There is indeed a lot in common between the two religions and it is not very uncommon to see that one brother may be a Hindu and the other a Sikh, living in the same house and respecting each other’s religion. I for example, a Sindhi, following, (like most other Sindhis do) Guru Nanak’s traditional humble teachings for their simplicity in his message of truth and love embedded in his devotional hymns incorporated in the Sikh Adi Granth.
We, the overseas Indian citizens, Sindhis, Sikhs and other Hindus alike, are indeed most disturbed and concerned at the present Hindu-Sikh tension in Punjab and Haryana and feel the need to probe the reasons which have led to the prevailing conditions of mistrust, hate, jealousy and rivalry between the two communities in comparison with their brotherly relationship in the past and its scope in the future, Accordingly, I, on behalf of the Indian Merchant Association, U.K. and Mr. S. R. Iyengar, formerly a journalist and now an industrialist in Lagos, Nigeria, left for a preliminary study to report back our findings to various U.K. Associations. We prepared this report after spending considerable time in verifying the facts behind the complaints which we heard.
After arriving in India, we spent some days in Amritsar and Jullunder meeting various leaders, including Sant Bindranwale and Sant Langowal. There was total freedom of movement for everyone, even inside the campus where leaders live. We kept our objective restricted to studying the reasons leading to the present-day Hindu-Sikh tension and Sikh rejection of being called a sect of Hinduism or a section of Hindu Society. Mr. S. R. Iyengar got down to serious study of fundamental causes leading to today’s serious problems.
