WI: Independent Sikh State

[AndrewH]

India has always been a blindspot for me (*insert anglocentric joke here*), but I've recently been reading up on the history of Sikhism and thought that this was an interesting topic that doesn't get enough interest. Getting my info from this academic paper discussing Punjab during the Partition of India and this paper discussing the Azad Punjab Scheme, Sikh leaders pushed for an eventual partition of Punjab between East and West and the eventual creation of a new province that would have no absolute religious majority, giving the Sikh community a sort-of safeguard against joining an independent Pakistan. This plan fell apart due to poor planning and staunch opposition from the Muslim League, and Tara Singh, a Sikh leader who believed that Hindus cared more about the rest of India than Punjab and was deeply opposed to the creation of a Muslim-majority state in Pakistan, withdrew his support for the Scheme and began looking for a way to keep Sikhs out of Pakistan. Eventually, he and various Sikh leaders announced that they wanted a Sikh state that "reserv[ed] the right of deciding whether to join any Hindu Union or Muslim Union or to remain independent." Singh and the Shirmonai Akali Dal (the largest Sikh-advocate party) pushed for guaranteed representation on local legislatures and on various defense and educational committees along, a maintained presence within the army and protections for the Punjabi language and a new province where the Sikhs made up a majority. That was something both the INC and Muslim League didn't want (the proposed state was in an area where no religion held a majority), but Singh simply used it as a way to push back against the increasing support for a Muslim state in Pakistan. While this proposal was intended as a way to pressure the British and the INC to stop cooperating with the Muslim Congress, the INC and British Representatives did seriously consider it before backing off.

I went with these two examples because I figured they're more realistic than the Khalistan separatists of the 70's-80's somehow succeeding in their demands for a sovereign state. There were other examples I left out (there was a demand for an independent "Sikhistan" in the 30's that was, for all intents and purposes, a theocracy), but these might be the two most "realistic" ways to get a sovereign Sikh state. Even then, it's still pretty difficult - Sikh leaders didn't get much headway with their proposals and eventually got behind joining a secular Indian state, and their continued opposition (and in some cases prejudice) against the Muslim League and its members killed their chances. But if a Sikh state got created, what would it look like? Partition would still be incredibly hard on it and religiously-motivated violence would be common, and from reading about SAD and people like Singh, it seems unlikely that Khalistan (or whatever it's called) would be a secular state of any kind. Pakistan would be furious that it exists, and I doubt the INC would be that much friendlier.

 

[Yokai Man]

Hard to say really,since it isn’t likely that the INC,The Muslim League or the British would listen to their demands,but I could see it become a Sikh version of modern day Iran,that desperately tries to survive somehow,has the same problems all theocratish states have and at best be like Bangladesh in terms of wealth and importance,aka barely functional.

 

[Tabac Iberez]

I've been looking into this for one of my books, and I'm tenatively hopeful something would work out. Iran actually does pretty well for a minor player playing chicken with a world power, and Bangladesh is much more a function of ethnic cleansing noises than the inherited issues of Islam. If you want an example of a bad religious state, look at the last twenty year ride down the tubes Malaysia has taken; that's what religion can do it over done.