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Finally we did it Punjab (India) is officially a Sikh nation. Sikhs make up 60% of Punjab (roughly 18 million). Thanks to all Sikh organisations. We did all of this in just 550 years ( Nanakshahi).

Hi all I have never been a seeker of a 'home land'. I always viewed those sikhs as militant and I justified it by saying that I was not like them and they were not being peaceful or cooperating however recently I have educated myself on world history. This is not Sikh history but the history of the world and all the kingdoms that were formed and under what conditions they were formed. I am not even a 'sikh' in some peoples eyes but I learnt that without a 'homeland' then a group of people and its culture die. Asking for a homeland is no longer militant, in order to have peace we need a homeland because without a homeland we are always second class. Its only a matter of time for something like 1984 to happen again for people to realise this. Also even if we are not attacked - we have no potential to have a say or influence on the world if we are not a nation because we are not invited to meetings for 'world leaders'. Groups of people losing their culture has happened in history such as the native americans. Now Sikhi is to valuable to be diluted, polluted and be lost. Panjabi culture is to valuable to be diluted, polluted and lost. I have always related the sikh people's quest for a homeland to the movie the hobbit - the dwarfs had the best kingdom and it was taken from them unfairly. The dwarfs like the sikhs don't remove their hair (women included) so I thought that was pretty cool. I realised that asking for a homeland is not that your are militant or that you are not coooperating but by getting a 'home' you are safe and protected, just like the dwarfs quest in the hobbit. In the case of sikhs it is asking for something that was ours before the British interfered and made panjab poor by taking away its riches. Panjab was a cosmopolitian nation and the richest in the world. It had a mixture of people including sikhs, muslilms, hindus, christians. I know we like to think that Sikhs were the majority but according to history Maharaja Ranjit Singh was in the minority and he was the first king in history to rule the majority that were not sikhs. Historians say that he did this by giving equal respect to everyone, allowing equal progression to all into positions of importance e.g. government. Something that not even the West has been able to do e.g. in government. I also think its sad that a place is called panjab 'land of five rivers' when there are no longer five rivers. In my opinion we should be asking for panjab when it was at its maximum size in the era of Maharaja Ranjit Singh because without this Sikhs are going to lose their identity. This is especially true because the youth don't want to be sikh as they view sikhs as not being rich. But how can we be rich without a country. When you have a country you can promote things like panjabi language, promote films (a number of Sikh films were banned in India), build an army, educate, health, finance etc. Currently there is little development in panjab. Panjabi people are losing their identity and their language as this is not a priority for the Indian government. Everything is being diluted. Also did you know that to be recognised as a race you must belong to a nation and have a nationality....we are recognised as the Indian race when that is not true. Also because panjab is not a country we have no say in international affairs when 'world leaders' meet - we basically have no power or influence. I was reading the story of Maharani Jhind Kaur (wife of Maharaja Ranjit Singh) and I don't understand how panjabi people did nothing other than watch. I don't mean sikhs but all of panjabi people. She lost her kingdom and we as the people lost our wealth, our progression, our education. As a result of that event panjab gets called a 'developing' nation when it was developed. As a result of it we the panjabi people suffered. The reason I have to put up with people saying panjabis are dumb or that sikhs are not successful was down to this event because it meant we lost our combined wealth as a nation. Without a nation we cannot progress to the world stage. I don't live in Panjab and I was never born there but I cried so much after learning everything. I think we need to mobilise all panjabis - muslilms and hindus to ask for a panjab back. I currently spend my life like many foreigners developing the economy of another country. I would rather develop the economy of panjab but there is no system from the top down to support this. I started to read on how kingdoms are created. So far in world history no kingdom once taken unfairly is given back. Does this mean to get Panjab we must revolt? I don't like the idea of lives being lost but if panjabi people ask for a panjab will it be given to us. How do people think we can get a panjab back. I think the first thing is to educate people (all panjabi people, christians, hindu, muslims and sikhs) and to make them want a panjab. Then it is to show the world that asking for a panjab is not unreasonable because it was ours in the first place before British people interfered. Then to hope their is peaceful giving of it. I would very much like to know how people think we can get a panjab back. Everytime I see 'freshie' people; I feel sad because it was this one event of losing a kingdom that made us into a poor state and the current people of panjab are paying that price with low economy, low education etc. If we could have all of panjab in its entirety then I know with my hand on my heart that we would be the best. No other land on the whole planet is so fertile, at the right temperature. The food is one thing but the culture is amazing and once again cannot be compared to elsewhere. Panjabi people would restore national sports like wrestling (kabbadi), hockey, horse riding. We would have freedom to publish films and books on our history rather than being censored. We would be able to develop panjabi culture further. No more oppression - we would be able to focus on panjab issues like water table dropping, education, martial arts. I would be very very proud to go back to having a homeland called Panjab. I just want to say I prefer the word panjab as it sounds less militant than khalisatan. Asking for panjab also includes all of panjab including hindus, muslims, christains etc. What happened in history was wrong - we as panjabi people of different religions need to be given back our land i.e. what we had. Without this we are never going to progress and already panjabi culture on the pakistan side of things is being diluted. I don't know how a panjab can be established - any ideas of how to get it back?