retd