ABSTRACT
As an Indian religious community, Sikhs number about 16 million, forming a majority community of Punjab province, but just 2 per cent of India's total population. Until 1984, Sikhs' loyalty towards India seemed unproblematic at least in its political expression; while maintaining patriotic feelings, they nurtured a strong sense of a separate community, based on a distinct religion, a regional culture and language of the Punjab. This duality posed no heart-searching contradiction for most Sikhs, until June 1984, when as a reaction to the central government's action in the Golden Temple, a wave of strong Sikh nationalism found expression in a militant campaign for a Sikh homeland. Although the movement has been brutally repressed by the security forces, and Sikh politics has been forcibly "restructured" to rejoin the "political process", deep-rooted sentiments remain for a secure Sikh homeland in the Punjab. As the underlying causes remain unaddressed, the issue of Sikh nationalism is unlikely to disappear.
