THE FOURTH WORLD
- NATIONS WITHOUT A STATE
Discourse on the Sikh Homeland
Darshan Singh Tatla
in * The Sikh Diaspora - the Search for Statehood
[* indicates link to Amazon.com
online bookshop]
[see also Khalistan
website ]
"... India of today is a superficial state imposed from above by
the transfer of power from the British Raj and in a sense is a
continuation of that Raj .... several nationalities of India in their
territorial units, which like Khalistan, should be able to form their
own sovereign states of Mahrashtra,
Tamil Nadu, Assam,
Sikkim, Nagaland,
Mizioland, Kerala, and Jamnu
Kashmir come together in a new economic
union as the European Economic Community with full freedom for
self-development in unity and mutual regard for each other... (This) has
become imperative as the only satisfactory primary answer to end the
perpetual conflicts with the underground movements that have constantly
engaged the police and the army in the several nationalist states since
1947 at great economic cost and loss of life.." |
A cursory examination of the Sikh diaspora�s literature
since 1984 provides ample proof of how the �crucial event� in the Golden
Temple has turned a secure ethnic group�s outlook towards a search for a
homeland. The anguish was translated into a cry for �Sikh homeland� and a
need for independence was elaborated; thus Ganga Singh Dhillon pleaded:
We are not looking just for a piece of land. We are looking
for a territory where Sikhs can protect their women and children. Where a Sikh
can become a master of his own destiny - where our religious shrines are not
allowed to be run over by army tanks. You can call it an independent Punjab, a
sovereign state or Khalistan. What we are asking for is a homeland for the
Sikh nation. (Ganga Singh Dhillon - Give us Khalistan and leave
us in peace, Illustrated Weekly of India, 21 July 1985)
A mythological case was advocated by K. S. Sihra, a British
Sikh:
"God gave the Sikhs their land, a rich and fertile
land blessed with much sun and irrigation, the land of five rivers, the
Punjab. . . Maharajah Ranjit Singh gave the Sikhs their state, later handed in
trust, first to the British then to the Hindu raj - but the Sikhs never
surrendered their ultimate sovereignty to any power other than their own.
Today after forty years abuse of their trust, the Sikhs are ready to create
again their independent, sovereign state. (Sihra - The Sikh
Commonwealth1985: 55)
In another book, he set out a charter for the new Sikh state,
and his analysis of contemporary India ran like this:
"...The growing togetherness of the Tamil people,
is but a step in the growth of a larger unity. We know that in the end, national freedom
can only be secured by a voluntary pooling of sovereignties, in a regional, and ultimately
in a world context. ... we recognize that our future lies with the peoples of
the Indian region and the path of a greater and a larger Indian union is the direction of
that future.
It is a union that will reflect the compelling and inevitable need for a common market
and a common defence and will be rooted in the common heritage that we share with our
brothers and sisters of not only Tamil Nadu but also of India. It is a shared heritage
that we freely acknowledge and it is a shared heritage to which we have
contributed and from which we derive strength..." Nadesan
Satyendra at the Thimpu Talks
in 1985 and also in Tamil
Nation & the Unity of India, 2001 |
"It is abundantly clear for all to realize that the India of
today is a superficial state imposed from above by the transfer of power from
the British Raj and in a sense is a continuation of that Raj by trickery and
perversion in many ways and is an un-natural outcome... . several nationalities of India in their
territorial units, which like Khalistan, should be able to form their
own sovereign states of Maharashtra,
Tamil Nadu, Assam,
Sikkim, Nagaland,
Mizioland, Kerala, and Jamnu
Kashmir come together in a new economic
union as the European Economic Community with full
freedom for self-development in unity and mutual regard for each other. The
reorganization of India on the basis of regional ethnic nationalities with
distinct ethnic language and cultural background has become imperative as the
only satisfactory primary answer to end the perpetual conflicts with the
underground movements that have constantly engaged the police and the army in
the several nationalist states since 1947 at great economic cost and loss of
life." (Sihra - Sikhdom, 1985: 10)
Elaborating on the community�s predicament, a Canadian Sikh
S. S. Dharam visualized three alternatives: (a) to accept the status quo, �which
will ensure a certain death for the community�; (b) to campaign for the
Anandpur Sahib Resolution, which would only lead to being �entrapped by the
government�s false promises�; (c) to campaign for an independent homeland.
This last alternative, he suggested, was the �most realistic option�. He
also noted how the 1984 events have contributed to the idea of a homeland:
"The concept of Sikh homeland which appeared to exist only
in imagination has now taken a turn for reality, which will certainly be
attained in due course of time. Khalistan, a dream of some, and fanciful wish
of many, has now become the demand of all Sikhs. The voice of the people is
the voice of God." (S.S.Dharam - Internal and External Threats to Sikhism
1986: 90)
The international platform has also made Sikh leaders aware
of how self-determination for national minorities is an acceptable dialogue. The
WSO and the Council of Khalistan leaders have advocated self-determination for
Sikhs in many resolutions:
"The UN Charter recognises every nation�s right of
self- determination. On the basis of this recognition of the fundamental human
rights of liberty and freedom by the world body, Sikhs living in occupied
Khalistan have the right of self-determination in their homeland. We the
American Sikhs support their just and legitimate demand for self-determination
and renew our solemn pledge to continue to support their just and legitimate
demand by all legal means so that our brothers and sisters living in occupied
Khalistan can also enjoy the same glow of freedom as we enjoy in our great
nation of the United States of America." (Text of Resolution passed at
Sacramento, 28 July 1991)
While a Sikh homeland is meant to create an environment to
safeguard the religious traditions, paradoxically, this theological argument has
also been used to oppose this demand. Gurutej Singh Khalsa (1985: 84), an
American convert to the Sikh faith, asked fellow Sikhs to reconsider their
commitment, as the creation of a Sikh homeland will only restrict the Sikh faith�s
universal appeal:
"This cannot just stop with putting on an
turban and calling for a homeland. True spiritual education is needed. We must
develop public relations tools and skills so as to correct this damaged view
of what a Sikh is. Next, we must seriously bridge this gap between Indian
origin Sikhs and other Western Sikhs. This religion belongs to no one
na�tionality. It is not to be confined to a homeland, for the nature of the
Khalsa is a sovereign, spiritual nation which knows no physical boundaries.
Then this religion will be viewed as a lifestyle that the rest of world not
only wants but has a right to..."
This theological vision would also appeal to some Sikh sects
such as Namdharis, and perhaps to a section of Ramgarhias.
Maluk Singh Chuhan, a British Sikh, was surprised at the mild
tone of the �controversial� Anandpur resolution:
"It describes Sikhs as a religious minority and
protection of religious rights is demanded for the sake of national unity. The
fact is that Sikhs are not a religious minority of the Indian nation. Sikhs
in India are one of the nations of India, India is a multinational country....
The question that Sikhs constitute one of its nations is not negotiable. .. .
it is an internationally known principle that all nations have a right of
self-determination, be they Palestinians, Basques, Jews, Kurds, Welsh or
others."
A liberal vision of Sikh nationalism has come from student
intellectuals. Thus the Khahistan Society at the London School of Economics
called upon all Punjabis, not just Sikhs, to struggle for �freedom,
prosperity, justice, equality, liberty and human rights�. The struggle is for
an �independent Punjab� and for equality for all religious minorities within
its �secular and democratic political system". |