Sikh Diaspora
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The Sikh diaspora is the modern
Sikh Sikhs (singular Sikh: or ; , ) are an ethnoreligious group who adhere to Sikhism, a religion that originated in the late 15th century in the Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent, based on the revelation of Guru Nanak. The term ''Si ...
migration from the traditional area of the
Punjab region Punjab (; ; also romanised as Panjāb or Panj-Āb) is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia. It is located in the northwestern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising areas of modern-day eastern Pakistan and no ...
of
South Asia South Asia is the southern Subregion#Asia, subregion of Asia that is defined in both geographical and Ethnicity, ethnic-Culture, cultural terms. South Asia, with a population of 2.04 billion, contains a quarter (25%) of the world's populatio ...
.
Sikhism Sikhism is an Indian religion and Indian philosophy, philosophy that originated in the Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent around the end of the 15th century CE. It is one of the most recently founded major religious groups, major religio ...
is a religion native to this region. The Sikh diaspora is largely a subset of the
Punjabi diaspora The Punjabi diaspora consists of the descendants of ethnic Punjabis who emigrated out of the Punjab region in Pakistan and India to the rest of the world. Punjabis are one of the largest ethnic groups in both the Pakistani and Indian diasporas. ...
. The diaspora is commonly accepted to have begun after the fall of the
Sikh Empire The Sikh Empire was a regional power based in the Punjab, Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent. It existed from 1799, when Maharaja Ranjit Singh captured Lahore, to 1849, when it was defeated and conquered by the East India Company, Br ...
in 1849 and the empire's subsequent annexation into
British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance in South Asia. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one form or another ...
. The onset of the Sikh diaspora is represented by
Duleep Singh Maharaja Sir Duleep Singh (6 September 1838 – 22 October 1893), also spelled Dalip Singh, and later in life nicknamed the "Black Prince of Perthshire", was the last ''Maharaja'' of the Sikh Empire. He was Maharaja Ranjit Singh's youngest son ...
, the last emperor of the Sikhs, who was forced into exile by the British. Starting with this event, the rate of Sikh migration from Punjab has remained high and included a number of international destinations.


Religion

With more than 25 million worldwide, Sikhs are adherents of the fifth-largest religion in the world. The 2011 Indian census reported approximately 20 million Sikhs living in India. Of these, 16 million, or 76% of all Indian Sikhs, live in the northern state of
Punjab Punjab (; ; also romanised as Panjāb or Panj-Āb) is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia. It is located in the northwestern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising areas of modern-day eastern Pakistan and no ...
, where they form 58% of the population. Substantial communities of Sikhs also live in the Indian states and union territories of
Haryana Haryana () is a States and union territories of India, state located in the northern part of India. It was carved out after the linguistic reorganisation of Punjab, India, Punjab on 1 November 1966. It is ranked 21st in terms of area, with les ...
,
Rajasthan Rajasthan (; Literal translation, lit. 'Land of Kings') is a States and union territories of India, state in northwestern India. It covers or 10.4 per cent of India's total geographical area. It is the List of states and union territories of ...
,
Uttar Pradesh Uttar Pradesh ( ; UP) is a States and union territories of India, state in North India, northern India. With over 241 million inhabitants, it is the List of states and union territories of India by population, most populated state in In ...
,
Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, but spread chiefly to the west, or beyond its Bank (geography ...
,
Himachal Pradesh Himachal Pradesh (; Sanskrit: ''himācāl prādes;'' "Snow-laden Mountain Province") is a States and union territories of India, state in the northern part of India. Situated in the Western Himalayas, it is one of the thirteen Indian Himalayan ...
,
Maharashtra Maharashtra () is a state in the western peninsular region of India occupying a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau. It is bordered by the Arabian Sea to the west, the Indian states of Karnataka and Goa to the south, Telangana to th ...
,
Bihar Bihar ( ) is a states and union territories of India, state in Eastern India. It is the list of states and union territories of India by population, second largest state by population, the List of states and union territories of India by are ...
,
Uttarakhand Uttarakhand (, ), also known as Uttaranchal ( ; List of renamed places in India, the official name until 2007), is a States and union territories of India, state in North India, northern India. The state is bordered by Himachal Pradesh to the n ...
, and Jammu and Kashmir. The states of Maharastra and Bihar are home to the two important Sikh Takht of
Hazur Sahib ''Hazur Sahib'' (; ), officially ''Takht Sachkhand Sri Hazur Abchalnagar Sahib'', is one of the Panj Takht, five takhts (religious centres) in Sikhism. The gurdwara (Sikh house of worship) was built between 1832 and 1837 by Maharaja Ranjit Sin ...
and Patna Sahib, respectively. The Canadian province of
British Columbia British Columbia is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Situated in the Pacific Northwest between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains, the province has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that ...
was home to close to 300,000 Sikhs as of 2011.


Historical migration patterns

The Sikhs as a political entity, distinct from other Indian traditions, can be said to have begun with the martyrdom of the fifth Sikh Guru, Arjan Dev, in 1606. Sikh distinction was further enhanced by the 1699 establishment of the Sikh brotherhood, or
Khalsa The term ''Khalsa'' refers to both a community that follows Sikhism as its religion,Khalsa: Sikhism< ...
(ਖ਼ਾਲਸਾ), by Gobind Singh. This gives the Sikhs, as an organized political grouping, a relatively recent history of around 400 years. Migrations during the era of the gurus were limited to the boundaries of modern-day India and
Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...
, and in particular, restricted to the Sikh tribal heartland of the
Punjab region Punjab (; ; also romanised as Panjāb or Panj-Āb) is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia. It is located in the northwestern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising areas of modern-day eastern Pakistan and no ...
.The development of the
Sikh Confederacy The Sikh Confederacy was a confederation of twelve sovereign Sikh states (each known as a Misl, derived from the Arabic word مِثْل meaning 'equal'; sometimes spelt as Misal) which rose during the 18th century in the Punjab region in the n ...
and the rise of the
Sikh Empire The Sikh Empire was a regional power based in the Punjab, Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent. It existed from 1799, when Maharaja Ranjit Singh captured Lahore, to 1849, when it was defeated and conquered by the East India Company, Br ...
(1716–1849) led to Sikhs migrating to conquered parts of their empire, such as
Ladakh Ladakh () is a region administered by India as a union territory and constitutes an eastern portion of the larger Kashmir region that has been the subject of a Kashmir#Kashmir dispute, dispute between India and Pakistan since 1947 and India an ...
and
Peshawar Peshawar is the capital and List of cities in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa by population, largest city of the Administrative units of Pakistan, Pakistani province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. It is the sixth most populous city of Pakistan, with a district p ...
. However, these migrations were limited, transitory, and unsustained, depending on the empire's fluctuating boundaries. During the reign of the Sikh Empire, there was a net cultural immigration, with Napoleonic and British influences vying for the 'ear' of the then-Sikh maharajah
Ranjit Singh Ranjit Singh (13 November 1780 – 27 June 1839) was the founder and first maharaja of the Sikh Empire, in the northwest Indian subcontinent, ruling from 1801 until his death in 1839. Born to Maha Singh, the leader of the Sukerchakia M ...
.


Annexation of the Punjab

Sikh migration from Punjab began in earnest in the second half of the 19th century, when the
British Raj The British Raj ( ; from Hindustani language, Hindustani , 'reign', 'rule' or 'government') was the colonial rule of the British The Crown, Crown on the Indian subcontinent, * * lasting from 1858 to 1947. * * It is also called Crown rule ...
had successfully completed its annexation of the
region In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as areas, zones, lands or territories, are portions of the Earth's surface that are broadly divided by physical characteristics (physical geography), human impact characteristics (human geography), and ...
. The pivotal action in the British annexation was the lifetime exile of the then-eleven-year-old maharaja,
Duleep Singh Maharaja Sir Duleep Singh (6 September 1838 – 22 October 1893), also spelled Dalip Singh, and later in life nicknamed the "Black Prince of Perthshire", was the last ''Maharaja'' of the Sikh Empire. He was Maharaja Ranjit Singh's youngest son ...
, making him the first (albeit unwilling) member of the Sikh diaspora. Although a largely secular figure who did little for the Sikh body politic, Axel (2001)''A review of The Nation's Tortured Body: Violence, Representation, and the Formation of the Sikh "Diaspora"'' by Brian Keith Axel . Pub. by Duke University Press (2001). argues that Singh's exile has had a major impact on the Sikh diaspora psyche. Axel says that Singh is the archetypal "tragic hero" figure in Sikh culture, "a King without a Kingdom, a Sikh separated from his people". Having annexed the
Sikh Empire The Sikh Empire was a regional power based in the Punjab, Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent. It existed from 1799, when Maharaja Ranjit Singh captured Lahore, to 1849, when it was defeated and conquered by the East India Company, Br ...
, the British preferentially recruited Sikhs in the
Indian Civil Service The Indian Civil Service (ICS), officially known as the Imperial Civil Service, was the higher civil service of the British Empire in India during British Raj, British rule in the period between 1858 and 1947. Its members ruled over more than 3 ...
and, in particular, the
British Indian Army The Indian Army was the force of British Raj, British India, until Indian Independence Act 1947, national independence in 1947. Formed in 1895 by uniting the three Presidency armies, it was responsible for the defence of both British India and ...
, which led to the migration of Sikhs to different parts of British India and the
British Empire The British Empire comprised the dominions, Crown colony, colonies, protectorates, League of Nations mandate, mandates, and other Dependent territory, territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It bega ...
. Semiskilled artisans were transported from the Punjab to British
East Africa East Africa, also known as Eastern Africa or the East of Africa, is a region at the eastern edge of the Africa, African continent, distinguished by its unique geographical, historical, and cultural landscape. Defined in varying scopes, the regi ...
to help in the building of railways, while many Sikhs found themselves in
Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...
, working as
ghans Afghan cameleers in Australia, also known as "Afghans" () or "Ghans" (), were camel train, camel drivers who worked in Outback Australia from the 1860s to the 1930s. Small groups of cameleers were shipped in and out of Australia at three-ye ...
, or cameleers, and as labourers on cane plantations.


20th century

Sikhs made tremendous contributions to Punjab from 1857 to 1947, including founding the city of
Rawalpindi Rawalpindi is the List of cities in Punjab, Pakistan by population, third-largest city in the Administrative units of Pakistan, Pakistani province of Punjab, Pakistan, Punjab. It is a commercial and industrial hub, being the list of cities in P ...
. Sikh agricultural and entrepreneurial skills brought prosperity to
Sheikhupura Sheikhupura (Punjabi language, Punjabi / ; ) also known as Qila Sheikhupura, is a city and district in the Pakistani province of Punjab, Pakistan, Punjab. Founded by the Mughal Empire, Mughal Emperor Jahangir in 1607, Sheikhupura is the List of ...
,
Sialkot Sialkot (Punjabi language, Punjabi, ) is a city located in Punjab, Pakistan. It is the capital of the Sialkot District and the List of most populous cities in Pakistan, 12th most populous city in Pakistan. The boundaries of Sialkot are joined ...
,
Jhelum Jhelum (; , ) is a city, located along the western bank of the Jhelum River, in Punjab, Pakistan. It is the 21st largest city in Punjab and 31st largest in Pakistan, by population. Located in northern Punjab, it serves as the capital of the ...
,
Multan Multan is the List of cities in Punjab, Pakistan by population, fifth-most populous city in the Punjab, Pakistan, Punjab province of Pakistan. Located along the eastern bank of the Chenab River, it is the List of cities in Pakistan by populatio ...
,
Sargodha Sargodha (Punjabi language, Punjabi/; ; ) is a city and capital of Sargodha Division, located in Central Punjab, central Punjab, Pakistan, Punjab, Pakistan. It is Pakistan's List of most populous cities in Pakistan, 11th most populous city and ...
, Gujrat,
Ludhiana Ludhiana () is the most populous Cities in India, city in the Indian state of Punjab, India, Punjab.164.100.161.224 http://164.100.161.224 › filesPDF Ludhiana State: Punjab Business & Industrial Centre, Tier 2 1 ... The city has an estima ...
,
Amritsar Amritsar, also known as Ambarsar, is the second-List of cities in Punjab, India by population, largest city in the India, Indian state of Punjab, India, Punjab, after Ludhiana. Located in the Majha region, it is a major cultural, transportatio ...
, and Jullundar.
Lahore Lahore ( ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Administrative units of Pakistan, Pakistani province of Punjab, Pakistan, Punjab. It is the List of cities in Pakistan by population, second-largest city in Pakistan, after Karachi, and ...
, the capital of undivided Punjab, had thriving Sikh neighborhoods. The era of peace and prosperity ended in 1947, with the partition of Punjab between India and Pakistan. Sikh communities were practically wiped out from Lahore, Rawalpindi, Multan, Sialkot,
Lyallpur Faisalabad, formerly known as Lyallpur, is the List of cities in Punjab, Pakistan by population, second-largest city and primary List of cities in Punjab, Pakistan by population, industrial center of the Pakistani province of Punjab, Pakistan ...
, Jhelum, Gujrat, Sargodha, Sheikhupura, and other districts of West Punjab. The birthplace of Sikhism, Nankana Sahib, was split away in West Punjab. Millions of Sikhs fled to freedom and safety in
East Punjab East Punjab was a state of Dominion of India from 1947 until 1950. It consisted parts of the Punjab Province of British India that remained in India following the partition of the state between the new dominions of Pakistan and India by the ...
; smaller numbers also fled to Afghanistan. In the 1960s and beyond, many Sikhs migrated to the UK and North America in search of economic opportunities. Some of the Sikhs who had settled in eastern Africa were expelled by Ugandan leader
Idi Amin Idi Amin Dada Oumee (, ; 30 May 192816 August 2003) was a Ugandan military officer and politician who served as the third president of Uganda from 1971 until Uganda–Tanzania War, his overthrow in 1979. He ruled as a Military dictatorship, ...
in 1972. Sikhs are traditionally an agrarian community, and with the pressures of having only a limited amount of land, high birth rates, and the desire to make a better living, male offspring of Sikh farmers were encouraged to migrate to foreign countries, with significant Sikh communities becoming established in the Philippines, Canada, the UK, US, Malaysia, East Africa, Australia, and Thailand.


Khalistan movement

Axel (2001) argues that the Sikh diaspora community, having established themselves in foreign countries, began to fetishize the past and nurture idealized designs for their 'lost and imaginary' Sikh empire. This came to fruition to a certain degree with the establishment of Indian Punjab in 1966 as a Sikh-majority state. However, Tatla (1998) argues that the marginalization and sense of grievance that Indian Sikhs were facing due to
Indira Gandhi Indira Priyadarshini Gandhi (Given name, ''née'' Nehru; 19 November 1917 – 31 October 1984) was an Indian politician and stateswoman who served as the Prime Minister of India, prime minister of India from 1966 to 1977 and again from 1980 un ...
's heavy-handed tactics were amplified in the Sikh diaspora. Subsequently, the Sikh diaspora, especially in south Vancouver, Canada, and the UK, became willing suppliers of logistical and financial support when the organic agitation for a separate Sikh nation, Khalistan, began in the late 1970s. The actions taken by the Indian government to counter the Sikh separatist movement, via 1984's
Operation Blue Star Operation Blue Star was a military operation by the Indian Armed Forces conducted between 1 and 10 June 1984 to remove Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale and other Sikh militants from the Golden Temple (Harmandir Sahib), a holy site of Sikhism, and i ...
, had a seismic effect on the Sikh diaspora. Axel (2001) argues that the desecration of the Sikhs' holiest shrine, Harimandir Sahib, and the following Sikh pogrom in which thousands of Sikhs were massacred, led to a resurgence in Sikh religiosity and a strengthening of ties with their Sikh brethren in Punjab. Diaspora Sikhs felt betrayed by India, and the events of 1984 defined their Sikhism and underlined a distinct commonality shared with other diaspora Sikhs. Mark Tully describes Operation Blue Star as the Sikhs' 9/11. This was certainly the case for diaspora Sikhs, who in the main could only watch on in horror as the events of 1984 played out on TV. In 1971, Jagit Singh Chohan, an ex-minister in a short-lived government of Akali dissidents, saw an alignment of like-minded Sikhs. Chohan placed a half-page advertisement in ''The New York Times'' on 12 October 1971, making several claims about Punjab as a Sikh homeland. However, Chohan won little sympathy from ordinary Sikhs. Tatla summarises the change in Sikh diaspora community leaders post-1984 a being a "painful transition from a self-confident community with haughty discourse, to the self-defensive strategies of a vulnerable minority". Organisations such as the International Sikh Youth Federation, the Babbar Khalsa, and the Council of Khalistan emerged within the diaspora, and these agencies rallied against "Hindu imperialism" or "Indian nationalism" and lobbied to join the Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization, aligning the Sikh cause with other ethnic groups seeking freedom, citing cases of Jews, Palestinians,
Kurds Kurds (), or the Kurdish people, are an Iranian peoples, Iranic ethnic group from West Asia. They are indigenous to Kurdistan, which is a geographic region spanning southeastern Turkey, northwestern Iran, northern Iraq, and northeastern Syri ...
, Balochis, Kashmiris, and Sri Lankan Tamils. Another organization, by the name of Sikhs for Justice, headquartered in New York, which surfaced roughly in 2014, has campaigned for the cause using activities like #BurnTheTricolour. Axel (2001) argues that the history of the Sikh diaspora, its psyche of grievance, and the violence inflicted on it, means that the notion of the Sikh diaspora as a community today inevitably converges on the notion of Khalistan. In addition to this, Axel points out the "nightmare" scenario facing the Sikh diaspora: the Indian state "demands" the "Unity-in-Diversity" model of ''rashtriya ekta'' (national integration), which Axel contends is signified by "the denial of difference through surrender, assimilation and integration".


Sikh identity today

Whilst the rate of Sikh migration from Indian Punjab has remained high, traditional patterns of Sikh migration that favored English-speaking countries, particularly the United Kingdom, have changed in the past decade due to factors such as stricter immigration procedures. Moliner (2006) states that as a consequence of the "fact" that Sikh migration to the UK had "become virtually impossible since the late 1970s", Sikh migration patterns altered to continental Europe. Italy has now emerged as a fast-growing area for Sikh migration, with
Reggio Emilia Reggio nell'Emilia (; ), usually referred to as Reggio Emilia, or simply Reggio by its inhabitants, and known until Unification of Italy, 1861 as Reggio di Lombardia, is a city in northern Italy, in the Emilia-Romagna region. It has about 172,51 ...
and the
province of Vicenza The province of Vicenza (; ) is a province in the Veneto region of Italy. Its capital city is Vicenza. The province has an area of 2,722.53 km2, and a total population of 865,082 (as of 2017). There are 113 ''comuni'' (municipalities) in th ...
being areas of significant Sikh population clusters. Italian Sikhs are generally involved in the areas of agriculture, agro-processing, machine tools, and
horticulture Horticulture (from ) is the art and science of growing fruits, vegetables, flowers, trees, shrubs and ornamental plants. Horticulture is commonly associated with the more professional and technical aspects of plant cultivation on a smaller and mo ...
. Canada has maintained a liberal immigration policy, and the Sikh community there is the largest in proportion to the country's population, even above India (2.1% of Canada's population versus 1.7% of India's). The largest North American Sikh community is thought to be located in south
Vancouver Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the cit ...
, British Columbia, and nearby
Surrey Surrey () is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Greater London to the northeast, Kent to the east, East Sussex, East and West Sussex to the south, and Hampshire and Berkshire to the wes ...
. In the post-9/11 era, the Sikh diaspora in Europe and North America stood out as a visible minority often confused with radical Islamic groups because of their turbans. This has included numerous hate crimes targeting Sikhs. France banned turban-wearing Sikh students from publicly funded schools as part of a broader policy originally intended to restrict Muslim headscarves. Western security think tanks have quoted the Air India bombing to justify profiling of Sikh travellers at airports. Countering this train of thought, on 1 October 2017, Canadian politician Jagmeet Singh, a Sikh, was elected leader of the federal
New Democratic Party The New Democratic Party (NDP; , ) is a federal political party in Canada. Widely described as social democratic,The party is widely described as social democratic: * * * * * * * * * * * * * The Editors of ''Encyclopædia Britann ...
, and on 16 January 2018, Gurbir Grewal became attorney general of
New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. Located at the geographic hub of the urban area, heavily urbanized Northeas ...
—the first practicing Sikh in the US to become a state attorney general.N.J. gets first Sikh attorney general in U.S. history
/ref>


See also

*
Sikhism by country Most of the 25–30 million followers of Sikhism, the Major religious groups, world's fifth-largest religion live in the northern Indian state of Punjab, India, Punjab, the only Sikh-majority administrative division on Earth, but Sikhs, Sikh com ...


References


Further reading

* "Twice Versus Direct Migrants: East African Sikh Settlers in Britain" by Parminder Bhachu. Pub. by Clark University (7 April 1990). * "The Sikh Diaspora Search for Statehood" by Darshan Singh Tatla (1998) University of Washington Press. * "Contesting Khalistan, the Sikh diaspora, and the politics of separatism" /Gunawardena, Therese Suhashini. Jan 2001 Thesis (PhD). Pub. by University of Texas at Austin, 2001. Available at: http://repositories.lib.utexas.edu/handle/2152/6181 * "Relational Embodiments of a Sikh Diaspora" by Anjali Gera Roy Pub. by Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, India (2001). Available at https://web.archive.org/web/20070701185828/http://social.chass.ncsu.edu/jouvert/v7is1/gera.htm. * "Sikhs at Large: Religion, Culture, and Politics in Global Perspective" by Verne A. Dusenbery (2008) Oxford University Press. ; * "Sikh Diaspora Philanthropy in Punjab: Global Giving for Local Good" by Verne A. Dusenbery and Darshan S. Tatla, eds. (2009) Oxford University Press. ; * "Sikhs in Latin America: Travels Among the Sikh Diaspora" by Swarn Singh Kahlon (2012) Manohar Publishers and Distributors, New Delhi, India.


External links


The Indian Diaspora
official Government of India website (archived)
Sikh NRI Online
information pertaining to Sikh non-resident Indians worldwide (archived)


Sikh Global Village – Latin America
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sikh Diaspora Indian diaspora by ethnic group
Diaspora A diaspora ( ) is a population that is scattered across regions which are separate from its geographic place of birth, place of origin. The word is used in reference to people who identify with a specific geographic location, but currently resi ...
Diaspora Punjabi diaspora