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PASTOR GENERAL'S REPORT, NOVEMBER 2, 1984
India's 15 million Sikhs••.face a dilemma of exactly how to react
to the June 6 Army attack on their Golden Temple.
Fiercely
proud, imbued with tradition, a martial and privileged class, the
Sikhs are clearly outraged and embittered by the assault. And
Indian Prime . M�nister Indira Gandhi, in what� undoubtedly the
greatest pol1t1cal gamble in her� years as premier, appears to
have played straight into the hands of militant Sikhism, across
the length and breadth of this disparate land. Many say she has
even made Sant Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale--a militant Sikh leader
who was largely responsible for creating the crisis that led to
the attack on the Golden Temple--a martyr, as he always wanted to
be.... Mrs. Gandhi has thus placed the moderates in the sikh
political party, the Akali Dal, in an untenable position••••
In terms of votes cast in elections, the Sikhs may not be that vi
tal for Mrs. Gandhi: they are but 2% of India's population of
nearly 700 million.
But the Sikhs have influence far beyond
their numbers, holding top posts in almost every profession.
In the days of the British Empire, when they stood by their colo
nial masters in the "great mutiny" of 1857-58, the Sikhs were
guaranteed a place in the elitist civil and military service--a
position which they continue to retain today, though in smaller
numbers. Sikhs comprise 11% of the country's 960,000-man Army.
They are descendants of the 19th century British "martial class"
that accounted for one-third of the Indian Army fighting on the
Western front in World War I..•.
A proud and martial race, the Sikhs' h olitics and faith are often
rused. 'fFi"'e pa1nt1ngs of "Snhs 1n t e Golden---Y-emp!e' s portrait
gallery are a testament to the ferocity with which these people
have invaded or withstood invasions. Many of the portraits are
splashed with blood-red oils--"a reminder," according to artist
Kirpal Singh [nearly all Sikhs carry the surname of Singh, which
means 1ion] •
Yet farming remains the Sikhs' main livelihood: 80% of them live
off the soil. They are 52% of the �opulation in the Punjab••••
Without the Sikh farmers in the PunJab, Indians would literally
starve.
There is no better land, nor richer harvest, in the
country, than that of the Punjab's 50,000 square kilometers of
land. The state's 9.3 million farmers, 70% of them Sikh, produce
60% of the government's critical stockpiles of food.
The Sikhs are everywhere with their bright, striking turbans and
long flowing beards. [ One million of New Delhi's population of
five million people are Sikhs. ] They drive trucks and taxis from
southernmost Kanyakumari to northernmost Kashmir. They succeed
in many professions. Large numbers are academicians, lawyers,
doctors, and civil servants.
There are no official figures on their numbers in India's still
prestigious civil service and diplomatic corps, but they are in
some front-line positions in India's most eritical embassies
abroad. "Ask a Sikh," wrote Khushwant Singh, the author and Sikh