Friday, January 17, 2025
Islamabad (News International / Pakistan Point News - 17th January, 2025 ) Despite constituting less than two percent of India's population, Sikhs play a significant role in the manufacturing sector as well as providing food security to the country. According to the National Family Health Survey, Sikhs are the richest among religious groups. About 60 percent of Sikh families are prosperous and have modern means of living.
Like Manmohan Singh, a large population of his community suffered greatly after the Partition of India, but within two decades, they stood on their feet again. This is perhaps the distinguishing feature of this community, otherwise, after suffering so much and migrating on a large scale, hardly any other community has been able to stand on its feet in such a short period of time.
Sikhs and Muslims were the most affected by the Partition of India and the subsequent communal riots.
They had to leave their ancestral properties and homes and build new homes.
Sikhs had to leave the fertile lands in Punjab and find a future in unfamiliar cities in India. India's first Sikh Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh, who passed away recently, is a metaphor for this struggle - finding a new home and then reaching the pinnacle of success - and the traditional Sikh tenacity and endurance.
Sikhs are the only minority in India to have held the most prestigious positions. Apart from Manmohan Singh, who became Prime Minister in 2004, Giani Zail Singh was the President of India, General Joginder Jaswant Singh was the Army Chief, the current Air Chief Marshal A.P. Singh and the only Marshal of the Indian Air Force, Air Chief Marshal Arjun Singh, were also Sikhs.
Sikhs like former Intelligence Bureau (IB) Director Nachchal Sindhu and Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) Chief Amarjit Singh Daulat have proved their mettle by holding positions of national security.
Ever since the Greek king Alexander invaded India in the 4th century BC, Punjab has been a constant target of invading armies. From facing these attacks to contributing the largest contingent to the British Army, Punjab has always been the backbone of the defence system.
Sikhs have endured the partition of the subcontinent, the attack on their holiest place of worship, the Golden Temple, and the communal riots of 1984.
When former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was assassinated by her Sikh bodyguards, her revenge was taken by shedding the blood of innocent Sikhs on the streets of Delhi and other cities of the country. Even the convoy of President Giani Zail Singh was not spared.
Journalist Kuldeep Nayyar writes in his book 'Tragedy of Punjab, Operation Blue Star and After' that Zail Singh's convoy was attacked near the Safdarjung area of Delhi when he was on his way to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, where Mrs. Gandhi's remains were kept.
Few people would know that Manmohan Singh also narrowly escaped that day. A mob was after him.
He was the Governor of the Reserve Bank of India at the time of Mrs. Gandhi's assassination. He had come from Mumbai to pay his last respects to Mrs. Gandhi. He then went to his house in Ashok Vihar in Delhi to spend the night and invited his son-in-law Vijay Tankha and daughter to his house.
Late at night, a mob gathered outside and started raising slogans to burn the house and throw the Sikhs out and kill them. His son-in-law went out and told the mob that the house really belonged to a Sikh, but he had bought it several months ago, and that he was a Hindu. After much persuasion, the mob agreed to leave, or perhaps they had found another victim.
According to Manmohan Singh's biography, written by his daughter Daman Singh, the most surprising thing was that the priest of the nearby temple was also among the mob and was inciting the mob. After the mob left, Manmohan Singh was taken to the airport in the dark of night, from where he left for Mumbai early in the morning.
According to retired bureaucrat Ramesh Inder Singh, the struggle to deal with such incidents has taught Sikhs discipline.
“When India was practically begging the world for food, the farmers of Punjab took up the challenge,” says political analyst Sarabjit Dhaliwal. Within a few years, a green revolution took place and India became self-sufficient in food grains.
Experts say that this rapid growth of the Sikhs is related to their faith, which has been passed down since the time of the Sikh gurus.
The foundation of the Sikh faith is based on hard work, cooperation, social justice and gender equality.
Manmohan Singh lost his mother in childhood and was raised by his grandparents. His grandfather was killed during Partition, with whom he had a very close relationship. His family had come to India with just a few rupees in their pockets to make a new start. In Hoshiarpur, they used to do their homework under street lampposts, because there was no electricity or money to light a lamp at home.
His early years and his political career came with their own challenges. But in the end, he left behind a proud legacy, of which India will always be proud.
It is the geography of the region and the Sikh teachings that do not allow any adversity to overwhelm the Sikhs. Sociologist Harvinder Singh Bhatti says, “The entire Punjab region, up to Afghanistan, was traditionally a tribal region.
In the case of the Sikhs, religious teachings transformed this tribal community into a spiritual community.”
It is this quality of the Sikhs that compels them to fight against all kinds of oppression. From Alexander to the recent protests against the Emergency imposed by Indira Gandhi and now the agricultural laws brought by the Narendra Modi government, the Sikhs raised their voice against all of them.
Interestingly, out of the 1.4 lakh people arrested during the Emergency, 43,000 were Sikhs.
Sikhism tells its followers to never give up on personal and social life. Sikhism is strongly against monasticism and being a hermit. It is the instruction of every Sikh to live a good life. Earn money for yourself and feed others and share your wealth with the society.
This is probably why it is difficult to ignore the presence of Sikhs, despite constituting just 0.4% of the world's total population.
Note: The opinions expressed in any DW Urdu blog, comment or column are the personal opinions of the author, with which DW is not necessarily bound to agree.
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