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Rediscovering Roots
A journey of Sikhs with Sikligar background from the villages of
Maharashtra
and
Gujarat
to the historic Gurdwaras and heritage centres of
Punjab
Jagmohan Singh
 Hirdey Singh had
heard stories about the religiosity and bravery of the Sikhs from
his parents and elders who had never descended on
Punjab
soil in the last two hundred years. Hailing from Chandrapur in
Maharashtra, this school-teacher’s life changed after participating
in the Gurdham Yatra. He said that he was now certain that Sikh
history was true history and not just mythology. Hirdey Singh says
that the trip was a life-time experience. He had discovered his
roots and is now planning a trip for his family along with a couple
of others who were enthused with the traditional love, affection and
affinity shown by the Sikhs from
Delhi
to Punjab.
In March this
year, fifty-eight Sikhs from Maharashtra and Gujarat, with Sikligar,
Juni and Johri backgrounds, most of whom had never visited Sisganj
Sahib, Darbar Sahib and other historical places were part of the
three week Gurdham-cum-Heritage tour funded and organized by the
Vanjara Trust of Mohali.
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“They have come to rediscover their origins, it is time for us
to go beyond hospitality and develop a multi-faceted futuristic
development plan to bring these Sikhs more close to the
mainstream Sikh fold.” |
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Mohinder Singh
of the Vanjara Trust, who has spent a life time working for the
Sikligar, Vanjaras and others accompanied them from start to finish
and diligently played the roles of organizer and guide. Malkit
Singh, the SGPC member from Nagpur, Seetal Singh and Sukhdev Singh
of the Guru Angad Educational and Welfare Council were also there to
provide logistic support and arrange functions along the way to
boost the morale of the first-time visitors to their homeland.
The third in the
series of such tours organized by the Vanjara Trust, this year the
participants included members of respective Panchayats (village
councils) and presidents of the newly set-up Gurdwaras from the
remotest villages of Maharashtra and Gujarat.
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Join Hands. Now!
Tete
a tete with Mohinder Singh of Vanjara Trust
Formed in 1997 by stalwarts like Justice Harbans Singh and S.
Kharag Singh and Mohinder Singh, the Vanjara Trust has been
contributing to the welfare of these ignored sections of Sikh
society. World Sikh News met Mohinder Singh, the general
secretary of the body, who at 76 is still going strong. This is
what he had to say of the Gurdham Yatra.
JS:
How many such trips has your trust organized?
Mohinder
Singh:
This is the third such trip and one of the most successful ones.
In the year 2000, we had brought these Forgotten Sikhs from
Madhya Pradesh and in 2003 from Rajasthan.
JS:
What keeps you going with this work?
Mohinder
Singh:
The affection and Asees of these Sikhs, spirit of Naam Japna,
Kirt Karna, Wandh Chakna, the complete dedication of my wife and
children to the cause that I uphold so dear in my life.
JS:
What should the Sikhs in general do for the Sikligar Sikhs and
other weaker sections of Sikh society?
Mohinder
Singh:
All concerned may visit their habitats called Tandas
across the country and share their problems, meet their
families, assist and guide them in areas of hygiene, sanitation,
education, religious training, rehabilitation and empowerment.
JS:
What are the areas in which the SGPC can intervene?
Mohinder
Singh:
This august body of the Sikhs has to do much more than it has
done so far. It should open missions in every nodal centre in
all states especially directed for education and empowerment of
these brethren. These are people below the poverty line and
making them literate and aware should be the primary agenda.
Expert counselors need to be adopted and financed.
Discrimination against them by any of the local Sangats and
Langars should be dealt with severely by the Akal Takht.
JS:
What is the most significant thing which the participants of the
Gurdham Yatra tell you?
Mohinder
Singh:
As most of the participants were elders, they were deeply
worried that their younger people were being wooed and allured
for conversion by other religionists due to poverty and lack of
housing. It is high time we take strict notice of this and work
towards preventing this to happen.
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Speaking to WSN,
Hirdey Singh said, “the warmth shown by Mohinder Singh of Mohali,
Kulvinder Singh and Pahwa ji of Nishkam and others has convinced us
that we are not alone now, we are part of the community. We felt
that we knew each other for more than twenty years. More of these
trips should be organized.” His views were echoed by Man Singh
Pachar, Manjit Singh, Maya Singh Chohan, Karan Singh Daya, Tarif
Singh, Gurmail Singh and Deep Singh Bhada.
During their
visit to Darbar Sahib, Amritsar, the SGPC was prompt with Saropas,
models of Darbar Sahibs, a patient hearing of their situation and
promises to admit students in the Gurmat courses run by the Dharam
Parchar Committee and the
Missionary
College
of the SGPC. It is another matter that less than one percent of the
budget of the SGPC has been earmarked for amelioration of the
condition of these forgotten Sikhs.
The empowerment
of these Sikhs over the years enabled them to write and submit a
memorandum to the SGPC and DSGMC during the course of their
pilgrimage. They sought that these Panthic bodies spare resources
for construction of more Gurdwaras, appointment of trained Granthis
and preachers, availability of Sikhism texts and literature in
Hindi, Marathi, Gujarati and trained teachers in Gurmukhi, Gurmat
Sangeet and Gatka.
In their
memorandum, they desired liberal scholarships for their children who
are keen to pursue school and higher studies, sewing and home craft
centres for their womenfolk, setting up of vocational guidance and
training centres, enabling liaison and facilitation with
governmental agencies for housing and funding of their handicraft
and other works, inclusion of Vanjaras as Sikhs in Census 2011,
reservation in government jobs and other schemes in respective
categories and of course more frequency of such journeys to
rediscover their roots.
Sher Singh
Bawri, President Gurdwara Guru Nanak Darbar, Tanbapura-Jalgaon,
Maharashtra, Manjit Singh, President, Gurdwara Guru Nanak Wadi,
Udhna, Surat, Gujarat, Sujan Singh of Mehsana, Gujarat, Anil Singh
Bhatti of Jalgaon, Hirdey Singh Juni, Jankapur and Maan Singh
Vanjara leader of Chanderpur were hopeful that their personal
intervention may influence the leaders of the Shiromani Committee
and the Delhi committee to work for their interests.
Mohinder Singh,
the sheet-anchor of the programme had the last word, “they have come
to rediscover their origins, it is time to go beyond hospitality and
develop a multi-faceted futuristic development plan to bring these
Sikhs more close to the mainstream Sikh fold.”
Alex Haley wrote
Roots -The saga of an American family, compiling the story of
seven generations of his own family presenting the history of two
and hundred and fifty years in a 500 page book. I have begun my
journey to rediscover the Sikligar Sikhs. Any takers?
Jagmohan
Singh may be contacted at jsbigideas@gmail.com
13
May 2009
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