April 19, 1999

The overseas Sikh community's enthusiasm for the tercentenary is evident in the grand events planned in the United States, Canada and Britain.

Like the 50th anniversary of India's independence a couple of years ago, the 300th birthday celebrations of the Khalsa seem to have been planned better abroad than in India. In Punjab itself, the festivities have been marred by factionalism within the ruling Akali Dal and the larger Sikh religio-political establishment. On Baisakhi, April 13, Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal's official function at Anandpur Sahib will have a competitor in the form of a parallel programme organised by the dissident Gurcharan Singh Tohra group.

It is against this backdrop that Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee inaugurated the celebrations at Anandpur Sahib on April 8 and gifted the holy city a military academy, Vajpayee would not have failed to notice the new look the Keshgarh gurdwara-white paint, fresh gold-plating-has been given. All Anandpur has been painted white. Some of the work at the Keshgarh Sahib and in the Golden Temple complex in Amritsar has been sponsored by a jatha of Sikhs from Birmingham. The fervour of NRI members of the Khalsa is amazing. In Britain and North America-the Khalsa's home away from home-a host of events has been planned.

In the US, the First International Sikh Convention was held in New Jersey on April 4. A parade took place in Los Angeles the same day. Between them the events attracted 75,000 people and cost $3 million (Rs 12.6 crore). On the agenda were prayers and seminars and, in New Jersey, a demonstration by students of New York's Khalsa Karate Shito-Ryu Academy of Martial Arts. Khalsa merchandise-tapes, posters books, T-shirts bearing slogans like "Sikh by Birth, Proud by Choice" and "Khalsa Fever. Catch It!"-did brisk business. Eagerly awaited is the Annual Sikh Parade in New York on April 24.

In neighbouring Canada, the Toronto Skydome will find April 25 dedicated to the Khalsa. Organised by the Ontario Gurdwaras Committee (OGC), the event will see a ceremonial march with the Granth Sahib being carried with due reverence. Five floats-representing the Akal Takht, Keshgarh Sahib, Damdama Sahib, Patna Sahib and Nanded Sahib-will be another highlight. The event will cost of the OGC half a million dollars.

This year also marks the 100th anniversary of the arrival of the first Sikh migrants to Canada. On April 19 Prime Minister Jean Chretien will release a commemorative stamp at the Canadian Museum of Civilisation in Hull, Quebec. Sharing the limelight with Chretien will be four of his country's most distinguished Sikh: Revenue Minister Herb Dhaliwal, ice-skater Emmanuel Sandhu, and Baljit Singh Dhillon and Ajit Kaur Tiwana, the first Sikh man and woman to join the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.

There are over 200 gurdwaras in Britain and each of them is organising its own commemorative event. Explains Inderjit Singh, president of the Network of Sikh Organisations (NSO): "We all like to do our own thing all the time." The NSO is concentrating its energies on the April 25 bash at London's Albert Hall: devotional songs, a play and speeches by Prince Charles and others.

Sikh in smaller cities are not being left behind. In Leicester, a Sikh station called Baisakhi Radio has been granted a temporary licence to broadcast through April. The city's New Walk Museum is hosting an exhibition called The Story of the Sikhs. There will be special focus on Sikh valour. Similar events are on the anvil in Birmingham, Manchester and Glasgow.

--Ramesh Vinayak with Arthur J Pais in New York,
Eugene Correia in Toronto and Paran Balakrishnan in London

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