Sikh Nationalism : From a Dominant Minority to an Ethno-Religious Diaspora

278 Pages·2021·2.666 MB·English

by  Gurharpal Singh, Giorgio Shani

Sikh Nationalism
This important volume provides a clear, concise and comprehensive
guidetothehistoryofSikhnationalismfromthelatenineteenthcentury
to the present. Drawing on A. D. Smith’s ethno symbolic approach,
GurharpalSinghandGiorgioShaniuseanewintegratedmethodology
to understand the historical and sociological development of modern
Sikh nationalism. By emphasising the importance of studying Sikh
nationalism from the perspective of the nation building projects of
India and Pakistan, the recent literature on religious nationalism and
theneedtointegratethestudyofthediasporawiththeSikhsinSouth
Asia, they provide a fresh approach to a complex subject. Singh and
ShanievaluatethecurrentconditionofSikhnationalisminaglobalised
worldandconsiderthelessonstheSikhcaseoffersforthecomparative
studyofethnicity,nationsandnationalism.
GurharpalSinghisEmeritusProfessorofSikhandPunjabStudiesatthe
School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. His
publicationsincludeThePartitionofIndia(2009),SikhsinBritain:The
MakingofaCommunity(2006)andEthnicConflictinIndia:ACaseStudy
ofPunjab(2000).
GiorgioShaniisProfessorandChairoftheDepartmentofPoliticsand
International Studies at International Christian University in Tokyo,
Japan.HeistheauthorofReligion,IdentityandHumanSecurity(2014)
andSikhNationalismandIdentityinaGlobalAge(2008).
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Sikh Nationalism
From a Dominant Minority to an Ethno-Religious
Diaspora
Gurharpal Singh
SchoolofOrientalandAfricanStudies,UniversityofLondon
Giorgio Shani
InternationalChristianUniversity
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www.cambridge.org
Informationonthistitle:www.cambridge.org/9781107136540
DOI:10.1017/9781316479940
©GurharpalSinghandGiorgioShani2022
Thispublicationisincopyright.Subjecttostatutoryexception
andtotheprovisionsofrelevantcollectivelicensingagreements,
noreproductionofanypartmaytakeplacewithoutthewritten
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Firstpublished2022
AcataloguerecordforthispublicationisavailablefromtheBritishLibrary.
LibraryofCongressCataloginginPublicationData
Names:Singh,Gurharpal,author.|Shani,Giorgio,1970 author.
Title:Sikhnationalism:fromadominantminoritytoanethnoreligiousdiaspora
/GurharpalSingh,GiorgioShani.
Description: Cambridge ; New York : Cambridge University Press, 2022. |
Series:Newapproachestoasianhistory|Includesindex.
Identifiers:LCCN2021017207(print)|LCCN2021017208(ebook)|ISBN
9781107136540(hardback)|ISBN9781316479940(ebook)
Subjects:LCSH:Sikhnationalism.|Sikhdiaspora.|Sikhs Politicalactivity.|
Sikhs Socialnetworks.
Classification:LCCDS432.S5S47642022(print)|LCCDS432.S5(ebook)|
DDC908.8/2946 dc23
LCrecordavailableathttps://lccn.loc.gov/2021017207
LCebookrecordavailableathttps://lccn.loc.gov/2021017208
ISBN9781107136540Hardback
ISBN9781316501887Paperback
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Contents
ListofMaps pagevi
ListofFigures vii
ListofTables viii
Acknowledgements ix
ListofAbbreviations xi
Glossary xii
Introduction 1
1 UnderstandingSikhNationalism 8
2 SikhismandtheSikhsuptothe1890s 31
3 TheEmergenceofModernSikhNationalism,
1880s–1930s 52
4 ThePartitionofIndiaandtheSikhs,1940–1947 82
5 TheIndianUnionandtheSikhs,1947–1984 110
6 Militancy,AntiterrorismandtheKhalistanMovement,
1984–1997 132
7 SikhNationalismintheAgeofGlobalisation
andHindutva,1997tothePresent 163
8 TheDiaspora 189
Conclusion 211
Timeline 219
Appendix:AnandpurSahibResolution 222
References 229
Index 253
v
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Maps
2.1 ThePunjabunderSikhrule,1799–1849 page43
3.1 BritishIndia,1947 72
4.1 CompetingclaimsbeforethePunjabBoundaryCommission
bytheCongress,theSikhsandtheMuslimLeague 101
4.2 ThePunjabBoundaryAward1947andthepercentageofthe
SikhpopulationinthePunjabbydistrictandintheSikh
princelystates 103
5.1 ThePunjabafterNovember1966 124
vi
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Figures
2.1 KeylandmarksinthedevelopmentofSikhismandtheSikhs,
1469–1873 page32
2.2 TheGoldenTemple 33
2.3 MaharajaRanjitSingh 44
2.4 SikhsoldiersmarchingdownTheMall,ledbytheirofficers,
duringQueenVictoria’sdiamondjubileecelebrationsin1897 49
3.1 Sikhreligioussub-identities 62
3.2 The‘Sikhpoliticalsystem’ 65
3.3 KhalsaCollege,Amritsar 70
3.4 ThePunjabpoliticalsystembefore1947 71
6.1 TheAkalTakhtafterOperationBlueStar 134
6.2 Anti-SikhriotsinDelhi,1984 136
6.3 ArmedSikhgroups 147
8.1 SikhprotestinHydeParkafterthestormingoftheGolden
TemplebytheIndianArmy 197
8.2 HMQueenElizabethIIduringavisittotheGuruNanak
GurdwarainLeicester(2002)ontheoccasionofhergolden
jubilee 206
vii
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Tables
1.1 Summaryoftheliteratureonethnicityandnationalism
andtheSikhs page14
2.1 Summaryoftheethno-symbolicheritageofSikhnationalism 51
3.1 Summaryofthestructural,religiousandpoliticaldivisions
amongtheSikhs 80
4.1 Estimatesofcasualtiesofpartitionviolence 105
5.1 SADdemands,governmentsandoutcomes,1947–1984 120
6.1 Rajiv-LongowalAccord,1985 138
6.2 PunjabLegislativeAssemblyelections,September1985 139
6.3 ImplementationoftheRajiv-LongowalAccordupto2020 140
6.4 LokSabhaelectionsinthePunjab,November1989 150
6.5 PunjabLegislativeAssemblyandLokSabhaelections,
February1992 155
6.6 PunjabLegislativeAssemblyelections,February1997 159
7.1 PunjabLegislativeAssemblyelections,2002–2017 172
8.1 GeographicaldistributionoftheSikhdiaspora 192
8.2 GurdwarasoutsideofIndia,2019 192
8.3 MainSikhnationalistorganisationsinthediasporainthe
1980sand1990s 198
9.1 MappingSikhnationalisminthetwenty-firstcentury 214
viii
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Acknowledgements
Thisworkhasbeenlonginthemaking.Thenumberofpeoplewhohave
supportedusovertheyearsistoonumeroustomention.Ourmaindebtis
to colleagues in the fields of ethnicity and nationalism and Sikh studies
whohaveprovideduswithacademicandmoralsupport.Specialmention
needstobemadeofthelateAnthonyD.SmithandJohnRex,whowere
thefirsttoencourageustocompletethiswork.Inaddition,wenoteour
long-term indebtedness to the following: Paul R. Brass, Brendan
O’Leary, Khachig Tölölyan, Robin Cohen, Ian Talbot, Arvind-Pal
S. Mandair, Christopher Shackle, J. S. Grewal, Indu Banga, Darshan.
S.Tatla,JoycePettigrew,VerneDusenbery,KatharineAdeney,Harihar
Bhattacharyya,SurinderS.Jodhka,PalAhluwalia,TomLyne,Mustapha
KamalPasha,JohnHutchinson,AtsukoIchijoandBalbinderBhogal.
Members of the Sikh community in the diaspora (United Kingdom,
Canada,UnitedStates,France,Italy,SingaporeandMalaysia)andIndia
gave freely of their time and support. Their generosity and kindness
remain unmatched and we give warm acknowledgement of their help.
Forobviousreasons,unlessmentionedinthetext,mostremainanonym-
ous.Wethankthemanyjournalists,commentators,administrators,offi-
cial spokespersons and politicians, both in India and overseas, whose
insightscontributedtotherichnessofourwork.Again,unlessspecifically
mentioned,theyremainanonymous.
Wewouldliketorecordourappreciationofallthosewhoparticipated
inthe‘WhatIsHappeningtoSikhEthno-nationalism?’workshopheldat
theUniversityofBirminghamon28and29May2009.Someoftheideas
thatflowedfromthediscussionstherehavematuredandnowinformthis
work.MarigoldAclandandLucyRhymerofCambridgeUniversityPress
deservespecialmentionforkeepingtheirfaithinus.Wehopethewaithas
beenworthwhile.
Wegratefullyacknowledgethehelpandsupportoflibrarystaffatthe
SchoolofOrientalandAfricanStudiesandtheSenateHouseLibraryat
the University of London, British Library of Political and Economic
Science, British Library, National Army Museum, Sikh Reference
ix
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x Acknowledgements
Library, Golden Temple, Amritsar, Bhai Khan Singh Nabha Library,
UniversityofPatialaandtheCentreforSouthAsianStudies,University
of Cambridge. Nick Schweitzer, Raghujit Kaur, Satnam Singh Deol,
Jugdep Chima and Nadhra S. N. Khan deserve particular mention for
theirhelpandsupportintheproductionofthefigures,mapsandtables.
Our special thanks go to the two external readers who made many
helpful suggestions on the first draft. We are particularly indebted to
BrendanO’Leary for ameticulous readingof the manuscript,insightful
commentsandhelpingustoensurethattheworkappealsbeyondthecore
South Asian readership. Richard Fynes also kindly read the manuscript
andsavedusfrommanyembarrassments.Anyerrorsoffactorinterpret-
ationareofcourseoursoleresponsibility.
This is not a joint book in the conventional sense. Singh wrote the
Introduction,Chapters3,4,5,6,7andtheConclusion,andShaniwrote
Chapters1and8.Chapter2waswrittenjointly.Followingthefirstdraft,
themanuscriptwasthoroughlyrewrittenbySingh,whoalsopreparedthe
volume for production with the tables, figures and maps and the index,
andsecuredthecopyrightpermissionfortheprintsandthemaps.
A work on Sikh nationalism is unlikely to be received uncritically or,
indeed, even to be welcomed by some. This perhaps explains why the
subjectsofarhasavoidedseriousscrutiny.Wehaveattemptedtoprovide
asociologicallyinformedhistoricalperspectivethatwehopewillappealto
the specialist and general reader alike and be of interest to students of
ethnicity,nationsandnationalisms.
Finally,GurharpalSinghwishestothanktheLeverhulmeTrustforthe
award of Research Fellowship number RF-2018–064/6 for ‘A World
TurnedUpsideDown:SikhsandthePartitionofIndia’.Thesupportof
the Trust is gratefully acknowledged in contributing to the research for
thepublicationofthiswork.
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