"The identity of Sikhs has been erased from India’s Constitution," Ramesh Singh Arora, Punjab Government Minister for Human Rights and Minority Affairs, said at the international conference titled “Racism and Violence Against Sikhs and Other National Minorities in India: The Reality on the Ground,” dedicated to the Indian government’s repressive policies against ethnic minorities and organized by the Baku Initiative Group, APA reports.
“The reason violence against Sikhs has taken such deep roots lies in political opportunism, state repression, and the denial of Sikh identity and national aspirations. For this, it is enough to look at Article 25 of the Indian Constitution. In that article, Sikhs, Buddhists, and other groups are not recognized as separate religions or communities, but are instead presented as branches of Hinduism. In other words, at the constitutional level, Sikh identity is effectively erased.
At the same time, the application of this article over the past several decades has been accompanied by extreme violence committed against Sikhs. Instead of engaging in dialogue and adopting a constructive approach, the Indian state has resorted to militarization, human rights violations, mass killings, and extreme violence against men, women, and children belonging to the Sikh faith. A clear example of this is the 1984 ‘Operation Blue Star,’ during which the army attacked the Golden Temple, the most sacred shrine of the Sikhs,” the minister said.
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