Why Were Sikhs So Loyal To The British

[mandeep99]

1919 the massacore, what the british did when they invaded the punjab, all the singhs they tied to canans and blew away, the famins in different sections of punjab that were caused by the british robbing us of our wealth, all this and more yet sikhs were so loyal to the british WHY???

The pushtans when their own ppl were attacked fought back but are ppl were extremely loyal why?

Were the sikh lions the slaves of the british

ppl are going to say the british loved the sikhs im going to reply thats why all sikhs that first moved to england and canada were called pakis and the british government never built a memorial for sikhs in the two world wars and that the british considered themselves supperior over all indians including sikhs.

The british use to have certain groups they would favour over other groups, they would use these groups to help the british suppress the other groups and these groups were the sikhs marathas bengalis gatkas and pushtans rajputs and 2 or 3 more. But the british considered us all dogs, reason for 1919 massacore was because sikhs and others protested the disgusting way the british were treating them making them crawl on the ground while they would be whipped yet so many sikhs remained loyal???

[mann_kaum_layee_qurbaan]

to understand that period, just look to loyal indian sikhs today, blown up by tanks and helicopters.

maybe you'll find your answer.

peace.

[mandeep99]

to understand that period, just look to loyal indian sikhs today, blown up by tanks and helicopters.

maybe you'll find your answer.

peace.

don't understnad what you meant, do you mean look at how sikhs are loyal to india after what india has done to sikhs.

[guptveer1469]

Yes... Exaclty great poinit. Even now, some are loyal to India but others are against it... Same in British Empire... Maybe many Sikhs in armies were loyal to British, but here are some facts in which it is proved that most of freedom fighters WERE sikh!

Amongst all the freedom fighters who were hanged, 77% were Sikhs. 73% of the freedom fighters wo were sentenced to 1 year prison were Sikhs. Martyred during Kooka and Akali movement (total 591) were all Sikhs. 81% of the deported were Sikhs. The Indian National Army was built up of 60% Sikhs. Amongst the Jallianwala Bagh martyrs, 61 % were Sikhs. 59% of the Bajj Bajj Ghaat shaheeds were Sikhs.

Type | Sikhs | Non-Sikhs | Percentage of Sikhs |

Prison One Year | 1,550 | 575 | 73%

Hanged | 93 | 28 | 77%

Jalianwala Bagh | 799 | 501 | 61%

Bajj Bajj Ghaat | 67 | 46 | 59%

Kooka Movement | 91 | 0 | 100%

Akali Movement | 500 | 0 | 100%

Deported | 2,147 | 499 | 81%

Death sentence | 92 | 35 | 72%

Indian National Army | 12,000 | 8000 | 60%

[pun9ab1]

you have to understand we are a fighting breed that prides itself in military. We have had armies since the tiem of Guru Gobind singh. After the lose to the British our army was dismantled until world war1 and 2. Sikhs were loyal to British then because they were hoping that by proving their loyalty to the British they would again gain their independence once the British left. Which did not happen. And now many sikh are loyal to India because they believe India will give them their independence one way or the other.

[Revolutionary]

british government never built a memorial for sikhs in the two world wars and that the british considered themselves supperior over all indians including sikhs.

I'm guessing you haven't been to the Annual Sikh Heritage Memorial.. or seen the Chhatri Memorial?

No Mirch Masala plz : )

edit:

ooh just had a thought:

Saam Daam Dandh Bed...

maybe Sikhs were using the Saam tactic..

[dalsingh101]

There are a few things we also need to consider.

Not all Sikhs were loyal to the British after their defeat. The fact that there was a second Anglo-Sikh war points at this.

I made the point before in another thread that what the British did was to isolate or kill those Sikhs who were disloyal to the British. The main tactics were judicial elimination (i.e. executions), removal of all financial power (mainly by removing jagirs and confiscating land) and in some cases sending the freedom fighting leaders to far off lands where they couldn't influence the majority.

Whilst doing this they also encouraged loyalty by giving the land they had confiscated to those who joined the army or administration and served loyally. I believe these were quite simple and desperate people. I know for a fact that the "amrit" that was taken by soldiers under the Raj also had a clause in the vows that said the initiate was to be loyal to the British monarch henceforth. We all know that Panjab is mainly an agricultural land and that landholding dwindles when passed down generations. This put pressure on families to obtain finances from other sources and in the absence of a truly Sikh army many joined the British. I think they were the lower sections of society.

I also personally believe that many Sikhs lost self-confidence as a nation after the two Anglo-Sikh wars and were dazzled by the British. The white supremiscist agenda meant that these people were valued in relation to the benefits they could bring to the empire. A previous poster has already outlined how they used certain communities "martial prowess" to keep the empire functioning.

We all need to understand this colonised period of our history and see it for what it really was - being dominated and controlled by a foreign source.

The fact that Maharajah Daleep Singh (son of Ranjit), despite growing up in England attempted to return to Punjab and instigate a military rebellion against the British says a lot. As many people know he was intercepted and spies were planted to keep an eye on him, so he never reached Punjab to complete his plan.

Many in the Sikh community need to shake of the colonial mentality they have inherited and view things as an independent nation. People in west should be at the forefront of this.

[mandeep99]

Yes... Exaclty great poinit. Even now, some are loyal to India but others are against it... Same in British Empire... Maybe many Sikhs in armies were loyal to British, but here are some facts in which it is proved that most of freedom fighters WERE sikh!

Amongst all the freedom fighters who were hanged, 77% were Sikhs. 73% of the freedom fighters wo were sentenced to 1 year prison were Sikhs. Martyred during Kooka and Akali movement (total 591) were all Sikhs. 81% of the deported were Sikhs. The Indian National Army was built up of 60% Sikhs. Amongst the Jallianwala Bagh martyrs, 61 % were Sikhs. 59% of the Bajj Bajj Ghaat shaheeds were Sikhs.

Type | Sikhs | Non-Sikhs | Percentage of Sikhs |

Prison One Year | 1,550 | 575 | 73%

Hanged | 93 | 28 | 77%

Jalianwala Bagh | 799 | 501 | 61%

Bajj Bajj Ghaat | 67 | 46 | 59%

Kooka Movement | 91 | 0 | 100%

Akali Movement | 500 | 0 | 100%

Deported | 2,147 | 499 | 81%

Death sentence | 92 | 35 | 72%

Indian National Army | 12,000 | 8000 | 60%

Could you list your source as to who collected that information, cause their's a hindu website challenging sikhs on the number of freedom fighters by naming hindu freedom fighters while insulting sikhs claiming all sikhs have is bhagat singh udham singh and kartar singh who died for india. I saw these statistics and tried finding a source for them.

[guptveer1469]

Atleast 500 Babbar Akalis were ALL SIKHS. NO doubt. And all the 91 kookas were a sikh sect... NO doubt... Have no time but these 591 are for sure sikhs... The rest i'll back up later as i have to go...

gurfateh