"Sikhs are nothing but Hindus." An average Hindu repeats this line when asked what they think about Sikhs and Sikhism. Had they said this in 17th or 18th century, it would have been accurate to a limited extent but not in today's times. A lot has changed.
Since the times of Guru Gobind Singh, one of the central concerns for Sikhs has been the question of their religious identity. Their orthodoxy has been worried about Hinduism swallowing up Sikhism in the way it did Buddhism and Jainism to an extent.
Formation of Khalsa by Guru Gobind Singh with five distinct Ks was a significant step towards it where they could easily be differentiated from the rest. But in 18th century, there was no rigid distinction between Hindus and Sikhs, so attempts had limited success.
In the 19th century, especially after the fall of Sikh empire of Ranjit Singh and Anglo-Sikh wars, Sikhs were much more eager to carve a separate identity different from Hindus. It was also driven by their hatred against Company's Army which recruited heavily from Hindus.
When they professed their loyalty to British empire, the British sought to solidify separate Sikh identity through army in which Sikhs were given freedom to have 5 Ks and strict orders were issued not to subvert their religious identity. They also started recruiting more Sikhs.
At the same time, on the religious front, The Singh Sabha movement was asking Sikhs to follow orthodoxy and not get sucked in the Hindu traps of idol worshipping and reverence of cows which were Brahminical influences in their assessment.
From 20th century onwards and especially after Gurudwara movement of 1920s, the political and religious authorities of Sikhs have been focusing on stressing this separate identity of Sikhs different from Hindus. And that's how the community started seeing itself.
During the independence, Akali Dal tried putting forward the demand for separate Sikh homeland but neither British nor Congress paid heed to it. After independence, the demand of creation of Punjab was manifestation of quest for separate identity.
Master Tara Singh and other Akali leaders referred India as a country dominated by Hindus where Sikhs would have difficulty in maintaining their separate religious identity. Bhindrawale picked the same rhetoric with more militant tone.
Sikh Takasal-s where Granthis are trained also started teaching along the same line that Hindus were trying to subdue their religious identity. So, when Hindus say that Sikhs are Hindus, they're emboldening the narrative of Sikh fundamentalists.
Perhaps, it's time for us to realise that Sikhs have adopted a separate religious identity and we should deal with them at a community level accordingly. There is no point repeating our fables not shared by them.
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