Random Facts: Fully 70 to 80 percent of all freedom fighters who were arrested, sentenced, exiled or hanged by the British were Sikhs.

Introduction to Sikhism : Part 6 - The Sikh Contribution to Democratic India.

Sikh contributes 33% of total income tax & 67% of total charity funds in India.45% of Indian Army personnel are Sikhs. Sikhs have 5,900+ Gurudwaras serving free Langar to approx. 5,900,000 people daily in India. All this when Sikhs are only 2.4% of total Indian Population.

ASIAN INDIAN IMMIGRATION TO THE PACIFIC COAST

In the year 1900 the census reported 2050 people from India on the North American continent. The majority of these people were Punjabis who had settled in Canada. They had come with the hope of finding work so that they could improve their economic situation from what it had been in the Punjab. Upon arrival in Canada they encountered numerous hardships and discrimination. Canadians wanted the “brown invasion” to stop. They felt that the growing number of Indians would take over their jobs in factories, mills and lumber yards.

It was these insecurities which led British Columbia to pass stringent laws discouraging the immigration of Indians to Canada. Indians had to have at least $200 on their person to enter British Columbia and had to have come via direct passage from India. These were very unreasonable laws as the average Indian only earned about ten cents a day. The Canadian government was also pressuring steamship companies to stop selling tickets to Indians. In 1907 a bill was passed denying all Indians the right to vote. They were prohibited to run for public office, serve on juries, and were not permitted to become accountants, lawyers or pharmacists. All this was done to stop the “brown Invasion.” On the other hand Japanese and Chinese were immigrating in unlimited numbers.

In 1914 the Komagata Maru was an outright challenge to these exclusionist laws. The Komagata Maru was a Japanese steamliner chartered by an affluent businessman, Gurdit Singh, to bring Indian immigrants to Canada. The ship’s route departed from Hong Kong, stopped in Japan and then headed to Canada. Its passengers included 376 Indians, all Punjabis, among whom 340 were Sikhs, 12 Hindus, and 24 Muslims. The ship was eventually turned back at Vancouver where landing was refused, and terminated eventually at Calcutta.

Source

Introduction to Sikhism

Sikhism began as a reaction to the caste system, and one of their central tenants is that all humans are equal.  This belief is expressed in various ways, one of which is langar, in which a diversity of people sit side by side to share a meal provided by volunteers in a community kitchen.

The principal beliefs of Sikhi are faith and justice, in Waheguru—represented by the phrase ik ōaṅkār, meaning one God.

Source: 1;2.

genocide really.

(Source: secular-india)

heckyeahsikhi:

Photo by: Margaret Bourke-White

(via sikhi-deactivated20130226)

Over the Atlantic, Sikh separatists bombed Air India Flight 182 in 1985. 329 people perished, including 280 Canadian citizens, mostly of Indian birth or descent, and 22 Indians. The deadliest act of air terrorism before 9/11.

Source: Enotes

Punjab - Rule of the Gun

Surrey, BC – 23 June 2010, the Guru Nanak Sikh Gurdwara marked the 25th Anniversary of the Air India Flight 182 bombing.

Memorial honouring the victims of the bombing of Air India Flight 182.

Golden Temple