Highlights
Khalistan means The Land of Khalsa i.e. a separate nation for the Khalsa or a separate nation for the Sikhs.
Khalsa was founded in the year 1699 by Gobind Singh, the 10th Guru of the Sikhs.
Khalsa means pure but over time, the idea was changed and it got politicised.
Amid the ongoing discussion about Khalistan in India, on Thursday we bring you the answers to questions like what is Khalistan and how its objectives are dangerous for India s national unity and integrity. Let us tell the history and current situation of Khalistan and also how the idea of Sikhistan took the form of Khalistan.
Gurudwara Rakab Ganj, which PM Modi visited, sparked an anti-government agitation 100 years ago
An excerpt from Harjot Oberoi’s forthcoming book ‘When Does History Begin: Religion, Identity, and Narrative in the Sikh Tradition’. Gurudwara Rakab Ganj today. | Sidheeq / CC BY-SA 4.0
The “Gurdwara Rikabganj agitation” of Delhi exactly a hundred years ago shows some quite startling parallels with the farmers’ agitation currently roiling New Delhi. As today, the earlier agitation was primarily by Punjabis and Sikhs against autocratic rulers in the capital oblivious to their sensitivities. As today, the ruling regime’s first response was to spread misinformation, demonise the protesters, and suppress the agitation by misguiding the public about their real intention.