Mazhabi Sikh (also known as Mazbhabi, Mazbhi, Majhabhi or Majabhi) is a community from Northern India, especially Punjab region, who follow
Sikhism
Sikhism (), also known as Sikhi ( pa, ਸਿੱਖੀ ', , from pa, ਸਿੱਖ, lit=disciple', 'seeker', or 'learner, translit=Sikh, label=none),''Sikhism'' (commonly known as ''Sikhī'') originated from the word ''Sikh'', which comes fro ...
. The word ''Mazhabi'' is derived from the
Arabic
Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic languages, Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C ...
term ''mazhab'' (
Mazhab
A ( ar, مذهب ', , "way to act". pl. مَذَاهِب , ) is a school of thought within ''fiqh'' (Islamic jurisprudence).
The major Sunni Mathhab are Hanafi, Maliki, Shafi'i and Hanbali.
They emerged in the ninth and tenth centuries CE an ...
means religion or sect), and can be translated as ''the faithful''. They live mainly in
Indian Punjab
Punjab (; ) is a state in northern India. Forming part of the larger Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent, the state is bordered by the Indian states of Himachal Pradesh to the north and northeast, Haryana to the south and southeast, and R ...
,
Rajasthan
Rajasthan (; lit. 'Land of Kings') is a state in northern India. It covers or 10.4 per cent of India's total geographical area. It is the largest Indian state by area and the seventh largest by population. It is on India's northwestern si ...
and
Haryana
Haryana (; ) is an Indian state located in the northern part of the country. It was carved out of the former state of East Punjab on 1 Nov 1966 on a linguistic basis. It is ranked 21st in terms of area, with less than 1.4% () of India's land ar ...
.
Origins
When
Guru Tegh Bahadur
Guru Tegh Bahadur ( Punjabi: ਗੁਰੂ ਤੇਗ਼ ਬਹਾਦਰ (Gurmukhi); ; 1 April 1621 – 11 November 1675) was the ninth of ten Gurus who founded the Sikh religion and the leader of Sikhs from 1665 until his beheading in 1675 ...
Mughals
The Mughal Empire was an early-modern empire that controlled much of South Asia between the 16th and 19th centuries. Quote: "Although the first two Timurid emperors and many of their noblemen were recent migrants to the subcontinent, the d ...
in Delhi, Rangreta community member recovered his dismembered body from a
Muslim
Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...
crowd and brought it back to his son,
Guru Gobind Singh
Guru Gobind Singh (; 22 December 1666 – 7 October 1708), born Gobind Das or Gobind Rai the tenth Sikh Guru, a spiritual master, warrior, poet and philosopher. When his father, Guru Tegh Bahadur, was executed by Aurangzeb, Guru Gobind Sing ...
. His name was Bhai Jaita Ji. In recognition of their act, he admitted the untouchables into the
Khalsa
Khalsa ( pa, ਖ਼ਾਲਸਾ, , ) refers to both a community that considers Sikhism as its faith,Kha ...
(the Sikh faith), giving them the name ''Mazhabi'' ("faithful").
Divisions
Within the present-day Mazhabi community, one group calls itself the Ranghreta and claims a higher status on the grounds that one of their ancestors was Bhai Jaita Ranghreta, who carried the head of Tegh Bahadur from Delhi to Guru Gobind Singh in
Anandpur Sahib
Anandpur Sahib, sometimes referred to simply as Anandpur (lit. "city of bliss"), is a city in Rupnagar district (Ropar), on the edge of Shivalik Hills, in the Indian state of Punjab. Located near the Sutlej River, the city is one of the most s ...
On seeing this act of bravery and self renunciation Guru Gobind Singh uttered "Ranghreta Guru ka beta", which means Ranghreta is son of Guru.
The definition of ''Mazhabi'' today is somewhat blurred because of the influence of Valmikism. While Sikhism is in theory an egalitarian faith that takes no notice of caste, gender and other social demarcations, Fenech and Singh note that "there is often a level of hypocrisy between what is taught and what is actually put into practice." Mazhabis are discriminated against by Sikhs whose origins lie with higher-ranked castes and many
Chuhra
Chuhra is a Dalit caste in India and Pakistan. Populated regions include the Punjab region of India and Pakistan, as well as Uttar Pradesh in India, among other parts of the Indian subcontinent such as southern India. Their traditional occupatio ...
s have turned to Valmikism but are still referred to as Mazhabi. While young Valmikis, who accept Valmiki as their guru, increasingly object to being labelled as Sikh, their elders are less concerned. At least one of their organisations, the Valmiki-Mazhabi Sikh Morcha, conflates the terms.
Mazhabis who converted from Sikhism to Christianity under the influence of Christian missionaries in the later years of the
British Raj
The British Raj (; from Hindi ''rāj'': kingdom, realm, state, or empire) was the rule of the British Crown on the Indian subcontinent;
*
* it is also called Crown rule in India,
*
*
*
*
or Direct rule in India,
* Quote: "Mill, who was himsel ...
are sometimes referred to as Christian Mazhabi Sikhs. Some also profess Hinduism but call themselves Mazhabi, as do a small number who follow the tenets of
Buddhism
Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and gra ...
.
Military service
Before the British Raj era
The Mazhabis were recruited to the army of
Ranjit Singh
Ranjit Singh (13 November 1780 – 27 June 1839), popularly known as Sher-e-Punjab or "Lion of Punjab", was the first Maharaja of the Sikh Empire, which ruled the northwest Indian subcontinent in the early half of the 19th century. He s ...
but as separate companies attached to regular
battalion
A battalion is a military unit, typically consisting of 300 to 1,200 soldiers commanded by a lieutenant colonel, and subdivided into a number of companies (usually each commanded by a major or a captain). In some countries, battalions are ...
s rather than as part of an integrated force. This situation was forced upon him because high-caste Sikhs refused any closer connection. They served as pioneers, operating mainly as a labour corps that worked on construction of roads, bridges and canals. They were not, however, mere labourers because it was expected that their infantry skills would enable them to defend themselves in the event of attack.
British Raj
The Mazhabis, whom historian Stephen Cohen says "had strong caste traditions of violence and aggressiveness and were classed as a criminal caste by the British", lost their military employment following the defeat of the Sikhs in the Anglo-Sikh Wars. Some eventually found employment as pioneers in the army of
Gulab Singh
Gulab Singh Jamwal (1792–1857) was the founder of Dogra dynasty and the first Maharaja of the princely state of Jammu and Kashmir, the largest princely state under the British Raj, which was created after the defeat of the Sikh Empire in t ...
, the
Maharaja
Mahārāja (; also spelled Maharajah, Maharaj) is a Sanskrit title for a "great ruler", "great king" or " high king".
A few ruled states informally called empires, including ruler raja Sri Gupta, founder of the ancient Indian Gupta Empire, an ...
of Jammu and Kashmir. In 1857, the British turned to them for help during the
Indian Rebellion
The Indian Rebellion of 1857 was a major uprising in India in 1857–58 against Company rule in India, the rule of the East India Company, British East India Company, which functioned as a sovereign power on behalf of the The Crown, British ...
, apparently to counteract the rebellious
sepoy
''Sepoy'' () was the Persian-derived designation originally given to a professional Indian infantryman, traditionally armed with a musket, in the armies of the Mughal Empire.
In the 18th century, the French East India Company and its oth ...
s of the
Bengal Army
The Bengal Army was the army of the Bengal Presidency, one of the three presidencies of British India within the British Empire.
The presidency armies, like the presidencies themselves, belonged to the East India Company (EIC) until the Govern ...
. The First Pioneer Sikh Regiment soon found itself helping to break the
Siege of Delhi
The siege of Delhi was one of the decisive conflicts of the Indian Rebellion of 1857.
The rebellion against the authority of the East India Company was widespread through much of Northern India, but essentially it was sparked by the mass up ...
, a second regiment was raised in 1858 and a third followed soon after. This military employment contributed to a gradual improvement in their social status and in 1911 their official classification in
Gujranwala
Gujranwala ( ur, , label=none; ) is a city and capital of Gujranwala Division located in Pakistan. It is also known as "City of Wrestlers" and is quite famous for its food. It is the 5th most populous city proper after Karachi, Lahore, Faisala ...
and
Lyallpur
Faisalabad (; Punjabi/ ur, , ; ), formerly known as Lyallpur ( Punjabi, Urdu: لائل پور), named after the founder of the city, but was renamed in 1977 in honour of late King Faisal of Saudi Arabia. It is the 3rd largest city of Pak ...
was uplifted to that of "agricultural caste" by the British authorities. The British military classification system, which rated recruits according to their caste, continued to assert that Mazhabis were best suited as pioneers while, for example,
Jat Sikh
Jat Sikh (also known by the more conventional endonym Jatt Sikh) is a sub-group of the Jat people and the Sikh religious group from the Indian subcontinent. They are one of the dominant communities in the Punjab owing to their large land holdin ...
s should be infantry.
It was calculated in 1898 that there were 2,452 Mazhabis in the army, along with 28,146 Jat Sikhs and 9,000 other Sikhs. During
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
the single-battalion regiments of the Mazhabi Sikh Pioneers – the 23rd, 32nd and 34th Pioneer Regiments – were expanded to comprise three battalions each. These units served in Egypt, Europe,
Mesopotamia
Mesopotamia ''Mesopotamíā''; ar, بِلَاد ٱلرَّافِدَيْن or ; syc, ܐܪܡ ܢܗܪ̈ܝܢ, or , ) is a historical region of Western Asia situated within the Tigris–Euphrates river system, in the northern part of the F ...
and
Palestine
__NOTOC__
Palestine may refer to:
* State of Palestine, a state in Western Asia
* Palestine (region), a geographic region in Western Asia
* Palestinian territories, territories occupied by Israel since 1967, namely the West Bank (including East ...
and performed well. The 1/34th Sikh Pioneers were awarded the title of "Royal".
The Sikh Pioneer regiments, which were practically the only military employer of the Mazhabis, were disbanded in December 1932. The cause was mainly advances in road-building techniques and the need to economise. Most of their recruits were released from the army, the only means by which they had been able to advance themselves in society. A Mazhabi Sikh
platoon
A platoon is a military unit typically composed of two or more squads, sections, or patrols. Platoon organization varies depending on the country and the branch, but a platoon can be composed of 50 people, although specific platoons may range ...
did replace
Rajput
Rajput (from Sanskrit ''raja-putra'' 'son of a king') is a large multi-component cluster of castes, kin bodies, and local groups, sharing social status and ideology of genealogical descent originating from the Indian subcontinent. The term Ra ...
s as the Indian Platoon of the
Welch Regiment
The Welch Regiment (or "The Welch", an archaic spelling of "Welsh") was an infantry regiment of the line of the British Army in existence from 1881 until 1969. The regiment was created in 1881 under the Childers Reforms by the amalgamation of ...
in 1933.
The Mazhabi Sikhs, together with the
Ramdasia
The Ramdasia were historically a Sikh Hindu sub-group that originated from the caste of leather tanners and shoemakers known as Chamar
Terminology
Ramdasia is a term used in general for Sikhs whose ancestors belonged to Chamar caste. Origina ...
, were recruited to the
Sikh Light Infantry
The Sikh Light Infantry is a light infantry regiment of the Indian Army. Despite unwillingness among some policy makers, the British had to abandon their traditional distinction between martial and non-martial races during the Second World War. This was necessitated by the need for more recruits than could be supplied by those communities upon which they usually relied, such as the Jat Sikhs,
Dogra
The Dogras or Dogra people, are an Indo-Aryan ethno-linguistic group in India and Pakistan consisting of the Dogri language speakers. They live predominantly in the Jammu region of Jammu and Kashmir, and in adjoining areas of Punjab, Himachal ...
s and Punjabi Musalmans. In addition, indiscipline among Jat Sikhs caused by their concerns regarding a post-war division of India was another reason to prefer recruitment of new classes. While recruitment from the pre-war martial classes was still pre-eminent, that from newly recognised classes such as the Mazhabis and Ramdasias became significant. Mazhabis were even recruited into units such as the
13th Frontier Force Rifles
The 13th Frontier Force Rifles was part of the British Indian Army, and after 1947, Pakistan Army. It was formed in 1922 by amalgamation of five existing regiments and consisted of five regular battalions.
History
The 13th Frontier Force Rifle ...
, which previously would not have contemplated them.
After independence of India
When India became independent in 1947, the British Indian Army became the Indian Army. This, like its predecessor, relies on the martial race theory for much of its recruitment and thus there is a grossly disproportionate number of Sikhs within its ranks. The Mazhabi Sikhs and Ramdasias continued their service with the SLI in the new army. The SLI has served in almost all of the post-1947 conflicts involving India, including the wars with Pakistan in
1947
It was the first year of the Cold War, which would last until 1991, ending with the dissolution of the Soviet Union.
Events
January
* January–February – Winter of 1946–47 in the United Kingdom: The worst snowfall in the country in ...
,
1965
Events January–February
* January 14 – The Prime Minister of Northern Ireland and the Taoiseach of the Republic of Ireland meet for the first time in 43 years.
* January 20
** Lyndon B. Johnson is Second inauguration of Lyndo ...
and
1971 *
The year 1971 had three partial solar eclipses ( February 25, July 22 and August 20) and two total lunar eclipses (February 10, and August 6).
The world population increased by 2.1% this year, the highest increase in history.
Events
Ja ...
, the
Hyderabad Police Action
Operation Polo was the code name of the Hyderabad "police action" in September 1948, by the then newly independent Dominion of India against Hyderabad State. It was a military operation in which the Indian Armed Forces invaded the Nizam-rule ...
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...
, where the 1st, 7th, 13th and 14th Battalions have contributed towards peace-keeping.
The Mazhabi Sikh soldiers have a reputation for their loyalty and reliability. During
Operation Blue Star
Operation Blue Star was the codename of a military operation which was carried out by Indian security forces between 1 and 10 June 1984 in order to remove Damdami Taksal leader Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale and his followers from the buildings of ...
in 1984, when the Indian Army entered the Golden Temple, Jat Sikh soldiers broke out in mutiny against their officers in the
Sikh Regiment
The Sikh Regiment is an infantry regiment of the Indian Army. Sikh regiment is the highest decorated regiment of the Indian Army and in 1979, the 1st battalion was the Commonwealth's most decorated battalion with 245 pre-independence and 82 ...
and Punjab regiments A total of 2,000 Sikh personnel took part in the mutinies. In the most sensational case 1,400 mainly Jat Sikhs deserted after killing their commanding officer and armed themselves. A significant number of those were also new recruits who were incited easily into mutiny and some were forced at gun point to take part in the mutinies. Despite that, the Indian Army officers were correct when they expressed confidence to journalists that the Mazhabi Sikhs of the Sikh Light Infantry would not mutiny.
In Punjab, Sikh militants had stepped up their attacks on law enforcement as well as civilians, including minority groups. The Punjab had now reached a state of emergency and
Director General of Police
Director general of police (DGP) is a rank in the Indian Police Service, held by the highest ranking police officer in a State or a Union Territory of India, typically heading the state or the UT police force. The DGP is appointed by the cabin ...
,
Kanwar Pal Singh Gill
Kanwar Pal Singh Gill (29 December 1934 – 26 May 2017) was an Indian Police Service (IPS) officer. He served twice as DGP for the state of Punjab, India, where he is credited with having brought the Punjab insurgency under control. While man ...
, responded by raising Mazhabi Sikhs as "Special Police Officers". This tactic was designed both for community protection and to dull any incentive for Mazhabis to join with the militants, although in fact Mazhabis had often been victims of attacks by those people. Their loyalty was to the government and was never questioned. Mostly unemployed people, they were provided with guns by the state and were literally given a licence to kill. Gill received heavy criticism for the brutality and ruthlessness of his tactics but the Sikh militants were neutralised. A large number of these special police officers were said to have been used during the February 1992 elections. An open season was declared on Sikh terrorists and the police were able to use whatever means deemed necessary to achieve victory. Major Sikh militant leaders were targeted, and many did not survive.
Social status
Discrimination within the Sikh community
Most of them live in separate clusters in villages. As the 19th century drew to a close, untouchables such as the Mazhabis were still denied equal access to the
gurdwara
A gurdwara (sometimes written as gurudwara) (Gurmukhi: ਗੁਰਦੁਆਰਾ ''guradu'ārā'', meaning "Door to the Guru") is a place of assembly and worship for Sikhs. Sikhs also refer to gurdwaras as ''Gurdwara Sahib''. People from all faiths ...
(places of worship) by their fellow Sikhs and during the early years of the 20th century members of the
Arya Samaj
Arya Samaj ( hi, आर्य समाज, lit=Noble Society, ) is a monotheistic Indian Hindu reform movement that promotes values and practices based on the belief in the infallible authority of the Vedas. The samaj was founded by the sanny ...
tried to capitalise on this in their attempts to reconvert those groups to Hinduism. In spite of Sikhism's egalitarian tenets, the
Singh Sabha movement
The Singh Sabha Movement was a Sikh movement that began in Punjab in the 1870s in reaction to the proselytising activities of Christians, Hindu reform movements ( Brahmo Samajis, Arya Samaj) and Muslims (Aligarh movement and Ahmadiyah). The mov ...
also viewed them as being inferior, despite initially being established in 1873 in part with the aim of eradicating untouchability.
The British Raj system of land allocation in the Punjab also worked against the Mazhabis. As land in the new canal colonies was made available for cultivation, the Raj allocated it to people on the basis of the scale of existing landholdings, which meant that dominant landholding communities such as the Jats received most of the that became available between 1885 and 1940 while outcastes were excluded entirely.
During the numerous discussions, conferences and proposals that preceded Indian independence, the Mazhabis sought to obtain an autonomous region within partitioned Punjab which they proposed to be called "Mazbhistan". This was one of many instances reflecting the lack of coherence among adherents of Sikhism at that time.
Many Jat Sikhs continue to look down upon the Mazhabis, and they are also considered to be of lower status by the other Dalit communities, being the
Ramdasia
The Ramdasia were historically a Sikh Hindu sub-group that originated from the caste of leather tanners and shoemakers known as Chamar
Terminology
Ramdasia is a term used in general for Sikhs whose ancestors belonged to Chamar caste. Origina ...
/
Ravidasia
Ravidassia or the Ravidas Panth is an Indian religion based on the teachings of Ravidass, who is revered as a satguru.
Historically, Ravidassia represented a range of beliefs in the Indian subcontinent, with some devotees of Ravidass counting th ...
. The internal division between Jat Sikh and Mazhabi still broadly follows the economic distinction between farmer and landless labourer. It is land-ownership rather than varna's stress on occupational status that defines discrimination within the Sikh communities of the Punjab, and Ronki Ram notes that the nature of untouchability itself in Punjab differs from the rest of India because it is "related more to prejudice than pollution". Many Mazhabi are still exploited in low-status jobs, they are often forced to live in less desirable areas of villages, cannot use the gurdwaras frequented by higher-caste Sikhs and must use special cremation grounds.
Politics
The outcome of the
Shiromani Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee
The Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee ( SGPC; "Supreme Gurdwara Management Committee") is an organization in India responsible for the management of Gurdwaras, Sikh places of worship in states of Punjab and Himachal Pradesh and the unio ...
(SGPC) elections in December 1954 favoured
Punjabi Suba
The Punjabi Suba movement was a long-drawn political agitation, launched by Punjabi speaking people (mostly Sikhs) demanding the creation of a Punjabi Suba, or Punjabi-speaking state, in the post-independence Indian state of East Punjab. Led ...
, a Jat Sikh-dominated movement. Akali Dal, a religio-political party founded in 1920 and dominated by Jat Sikhs, won all 111 seats that it contested and Khalsa Dal – a new party created with government support – managing to win only three of the 132 in which it put forward a candidate. The campaign saw the Arya Samaj and
Jan Sangh
The Bharatiya Jana Sangh ( BJS or JS, short name: Jan Sangh, full name: Akhil Bharatiya Jana Sangh; ) (ISO 15919: '' Akhila Bhāratīya Jana Saṅgha '' ) was an Indian right wing political party that existed from 1951 to 1977 and was the pol ...
, who were both opposed to Punjabi Suba and believed in Hindu upper caste domination , stressing a fear of Sikh domination. They encouraged Hindu Punjabis to lie by claiming
Hindi
Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been de ...
to be their first language even when it was almost always in fact Punjabi. This attempt to cause a division along religious lines had the tacit support of the government and its impact echoed down the years. In 2005, 56 expelled employees of the SGPC abandoned Sikhism and alleged that they were being discriminated against because they were Mazhabis.
According to a report published in ''
The Tribune ''The Tribune'' or ''Tribune'' is the name of various newspapers:
United States Daily California
*''Oakland Tribune''
* ''The Tribune'' (San Luis Obispo)
*'' San Gabriel Valley Tribune''
Indiana
*''Kokomo Tribune''
*'' Peru Tribune''
* ''The Trib ...
'' on 16 March 1966, a spokesperson for the Federation of Mazhabi Sikhs stated that "the Sikh Scheduled Castes had been reduced to a position of mere serfs by the Sikh landlords who would literally crush the Mazhabi Sikhs if Punjabi Suba was formed." The federation offered support for Arya Samaj and Jan Sangh in opposition to the Punjabi Suba.
Although Sikh leaders recognise the contribution of the Mazhabis and Ravidasias to the community and have tried to include them in their organisations, not least because of the size of their population, both groups still feel alienated because of discrimination by higher-caste Sikhs, especially the Jats. It is because of this that they have turned to political parties such as the
Bahujan Samaj Party
The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) is a national level political party in India that was formed to represent Bahujans (literally means "community in majority"), referring to Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, and Other Backward Classes (OBC), alon ...
rather than maintaining past associations with Sikh politics through the
Shiromani Akali Dal
The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) (translation: ''Supreme Akali Party'') is a centre-right sikh-centric state political party in Punjab, India. The party is the second-oldest in India, after Congress, being founded in 1920. Although there are many ...
(SAD) and SGPC.
Modern-day conversions
In 2014, both the SAD and the
Indian National Congress
The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party but often simply the Congress, is a political party in India with widespread roots. Founded in 1885, it was the first modern nationalist movement to emerge in the British Em ...
(INC) voiced their opposition to Christian Mazhabi people being reconverted to the Sikh faith in a ceremony organised by the
Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh
The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh ( ; , , ) is an Indian right-wing, Hindu nationalist, paramilitary volunteer organisation. The RSS is the progenitor and leader of a large body of organisations called the Sangh Parivar (Hindi for "Sangh family" ...
(RSS).
Parkash Singh Badal
Parkash Singh Badal ( pa, ਪ੍ਰਕਾਸ਼ ਸਿੰਘ ਬਾਦਲ; born 8 December 1927) is an Indian politician who was Chief Minister of Punjab state from 1970 to 1971, from 1977 to 1980, from 1997 to 2002, and from 2007 to 2017. He i ...
, then Chief Minister of Punjab and an SAD elder, said that such conversions are "unfortunate and against the basic tenets of Sikhism as Sikh gurus sacrificed their lives resisting conversion", while
Amarinder Singh
Captain Amarinder Singh (born 11 March 1942), is an Indian politician, military historian, former royal and Indian Army veteran who served as the 15th Chief Minister of Punjab. A former Member of the Legislative Assembly, Punjab and Member ...
of the INC considered the move by the
Hindutva
Hindutva () is the predominant form of Hindu nationalism in India. The term was formulated as a political ideology by Vinayak Damodar Savarkar in 1923. It is used by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP), the ...
-centric RSS to be "forced conversion". The RSS said that it was not sponsoring conversion to Hinduism but rather to Sikhism and that the SGPC had been lax in stemming the tide of poor Sikh families switching to Christianity. It was claimed by an RSS colleague, Ram Gopal, that 2,470 people had already been converted in the year prior to the controversy being commented upon and that the SGPC had initially supported the idea. There were also protests by Christians, who claimed that the conversions were an attempt by the RSS to drive a wedge between their religion and Sikhism where previously there had been a harmonious relationship.
Reservation
The
Government of India
The Government of India (ISO: ; often abbreviated as GoI), known as the Union Government or Central Government but often simply as the Centre, is the national government of the Republic of India, a federal democracy located in South Asia, c ...
recognises Mazhabi Sikh as a
Scheduled Caste
The Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs) are officially designated groups of people and among the most disadvantaged socio-economic groups in India. The terms are recognized in the Constitution of India and the groups are designa ...
Between 30,000 and 40,000 Mazhabi Sikhs were reported to be congregated at Govindghar in an attempt to reach India during the Partition of India and Pakistan in 1947. This was one of many examples of the mass migrations that took place across the border in both directions as communities found themselves in the midst of violence driven by religious differences.
, there were 2,633,921 Mazhabis in the Indian state of Punjab, of whom 2,562,761 declared themselves to be Sikh, 71,000 as Hindu and 160 as Buddhists. The total Scheduled Caste population of the state was 8,860,179. At that time, there were 158,698 Mazhabis in Rajasthan, comprising 11,582 Hindus, 147,108 Sikhs and 8 Buddhists. 141,681 lived in Haryana (11,485 Hindu, 130,162 Sikh and 34 Buddhists), 460 resided in Himachal Pradesh, 3,166 in Chandigarh, 2,829 in Delhi NCT, 6,038 in Uttarakhand, and 14,192 in Uttar Pradesh.
See also
*
Criminal Tribes Act
Since the 1870s, various pieces of colonial legislation in India during British rule were collectively called the Criminal Tribes Act (CTA), which criminalized entire communities by designating them as habitual criminals. Under these acts, ethni ...
*
Sikh Pioneers & Sikh Light Infantry Association UK
The Sikh Pioneers & Sikh Light Infantry Association UK, is an association for former British officers who served with the Sikh Pioneers and Sikh Light Infantry regiments. The Sikh Pioneers formed originally in 1857 from Mazhabi Sikh and Chamar S ...