Jan-March 2006 - Institute of Sikh Studies

72ABSTRACTS OF SIKH STUDIES : JAN-MARCH 2006 / 537-38 NSautonomy and has militantly defied the government which partly ledto the invasion of the Sikh Golden Temple in Amritsar. To Akbar, theSikhs were a religious community deserving imperial support. ToJahangir, they were a growing political force that potentially threatenedthe Empire. To Aurangzeb, the Sikhs were dangerous heretics to bestamped out at any cost. To the successors of Aurangzeb, the Sikhswere a major military and social force pulling the Empire apart. As aseparate and militant community, the Sikhs still find themselves partlyforeigners in their own country, suspicious of and suspected by thedominant government.THE SIKH RENAISSANCE AND NEED FOR AN INTERNATIONALAPEX BODYIn the early 20 th century, Sikhism faced almost the same type ofsituation we face today. Sikhism was on guard from all sides, Hinduismhad its Arya Samaj Movement which aimed at absorbing Sikhism intothe fold of Hinduism, and the newly established Christian Missionarieswere also very active among the Sikhs, even to the extent of convertinga Sikh Royal Household. The Sikh nation rose to the occasion andstarted the Singh Sabha Lehr which then evolved into the GurdwaraSudhaar Lehr culminating in the hugely successful Morchas of theShiroamni Akali Dal which brought British Govt to its knees, andSikhs tasted sweet success in the formation of the SGPC as a sort ofan Apex Body to manage all historical gurdwaras in the Punjab region.Despite many decades of trying, the Sikhs have been unable to getthis extended to cover the whole of India, under an All India GurdwaraAct.Now we face an almost similar situation, with one big difference.Sikhs now are spread out all over the World and the Diaspora Sikhsform a substantial section of the Sikh Nation. The SGPC is governedby an Indian Act confined to only Punjab state in India and is, therefore,inadequate to satisfy all Sikhs worldwide. Hence the need for anInternational Confederation of Sikhs.But the question arises ..Why Confederation? The answer is thatit obviously works, based on tried and successful Misl System/Gurmattas/consultations/democracy of Punj instead of one individual.By the time of the late Seventeenth Century, when Guru Tegh