Year 2024: Year of Diaspora Sikhs
Year 2024 marks the 40th anniversary of the Third Ghalughara of 1984 which lasted for 10 years in Panjab. In 2024, court cases for alleged Indian state plots to kill Sikh activists in Western countries are ongoing. India equates demands for a Sikh homeland called Khalistan, with terrorism. That is not a view shared by Western democracies. Western governments have reacted sharply to such amateurish plots to kill their Sikh citizens. Self-determination is a lawful legal right of all peoples for which democratic processes are available to test viability. In the meantime, current Indian administration appears to be scoring own goals at home and abroad.
Paradoxically, mainstream news spotlight has been on Sikhs in Western countries due to disproportionate Indian state reaction to Sikh activism. There is greater awareness of Sikh religion and issues. First Sikh successes of earlier generations in achieving senior appointments have been repeated by next generations in all fields, including politics, in geometrical progression. Today, Sikh diaspora is a success story.
A full identity Sikh, Ajaypal Singh Banga was appointed President of the World Bank by President Biden in June 2023. It seems President-elect, Donald Trump, also recognises the importance of the Sikhs as part of the US plural society. He recognises the global importance and contribution of Sikh religion mentioned by him in a message, and, by implication, the Sikhs as a theo-political entity in own right. He has appointed a devout Sikh, Harmeet Kaur Dhillon, to a top Justice Department job as Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights.
Harmeet recited Ardas at the Republican National Convention in July this year. Regrettably, according to one Sikh source, the Indian government controlled media is condemning her nomination as she has been highly critical of the Indian government&rsquos transnational repression, persecution of Sikhs in Punjab, her backing for the farmer&rsquos protest in India and speaking up for Sikh rights following the 9/11 attack.
In the meantime, news of Indian corruption scandals abound and farm policy, if any, continues to be mis-managed at home, bearing in mind that farming is by far the most important employment field in the country.
Panjab has been isolated from India at Haryana border, ostensibly to stop farmers proceeding to Delhi. This is a very short-sighted and damaging move for the unity of India. It is also doing immense damage to longer term Sikh interests and, together with the Hindutva nationalist agenda, fuelling Sikh self-determination sentiments.
Looking at Panjab,apparent general prosperity in the state gives a false impression of the true position against agro-economics and environmental indicators. It is like the false impression of a man falling from a 100 storey skyscraper who is heard saying as he passes the 70th floor: so far so good!
It is sad that much damage to Indian and Sikh interests continues to be done in India. Contrary to what Indian politicians in power would like to believe, after the show-casing of India during the G20 summit in September 2023, the global image of the country has suffered in year 2024. The most glaring mistake is the treatment of the Sikh homeland of Panjab, a sensitive border state dependent on farming. Other states do depend on farming but not quite in the same way. The agro-economic and environmental issues of Panjab are unique in some ways as is the Sikh positioning in India.
Sikh stories of Panjab and the diaspora continue, one of increasing concern, the other of a distinct successful global community.
Gurmukh Singh OBE
Principal Civil Servant retd (UK