The Sikh Diaspora: The Search for Statehood - Vidhia.com

20 THE SIKHS: SEARCH FOR STATEHOOD
For students of nationalism, it is hardly surprising the community’s past
traditions and history are being manipulated by the Sikh elite as they
seek hegemony in politics and other spheres of social life. The Sikh elite
has persistently contested the Indian govern ment’s powers to define its
agenda by questioning state control over radio and television, the
promotion of Hindi at the expense of Punjabi, 34 official conventions
such as “Shri”, “Shrimati”, instead of community conventions such as
“Sardar” and “Sardarni”, the subsuming of the Sikh marriage custom
under the Hindu Marriage Act of 1955, and the community’s
inheritance customs under the provision of the Hindu Code Bill. The
community’s alternative conventions compete with official innovations
of a “national anthem”, “greeting”, honours and patronage of arts and
literature. 35 This is seen even more firmly in the sphere of “national
memories”. Despite daily indoctrination through the media and through
holidays, monuments and museums, all intended to create new
“national heroes” to forge an Indian identity among various
nationalities, the Sikh peasantry seems to have stubbornly refused to
exchange its “Punjab heroes” (Gillis 1994: 8). Thus, portraits of Punjabi
heroes at the Sikh museum in Amritsar contrast sharply with “Indian
nationalist” heroes commemorated in state museums. Numerous
gurdwaras in the memory of Sikh martyrs act as “arresting emblems of
the modern cultural nationalism” (Anderson 1983:17), while statues of
Gandhi and other Indian leaders, officially patronized, pale against the
immensely popular heroes such as Ranjit Singh, Kartar Singh Sarabha,
Bhagat Singh and others. That the minority narratives are likely to
become mere footnotes in “national narratives” is a powerful reminder
for gaining “national status”. 36 Above all, the Akal Takhat, destroyed
and rebuilt, stands both as the rival centre of cultural power and a
testimony to the state’s callous disregard for Sikh sentiments. The
community’s psychology and social condition in the periods before and
after 1984 are best summed up by two poets. Before 1984 the mood was
relaxed and the nation was “half asleep at her guru’s feet” (Mahboob
1990). But the events of 1984 seared the trust that had been built for
centuries: 37
Slowly, and surely, the wounds will heal
broken hearts reconciled
new agreements reached, and differences minimized
But the unsaid trust that existed before
has gone, and gone forever.