Re­spond­ing to the in­creas­ing num­ber of on­line sig­na­to­ries to the pe­ti­tion of the first tur­baned Sikh Mem­ber Par­lia­ment Tan­man­jeet Singh Dhesi, and the wide-rang­ing par­lia­men­tary sup­port that he gar­nered, cut­ting across party lines, the British gov­ern­ment has an­nounced full co­op­er­a­tion and sup­port to the es­tab­lish­ment of the first Na­tional Sikh War memo­r­ial to the thou­sands of Sikh sol­diers who died in World War I and II.

1914: Sikhs from the Pun­jab, nur­tured in the Sikh mar­tial tra­di­tions, beck­oned by the British Army, per­suaded by their com­mu­nity and po­lit­i­cal lead­ers, singly and col­lec­tively de­cide to join the British army and go be­yond the shores of their home­land to fight Hitler and his forces. Thou­sands re­spond and join the British im­pe­r­ial forces far and wide across con­ti­nents. Some for pe­cu­niary rea­sons, oth­ers to fight the tyranny of Hitler, many to the call of jus­tice and a few with the as­sump­tion that they would get their own self-rule back in the Pun­jab. 83000 die and 100000 are in­jured. Those who died were cre­mated in War cre­ma­to­ri­ums -some with their names in­scribed and many as un­known. 

2018: The first Mus­lim mayor of the city of Lon­don. The first tur­baned Sikh mem­ber of Par­lia­ment in the British Par­lia­ment. Sikh British busi­ness ty­coons with their fi­nan­cial con­tri­bu­tion. The prompt af­fir­ma­tion by min­is­ters, the com­men­da­tion by the Speaker of the British Par­lia­ment, shadow lead­ers and nearly half the British Par­lia­men­tar­i­ans across party lines added the nec­es­sary im­pe­tus. Re­searchers, ac­tivists, writ­ers and his­to­ri­ans have en­dorsed the call. War vet­er­ans and their fam­i­lies hum­bled and full of grat­i­tude.  WSN also joined the cam­paign #WeWil­l­Re­mem­berThem.

100 years on:  Britain rises to raise a Na­tional Sikh War Memo­r­ial in cen­tral Lon­don. Out­side of Pun­jab -the home­land of the Sikhs, it will be the first such Sikh memo­r­ial in any world cap­i­tal city. Memo­ri­als ex­ist in Lon­don for the brave Gorkhas, the Com­mon­wealth sol­diers and many oth­ers.

Slough mem­ber of Par­lia­ment Tan­man­jeet Singh Dhesi and the Lon­don city mayor Sadiq Khan, join hands to raise the pitch for the call for a Na­tional Sikh War Memo­r­ial. The on­line cam­paign, meet­ings of cit­i­zens, mem­bers of Par­lia­ment, vet­eran sol­diers and their fam­i­lies -all bear fruit in good time. The gov­ern­ment of the United King­dom de­cides to search for an ap­pro­pri­ate place in cen­tral Lon­don and set up the memo­r­ial in recog­ni­tion of the known and un­known Sikh sol­diers who fought and died in World War I and 

“The Sikh peo­ple love mar­tyr­dom in the call of duty. A life com­mit­ted to a mis­sion is the pre­ferred lifestyle of Sikhs. There is no other ex­pla­na­tion for thou­sands of Sikhs to go to the UK, Italy, France, Bel­gium, Egypt and else­where and lay down their lives in dis­tant lands.”

Speak­ing at the Na­tional Sikh War Memo­r­ial Trust set-up meet­ing, Tan Dhesi was forth­right. He said, “To­gether, we will fi­nally achieve this long-stand­ing com­mu­nity as­pi­ra­tion for our coun­try.”

The Sikh peo­ple love mar­tyr­dom in the call of duty. A life com­mit­ted to a mis­sion is the pre­ferred lifestyle of Sikhs. There is no other ex­pla­na­tion for thou­sands of Sikhs to go to the UK, Italy, France, Bel­gium, Egypt and else­where and lay down their lives in dis­tant lands.

As we recog­nise the con­tri­bu­tion of the Sikh sol­diers, a thought ran­kles: what was the im­pact of their deaths on their fam­i­lies? In that day and age, how many ac­tu­ally got to know that their kith and kin were no more? How many such fam­i­lies have been fa­cil­i­tated by the Com­mon­wealth Graves Com­mis­sion to visit the tombs of their loved ones? The Lon­don memo­r­ial, not com­ing a day too soon, may look into this. The NSWMT needs to go be­yond the memo­r­ial.  Sub­se­quently, the NSWMT may con­sider the set­ting up of a Sikh Graves Com­mis­sion and work closely with the Com­mon­wealth Graves Mis­sion. 

A French lady pin­ning a rose on the lapel of a march­ing Sikh sol­dier is an un­for­get­table im­age of grat­i­tude. The Na­tional Sikh War Memo­r­ial, when it comes up in cen­tral Lon­don will serve as a memo­r­ial to the dis­tinc­tive Sikh peo­ple with their unique tur­bans and at­tire. The Eu­ro­pean bow to the Sikh sol­diers’ memo­r­ial in Forli, Italy and the British bow in cen­tral Lon­don will serve not only to recog­nise the con­tri­bu­tion of thou­sands of Sikh sol­diers but will also tell the gen­er­a­tions to come about who these tur­baned Sikh peo­ple are and what do they stand for.

“The World Sikh News com­mends the ac­tivism of Tan­man­jeet Singh Dhesi and hopes that he will con­tinue his mar­vel­lous en­deav­ours for recog­ni­tion of the Sikh tur­ban in the UK and else­where.”

The An­glo-Sikh trail is a long one. Britain has risen af­ter a 100 years. Nev­er­the­less, it has. The NSWMT -The Na­tional Sikh War Memo­r­ial Trust has been launched. British Sikhs have raised 375000 pounds. More will fol­low. The British gov­ern­ment has promised to pitch in.

In an in­ter­view to BBC Ra­dio Berk­shire, Mem­ber Par­lia­ment Tan­man­jeet Singh Dhesi has said that he sees the pos­si­bil­ity of the Na­tional Sikh War Memo­r­ial com­ing up in 2019. Should it hap­pen, it would one of the be­fit­ting trib­utes by Britain to Sikhs who would be ob­serv­ing the 550 years of Guru Nanak’s ad­vent on planet earth. 

The World Sikh News com­mends the ac­tivism of Tan­man­jeet Singh Dhesi and hopes that he will con­tinue his mar­vel­lous en­deav­ours for recog­ni­tion of the Sikh tur­ban in the UK and else­where.

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With the throne of Ma­haraja Ran­jit Singh at the Vic­to­ria and Al­bert mu­seum in Lon­don, the Ko­hi­noor di­a­mond in the Tower of Lon­don, the un­for­got­ten chap­ters of the de­ceit­ful an­nex­a­tion of the Sikh Raj in 1849 and the An­glo-Sikh legacy of Ma­haraja Duleep Singh still fresh in the hearts and minds of Sikhs, Britain has much more ris­ing to do in the times to come.