The horrifying murder of Lakhbir Singh, the man who was tortured, mutilated and tied upside down close to the farmer protest site at the Singhu-Kundli border has sent shockwaves around the country. The brutality meted out on him, reportedly by the Nihang Sikhs, has once again brought to fore the violent nature of the farmers’ protests that have been going on around the Delhi borders since last November.
The ruthless murder of Lakhbir Singh, Dalit labour from the Cheema Khurd village, has also inevitably called to attention the latent issue of Hindu-Sikh tensions. Contrary to the popular beliefs and notion, the discord between the Hindus and Sikhs is not a recent phenomenon, triggered by former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi’s audacious move to send in troops inside the Golden Temple to flush out the Khalistani terrorists or her assassination by her Sikh bodyguards that touched off a violent bout of anti-Sikh pogrom in its wake. Instead, the strife between Hindus and Sikhs is more than a century old, long before India had attained independence.
In February 1924, Congress leader Jawaharlal Nehru wrote a letter to the Secretary of PCC, Punjab, acknowledging the frosty relations between Hindus and Sikhs in Amritsar. Nehru was so concerned about the animosity that existed between Sikhs and Hindus that he even remarked that it had the potential of spilling into an issue as serious as Hindu-Muslim discord.
In his letter, Nehru suggests PCC Secretary take urgent steps to achieve a detente between the two groups. He even suggested the secretary and Shiromani Gurudwara Prabhandhak Committee (SGPC) nominate a small committee of Hindus and Sikhs to iron out the differences and settle everything.
In another letter to KM Panikkar on 3 March 1924, Nehru reminds him of the “unfriendly relations” between the Hindus and Sikhs. Nehru stresses the need to get the correct facts of the Akali agitation out in the public domain, insinuating that an insidious campaign to foment strife between Hindus and Sikhs was underway.
Nehru had also asked Panikkar to induce Hindu and Sikh newspapers to tamp down on rhetorics and refrain from hurting each other so that an amicable understanding could be achieved between the two communities.
“Both of them want to put an end to the present undesirable state of affairs but each is afraid of lowering its prestige by taking the first step. I wish a private and informal conference between a few Sikhs and Hindus could take place. This would be helpful,” Nehru lamented in his letter.
In April 1924, Nehru had penned another letter to Panikkar in which he squarely blamed Sikhs for the undesirable relation between Hindus and them.
“The Sikhs have been largely to blame. There have been times when a generous word or gesture from them would have brought over the Hindus to them. But they did not care to make it. Their movement is largely a separatist movement so far as religion is concerned and this has naturally reacted in the social and political sphere,” Nehru said in his letter.
He also blamed the Akalis for their arrogance and indifference towards the sentiments of Hindus. According to Nehru, Sikhs were not bothered enough to settle their differences with Hindus.
“The almost general belief amongst the Hindus that the Akalis are arrogant and in their pride do not care for the feelings and sentiments of the Hindus is not without foundation. Sikhs have not been keen enough to win the Hindus in spite of their professions,” Nehru had said.
Jawaharlal Nehru and Sikhs
The hostility between Sikhs and Hindus did not arise in a vacuum. There were many layers to the issue of rising animosity between the two communities. The Khalistani proponents, the refusal of the two communities to make amends over their past disputes, the growing distrust on each other and the disastrous roles of the politicians, who used the antagonism between the two communities to derive short-term political gains were all responsible for stoking the fire of dissension between the two communities. Indeed, fate provided enough opportunities for the politicians to resolve the crisis but instead of ending the conflict, the discord between Hindus and Sikhs was further exacerbated.
Jawaharlal Nehru himself shares a large portion of the blame for the continuing strife between Hindus and Sikhs after India’s independence. He betrayed Sikhs after assuring them that their identity and culture will be protected and preserved in India. This was one of the reasons why Sikhs did not join hands with Khalistani supporters who were demanding a separate Khalistan for the Sikh minority. They assumed that Nehru’s assurances meant that a Punjabi speaking Sikh majority state will be created. However, Nehru continued to delay the creation of such a state even though he himself favoured the formation of states on linguistic lines.
East Punjab (West Punjab had gone to Pakistan) continued to be how it was under the British and it was technically not a Sikh majority or Punjabi speaking region because it included Haryana and parts of Himachal Pradesh, where Hindus were in majority and they spoke Hindi. Punjab state as we know it today – Sikh majority and Punjabi speaking – came into existence in 1966, 2 years after Nehru’s death and 19 years after independence.
While Nehru was in power, numerous attempts and demands were rejected. On one occasion, Golden Temple was raided too during protests for the creation of the linguistic state of Punjab. This resulted in resentment among many Sikhs quite early. Though not as serious as Operation Bluestar, this was seen as Sikhs not being given their due by Nehru who had promised to do so.
Thus, quite clearly, the Sikh leaders had plenty of reasons to feel betrayed due to the conduct of the Congress party under Jawaharlal Nehru at the time. It is undeniable that Nehru made a promise and then backed away from it for whatever reason, which provided a fertile ground for radicalism to take root and thrive. Nehru had committed a series of follies during his rule but this was arguably his most expensive mistake as far India’s internal security was concerned.
Note: Nehru’s letters have been accessed from the Jawaharlal Nehru Memorial Fund (JNMF). Congress president Sonia Gandhi is currently the chairman of JNMF.
