The Sikh Diaspora Global Diasporas Series Editor: Robin Cohen
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The Sikh diaspora Global diasporas Series Editor: Robin Cohen The assumption that minorities and migrants will demonstrate an exclusive loyalty to the nation-state is now questionable. Scholars of nationalism, international migration and ethnic relations need new conceptual maps and fresh case studies to understand the growth of complex transnational identities. The old idea of “diaspora” may provide this framework. Though often conceived in terms of a catastrophic dispersion, widening the notion of diaspora to include trade, imperial, labour and cultural diaporas can provide a more nuanced understanding of the often positive relationships between migrants’ homelands and their places of work and settlement. This book forms part of an ambitious and interlinked series of volumes trying to capture the new relationships between home and abroad. Historians, political scientists, sociologists and anthropologists from a number of countries have collaborated on this forward-looking project. The series includes two books which provide the defining, comparative and synoptic aspects of diasporas. Further titles, of which The Sikh diaspora is the first, focus on particular communities, both traditionally recognized diasporas and those newer claimants who define their collective experiences and aspirations in terms of a diasporic identity. This series is associated with the Transnational Communities Programme at the University of Oxford funded by the UK’s Economic and Social Research Council. Already published: Global diasporas: an introduction Robin Cohen New diasporas Nicholas Van Hear Forthcoming books include: The Italian labour diaspora Donna Gabaccia The Greek diaspora: from Odyssey to EU George Stubos The Japanese diaspora Michael Weiner, Roger Daniels, Hiroshi Komai The Sikh diaspora The search for statehood Darshan Singh Tatla © Darshan Singh Tatla 1999 This book is copyright under the Berne Convention. No reproduction without permission. All rights reserved. First published in 1999 by UCL Press UCL Press Limited 1 Gunpowder Square London EC4A 3DE UK This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2005. “To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or Routledge’s collection of thousands of eBooks please go to www.eBookstore.tandf.co.uk.” The name of University College London (UCL) is a registered trade mark used by UCL Press with the consent of the owner. British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data are available ISBN 0-203-98260-6 Master e-book ISBN ISBN: 1-85728 300-7 (Print Edition) HB 1-85728-301-5 (Print Edition) PB Contents Foreword by the Series Editor viii Preface x List of tables xii Maps xiii Introduction xvii Theoretical issues xviii Scope of the study xxiv 1 The Sikhs: the search for statehood 1 A sect, a community or a nation? 1 The making of Sikh ethnic consciousness 3 The colonial encounter 5 Under the postcolonial state 10 Search for statehood: the dilemma 18 Indian nationalism: perils of a nation-state 22 2 The Sikh diaspora: a history of settlement 27 The colonial era 29 The postcolonial era 39 Post-1984 emigration: Sikh refugees 42 Conclusion 45 3 The Sikh diaspora and the Punjab: dialectics of ethnic 47 linkages vi Economic linkage 47 Social exchange 50 Religious tradition 57 Diaspora: a creative site? 63 4 The Sikh diaspora and the Punjab: political linkages 67 Early links 68 Post-1947 associations 73 Issues of mobilization 82 5 Demand for homeland: Sikhs in North America 92 Main organizations 94 Mobilization 100 6 Demand for homeland: Sikhs in Britain 113 Main organizations 114 Mobilization 119 7 Mediating between states: Sikh diplomacy and 130 interstate relations Indian government and the Sikh diaspora 131 Indo-British relations and the Sikhs 132 Sikh diplomacy and Indo-us relations 138 Indo-Canadian relations and the Sikh lobby 144 International organizations 152 Conclusion 153 8 Call of homeland: models and reality of ethnic 154 mobilization Parameters of mobilization 155 Discourse on the Sikh homeland 163 The impact of the critical event 166 vii Conclusion 177 Appendices 180 Notes 192 Glossary and abbreviations 245 Bibliography 249 Index 273 Foreword by the Series Editor There are about 16 million Sikhs worldwide, the great majority of them located in the Indian sub-continent. Those who live abroad, about one million people, are concentrated in just three countries —Britain, Canada and the USA. However, the overseas Sikhs are a distinctive presence in many places. Indeed Sikhs seem to go to a lot of trouble to make themselves visibly different and recognizable. Nearly always, the Sikh surname is “Singh”, meaning “lion”. The men wrap their uncut beards and heads in turbans, they carry a comb, wear a steel bracelet, and sometimes wear soldier’s breeches with a ceremonial sword. Such “social markers” are a deliberate display—indication that many Sikhs do not want to go down the paths of assimilation or unthinking integration. Such distancing is very much part of the life of Sikhs “at home” and abroad. The expression “at home” refers particularly to the Punjab, where most Sikhs live, among other peoples and without a homeland of their own. Some scholars (for example Dusenbery 1995:18–19) suggest that their Punjabi identity (in terms of culture, language and sense of place) was more important than their specifically Sikh identity for much of their history. Certainly like some other population groups (the Jews come to mind) it is often difficult to decide whether the Sikhs are a religious community, an ethnic group, a nation, a people or even a sect. This ambiguity makes any discussion of the Sikhs particularly enriching to those interested in transnational communities. We are, however, particularly fortunate in having the issue of social definition met head- on by Darshan Singh Tatla in this account. As Tatla makes clear, we need to add history to morphology. While they remained a separate community, only a few of the Sikhs abroad identified themselves with the political project of constructing a national homeland, known as Khalistan. But this was to change dramatically in 1984 when the Indian government sent in troops to the ix Golden Temple in Amritsar to dislodge some protestors demanding statehood. The temple was the symbolic centre of Sikhdom and the Indian government could hardly have selected a more sensitive target. As Tatla notes, this episode invites comparison with the destruction of the temple of Solomon. Suddenly the idea of a ethno-nationality with a state of its own flared up and redefined the nature of Sikhdom. Is this new affirmation of a territorial nationalism sufficient cause to consider the Sikhs a diaspora? As Tatla shows, at least one key component of a conventional definition of “diaspora” is missing. Unlike the Hindu community who often emigrated as indentured labourers, the Sikhs were “free” migrants. They often provided the auxiliaries to the British in their colonial expansion— as troops or train drivers, for example. But Sikhs in trade or agriculture soon augmented the early travellers and settlers. Characterizing such a diverse group as a diaspora can always be challenged, yet the expression does seem to evoke many of the precognitions and behavioural patterns of Sikh settlers in foreign climes. They retained a strong sense of community, related to their “homeland” (vague as that concept was for much of their history), reaffirmed their religious beliefs and rallied around when their heartland seemed to be under attack. Covering the Sikhs in all their principal areas of settlement, this book has been based on a comprehensive interpretation of published accounts, pamphlets and newspapers. The author has also conducted many interviews in pursuit of his interest. Having worked on his subject for many years, Tatla has an unrivalled command over the sources for this study. One can hardly imagine a more thorough account of an important and arresting theme— the Sikhs abroad and their search for statehood. I am delighted to commend this engaging book to the reader. Robin Cohen Series Editor Preface This study is part of a growing literature on the role of diaspora communities in the international arena. In working out this narrative of the Sikh diaspora, I have drawn upon many studies and charted some fresh avenues. In doing so, I have drawn upon many sources for data and upon testimonies of many individuals and leaders of various organizations mentioned in the study. Although I have rarely used such testimony without a corroborative written source, such informal talks were extremely useful in gauging the emotional cultural environment of the Sikh diaspora. In Britain, talks were held with Dr Jagjit Singh Chohan, Gurmej Singh Gill, Avtar Johal, Ajit Singh Khera, Dr Jasdev Singh Rai, Ranjit Singh Rana, Balbir Singh, Balwinder Singh, Gurdeep Singh, Gurmail Singh, Joga Singh and Dr Pargat Singh. In the United States, Dr Gurmeet Singh Aulakh, Ajit Singh Bainipal, Didar Singh Bains, Sher Singh Kanwal, Dr Karamjit Singh Rai, Dr Sukhmander Singh were very helpful. In Canada, talks with Pritam Singh Aulakh, Darshan Gill, Ravinder Ravi, Daljeet Singh Sandhu, Kesar Singh, Narinder Singh, Satindarpal Singh and Uday Singh yielded many insights. I am especially indebted to Ranjit Singh Hansra, Kuldip Singh, and Jawala Singh Grewal as my North American hosts. For extensive consultation of the Punjabi media, I owe thanks to many, but especially to the late Tarsem Singh Purewal, editor of Des Pardes, Tara Singh Hayer, editor of the Indo-Canadian Times, and M.S.Sidhu at World Sikh News. At Berkeley I was able to consult the Gadr collection with Dr Kenneth Logan’s help. The Centre for Research in Ethnic Relations at the University of Warwick, where this study began, provided much impetus by exchange of ideas among many research students and teachers.