Chapter 1- Historic Bonds.

Among the religions of Indian origin, Hindu, Jain, Buddhist and Sikh, there is perhaps more in common between Hindu and Sikh teachings than any other two religions.

No two religious communities are bound together with numerous bonds as are Hindus and Sikhs. Both for instance firmly believe in Karma, re-birth and Mukti (MOKSHA). Although Sikhism has rejected the Hindu pantheon of gods and goddesses, caste system and ritualism, yet Sikhs have always defended, at times with their blood, Hindu rituals, their preferences and prejudices. Guru Teg Bahadur's unparalleled sacrifice of his head to protect the sacred thread and the forehead mark of the Hindus is inscribed in the psyche and history of both communities. Sikhs may not have worshipped the cow yet treated it as no less than a sacred animal. Many Sikhs lost their lives in opposing the British reintroduction of cow slaughter in Amritsar in late 19th century. Maharaja Ranjit Singh went on record for having banned cow slaughter not only in Punjab but even ordered its ban in the Islamic land of Afghanistan, and he asked for and secured the return of the doors of Hindu Somnath temple, looted eight centuries earlier by Muhamud of Gazni. The same Sikh Maharaja gifted six quintals of gold for the Hindu temples of Benares, golden canopies for Jawalamukhi and Kangra temples and financed the repairs of the Vishwanath temple and its jewel-studded icon. To rescue a Brahmin's daughter, Sikhs fought a bitter battle with the Nawab of Kasur when over 500 Sikhs lost their lives. Sikh sacrifices for the oppressed have few parallels in history. The universally applicable scriptures of the Sikhs, 'Adi Granth' incorporates hymns of sufis and saints from Islam and Hinduism regardless of caste and creed. All the names, sacred to Hindus (Ram, Hari, Govind, Gopal, Thakur, Prabhu, Ishwar, Siva, Brahma, Indra) are repeated in Adi Granth time and again. Guru Gobind Singh, the founder of Khalsa wrote epics of Ramayana and Mahabharat under the titles of Ramavtar and Krishnavtar. His eulogising the exploits of Chandi as a warrior (not as a goddess) is well known.

Chapter 2 - Concern in Indian Society

There is indeed a lot in common between the two religions and it is not very uncommon to see that one brother may be a Hindu and the other a Sikh, living in the same house and respecting each other's religion. I for example, a Sindhi, following (like most other Sindhis do) Guru Nanak's traditional humble teachings for their simplicity in his message of truth and love embedded in his devotional hymns incorporated in the Sikh Adi Granth.

We, the overseas Indian citizens, Sindhis, Sikhs and other Hindus alike, are indeed most disturbed and concerned at the present Hindu-Sikh tension in Punjab and Haryana and feel the need to probe the reasons which have led to the prevailing conditions of mistrust, hate, jealousy and rivalry between the two communities in comparison with their brotherly relationship in the past and its scope in the future. Accordingly, I, on behalf of the Indian Merchant Association, U.K. and Mr. S. R. Iyengar, formerly a journalist and now an industrialist in Lagos, Nigeria, left for a preliminary study to report back our findings to various U.K. Associations. We prepared this report after spending considerable time in verifying the facts behind the complaints which we heard.

After arriving in India, we spent some days in Amritsar and Jullunder meeting various leaders, including Sant Bindranwale and Sant Langowal. There was total freedom of movement for every one, even inside the campus where leaders live. We kept our objective restricted to studying the reasons leading to the present-day Hindu-Sikh tension and Sikh rejection of being called a sect of Hinduism or a section of Hindu Society. Mr. S. R. Iyengar got down to serious study of fundamental causes Ieading to today's serious problems.

Chapter 3 - The Conflict

It did not take us long to trace the roots of this conflict way back to over thirty years ago, at the time when perhaps not even one Hindi daily paper existed in the East Punjab, when suddenly a vast majority of Punjabi Hindus influenced by Arya Samaj, Jan Sangh and local R.S.S, falsely claimed to be Hindi speaking almost overnight .

Thus they acted against strong advice from R.S.S. national leader Golwalker who pleaded to Punjabi Hindus to acknowledge Punjabi language as their mother tongue. The census results made the Sikh population in the state the sole custodian of Punjabi language, thus resulting in the declaration of Punjab as a bi-lingual state, in which Sikhs retained their Punjabi language and Hindus alienated themselves from the Sikhs by adopting the Hindi language of which the majority then had little knowledge, if any. This unfortunate development saw the beginning of friction between the two communities. Thus Punjabi Hindus became responsible for creating a bilingual Punjab state by disowning Punjabi as their language and yet forcefully and unjustifiably resisted the formation of Punjabi-suba on linguistic basis causing the delay of 10 years; this resulted in avoidable frustration and numerous agitations among the Sikh population of Punjab. Thus the language tussle of Hindi and Punjabi apparently took the shape of religious rivalry between the Hindus and the Sikhs. One Akali leader questioned: Why was the linguistic Punjab the very last state to be formed? Was it not due to discrimination against the Sikhs? Or, was it because our Suba agitation was too peaceful compared to the violent linguistic demonstrations elsewhere in the country?

Chapter 4 - Religious Jealousy

Replying lo my question of present day Hindu-Sikh relationship, Sant Langowal explained that when Zail Singh, as Punjab Chief Minister, named a secondary road as Guru Gobind Singh Marg, he was strongly criticised by Punjabi Hindus, in spite of their knowledge that Guru Gobind Singh (and so also his four children and his father) was born, lived and died for the protection of the Hindus. Comparing the situation, Iyengar commented that in Maharashtra, no one could dare dream of opposing the naming of Shivaji Marg. (Four days later, I had the privilege of meeting President Zail Singh in Rashtrapati Bhavan who confirmed that there indeed was unfortunate opposition to his naming of Guru Gobind Singh Marg).

Citing another example of communal jealousy against the Sikhs, Longowal explained that a few years ago, on the four hundredth anniversary of the city of Amritsar, Sikhs obtained permission from the Railway Board to display a picture of Guru Ramdas at the railway station as a 'Founder of the city of Amritsar'. Upon this, there was an immediate reaction from city Hindus, who brought in a few unauthorised pictures of Hindu Yogis and demonstrated against the Guru Ramdas picture. Sant Langowal added that by rival action of this kind, Hindus in Punjab certainly make it very obvious that in their view Sikh Gurus were not Hindus. We went to witness the pictures at the station, which are there for everyone's verification. He narrated similar other incidents and added that religious jealousy and communal rivalry from the Northern Hindus against the Sikhs has gone a long way towards pushing us into a separate race of the Sikhs within India.

Chapter 5 - Sikh Patriotism and National Contribution

Langowal then referred to the Government's decision to reduce the Sikhs in the Army to less than two per cent and attributed it to continued discrimination and distrust against the Sikhs, who have not only proved to be among the very best soldiers in the country's defence, but also carry the most outstanding and the most distinguished record during the freedom struggle. Quoting from a report of Maulana Abdul Kalam Azad, he provided us with the following figures: Out of two thousand one hundred and and twenty five martyrs, one thousand five hundred and fifty (seventy five per cent) were Sikhs. Out of two thousand six hundred and forty six, deported to Andaman (Kalapani) two thousand one hundred and forty seven (eighty per cent) were Sikhs. Out of one hundred and twenty seven Indians who were sent to the gallows, ninety two (eighty per cent) of them were Sikhs. In Subash Bose's Indian National Army of twenty thousand, twelve thousand were Sikhs. Not only did India's two per cent Sikhs make by far the highest contribution to the country's freedom, but they also maintained the same tempo even after the independence of the country. Today, more than one third of the country's population lives on the grain produced and supplied from the land of Punjab, which was a grain deficit state with its barren lands at the time of partition of the country

The most important stride that the nation has made since freedom was the 'green-revolution', which is in the main a Sikh contribution from Punjab State, in which the investments from Central Government have been less than one per cent of the National Budget. In spite of this impressive track record of diligence, courage and patriotism, Sikhs have been the victims of continued discrimination and suspicion since Independence. Firstly, the government denied the linguistic status of Punjabi-speaking state, a basic constitutional right enjoyed by all other communities in the country. When at last the Suba was formed after fourteen years of frustrating and humiliating delay, we were again deliberately deprived of a 'capital for the state' and some Punjabi speaking districts. Besides, Central Government took control of our state's power and water supply headworks. Why was Punjab the only state to be discriminated against, on these counts? Is it a coincidence or is it because it happens to be the land of the Sikhs? One of his aides added that it is this basic discrimination against the Sikhs which alienates the Punjabi-speaking race from the rest of lndian society. Sant Langowal condemned the recent unwarranted and inhuman police firing on 4th April 'Rasta Roko' agitation, killing 24 innocent peaceful Satyagrahis. He strongly resented the Government's suggestion of a foreign hand in the Akali movement. He condemned violence and strongly rejected Khalistan theory which, he said, was a ghost movement. A one-man hoax of Jagjit Singh Chauhan receiving undue and deliberate publicity by the press and the Government to discredit the Sikhs and their patriotism and to frustrate a peaceful Morcha for fair demands. He said, it is a well known fact, that Sant Bindranwale and his Dal-Khalsa were brought into politics by the Congress to confront the Akali party. He explained that the word Nation is a mistranslation of the word quom. He explained, India is a Nation of various races and quoms. Sikhs are one of them. On Hindu-Sikh conflict, he said our demands and Morcha are directed to the Government. Instead of joining us for mutually beneficial demands, the Punjabi Hindus started confronting our Morcha and played cry-wolf to turn our non-Punjabi Hindu brothers away from us. I would strongly welcome and support a committee to investigate the factions responsible for the present day Hindu-Sikh tension in Punjab and Haryana.