'Why Are Our Identities Being Reduced to Turbans?': Sikhs Amid 'Khalistani' Row

Sikhs in the city staged a protest on 21 February in front of the BJP's headquarters.

A protest march in Kolkata on Wednesday, 21 February, saw a huge number of Sikhs take to the streets.

(Photo: Facebook/The Sikh Forum, Kolkata)

For 67-year-old Gurpreet Ahluwalia, a resident of Bowbazar in central Kolkata, West Bengal has been the only home he has ever known.

Ahluwalia's father, who had his roots in Peshawar (currently in Pakistan), migrated to Kolkata after the Partition in 1947.

"The Sikhs in Kolkata have largely been a peace-loving community. But the recent incident of a BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party) leader calling an IPS officer, who was on duty in Sandeshkhali, a 'Khalistani', just because he was wearing a pagdi (turban), has unsettled us. Why is our pagdi being targeted?"

Gurpreet Ahluwalia

Sikhs of Kolkata took out a march to protest against BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari's alleged statement on Wednesday, 12 February.

(Photo: Facebook/ The Sikh Forum, Kolkata)

Ahluwalia's sentiment is shared by a huge number of Sikhs in the city who staged a protest on Wednesday, 21 February, in front of the BJP headquarters at Muralidhar Sen Lane in central Kolkata, expressing solidarity with Jaspreet Singh, the IPS officer who had alleged that BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari called him a 'Khalistani' when the latter was stopped from going to trouble-torn Sandeshkhali in North 24 Parganas district.

Adhikari, the leader of Opposition in the state Assembly, on his part, challenged the ADG (South Bengal) of West Bengal Police, Supratim Sarkar, to prove his allegations within 24 hours, threatening to initiate legal proceedings if he is unable to prove his charges.

The Quint has reached out to BJP officials for comment. This story will be updated as and when we receive a response.

The row comes at a time when TMC leaders have been accused of raping and harassing local women of Sandeshkali. The women, who took to the streets in protest against these leaders, have alleged that the accused called them to resorts, party offices, and school buildings under the garb of "late-night meetings."

'BJP's Labelling of Sikhs Who Don't Agree With Them Has Penetrated Bengal as Well'

As per the 2011 Census, there are only 13,849 Sikhs in Kolkata. But the community has a strong presence in business and social welfare activities in Kolkata.

As per a research paper, The Other Sikhs: Punjabi-Sikhs of Kolkata, the Sikhs' link with the capital of the British-Indian Empire (Kolkata) goes back to the mid-nineteenth century when they had passed through the city to reach China to fight in the Second Opium War (1858-61).

Most of the Sikhs in the city are in the transport and restaurant businesses.

As per the 2011 Census, there are only 13,849 Sikhs in Kolkata.

(Photo: Facebook/ The Sikh Forum, Kolkata)

Sohan Singh Aitiani, a Sikh political activist, philanthropist, and resident of Chakraberia in south Kolkata, tells The Quint that Sikhs have always "felt safe in West Bengal."

"It is a well-documented fact that in 1984, when the anti-Sikh riots broke out in several parts of India after Indira Gandhi's death, Jyoti Basu, who was the chief minister of West Bengal and was in Delhi then, rushed back to the state to ensure their safety. Basu was determined to protect the community in his state. He placed Kolkata under curfew, and his party supporters were seen patrolling Sikh-dominated areas to prevent violence. The Sikh community of my generation will be indebted to him forever. But now we have suddenly become Khalistanis in the eyes of the ruling dispensation," Aitiani says.

He adds that the recent incident only proves that the BJP wants its "model" of labelling any Sikh who disagrees with them to penetrate Bengal as well.

"The truth of the matter is no minority is safe in India today. The BJP sees things through a singular lens. According to them, the farmers from Punjab who are protesting for their rights are Khalistanis as well as the IPS officer who stopped Suvendu Adhikari from going to Sandeshkhali... all because he was wearing a turban. This is problematic," he says.

"This way he is categorising all of us as being aggressive, terrorists, and propagating the othering of our community. We have never seen ourselves as being different from Bengalis. We are as much Punjabis/Sikhs as Bengalis. We celebrate Durga Puja as well as festivals of the Sikh faith. But now, he (Adhikari) is sowing that seed of division between us and Bengalis."

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, too, launched a scathing attack against the BJP leaders in the state. "What was the fault of the Sikh IPS officer? He was just doing his duty. Since he was wearing a turban, he was called a 'Khalistani'. Will you describe a Muslim officer as a Pakistani? Some people have suddenly become big, but we know how to fight and protect the dignity of Bengal," she said.

Meanwhile, Aitiani adds, "In the days when yellow taxis were dominant in the landscape of Kolkata and the drivers of these taxis were mostly Punjabi Sikhs, these drivers (who were affectionately referred to as 'Sardarjis') were in high demand because of their honesty. That is the image that people associate with us – and not the aggressive people that the ruling dispensation at the Centre is making us out to be."

'BJP Should Not Forget that Sikh Drivers During the 'Great  Calcutta Killing' Defended Hindus'

Jagmohan Singh Gill, a resident of Dum Dum in north Kolkata and Sikh researcher, tells The Quint that what really has angered the Sikh community in Kolkata about the alleged Khalistani jibe is "the BJP's selective amnesia about the Great Calcutta Killing in 1946."

"In August 1946, Kolkata witnessed horrific communal riots that lasted four days (from 16 August) and claimed up to 10,000 lives. The communal riots and the killings, which was unparalleled in Kolkata's history, marked the beginning Partition Riots of Bengal. Sikh taxi drivers in Kolkata emerged as 'defenders' of the Hindu community then. But the BJP seems to have forgotten that."

In her book, Calcutta: A Cultural and Literal History, Krishna Dutta wrote about how the Sikh community in Kolkata, a majority of who were engaged as taxi drivers and cleaners, safeguarded the Hindu community in the aftermath of the Great Calcutta Killings.

'Sikhs Have Made Sacrifices for Country'

"The Sikhs have made sacrifices for the freedom of our country – and such leaders should not forget that. When we are wearing our pagdis, we have to think 100 times before doing something wrong. We don't want Khalistan. The ones who really wanted Khalistan are not residing in India. They are residing on foreign soil. The Sikhs residing in India don't want any kind of separatism. We demand an apology from the BJP and Adhikari," Gurjeet Singh, a member of the gurdwara in Narkeldanga, Kolkata, tells The Quint.

(A quote wrongly attributed to Satnam Singh Ahluwalia, general secretary of Gurdwara Behala and member of the West Bengal Minorities Commission, has been deleted from the above article. The error is regretted.)