UK official commemorations are a cruel discrimination and sham, the Sikh acclaim cosmetic, too little too late. When the new Smethwick memorial was vandalised, British Sikhs felt fed up, emotionally tortured and bruised, adding to the continuous exclusion from British military WWI story – 100 years on!  UK Sikh activist and grandson of one the Panjaabi-Sikh soldiers of WWI, presents a reflective commentary on the years of prejudice gone by.

We are ‘foreigners’. Whilst we like to think our role and sacrifices are just as important as the white British soldiers, the same feeling and perception has not registered across mainstream British media, society and the British government. 100 years have gone by. Token and cosmetic gestures and speeches from the likes of British Prime Minister Theresa May do not change that cruel imbalance, discrimination and the too little-too late approach to Sikh recognition.

When the newly set-up memorial structure at Smethwick was partially vandalised, I recalled that this is nothing new. It had happened in Coventry too, nearly 10 years ago. I could almost sense it coming.

Have a glance at the images in the UK Times Magazine, 10 November 2018.  Where are the black and brown soldiers? The mainstream BBC reporting of these 100 year commemoration, was very much white British and white European centric. The BBC, as the UK’s national media body, only did separate smaller pieces outside of its mainstream material, to give some kind of meagre acknowledgment to the non-white contribution. The Atlantic photo gallery does not contain a single image of a turbaned Sikh soldier.

All of this enduring exclusion, is so, so painful to us current day Panjaabi-Sikhs to witness; let alone to the souls of our fallen and scarred forefathers who were in the frontline. The blatant discrimination and marginalisation, is a colossal act of racism from the highest levels of the UK government down and similarly across the entire European and western white media and political infrastructure. Whilst much progress has been made and still needs to be made; racial discrimination, exclusion and ostracisation endures in the west, as it does in most parts of the world. And, this is one powerful example of it.

“More soldiers from the continents of India, Arabia and Africa combined, fought and died for the British-European war alliance in both world wars, than immediate soldiers from these ally home territories.”

100 years on, the visibly exclusivist white-centred way the whole commemorative paraphernalia was done -in images, in public events and ceremonies, in speeches, by the media, by heads of state, etc; we were not included and made to feel part of it.

The setting up memorial statues such as the one in Smethwick, Birmingham, or others before that in Coventry or Gravesend: are simply no qualitative substitutes for being included in the very centre and core of the UK-wide and international commemorative process. The turban, the beard, the brown face, the black face, of the countless Sikh, Gurkha, Pathaan, Bengali, African, Muslim, Arab, South Indian soldier: should have been shown and visible and positively embraced by the likes of Theresa May, Donald Trump, Macron and more. It simply was not!

The whole remembrance thing is an annual white, western sham! A shameless sham! Why is it that, we have to go and remind these people and their officialdom and media sources about our sacrifice for them, like slaves begging to his overlord for some meagre recognition! What a cruel sham!!

“Isn’t it an irony that the French government showed no regard for the contribution of the Sikh soldiers when it banned the wearing of the turban by Sikh students in public schools?”

It is very notable, that of all the current three memorials dedicated to the Sikh soldier in the UK (Birmingham, Coventry and Gravesend); that they have all been funded entirely by Sikh community funds. No funding from the UK central or local government. That being so, despite our colossal, disproportionate sacrifice for Britain’s good and, additionally, despite the fact that the Panjaabi-Sikh community is amongst the highest paying public taxation sections of the UK population and, equally, amongst the least burdensome on UK public resources. Even the forthcoming central London Sikh memorial, is being paid by direct Sikh funding!

The immediate hateful vandalism that beset the recent opening of the Smethwick Sikh Soldier statue, is highly revealing and thought-provoking! Despite there being 100 years of multiple information and documenting of our mammoth role in these British-European global wars, this crucial information has not been projected into the UK mainstream by neither the UK government nor the UK media. The information is abundantly available – books, photos, personal stories, statistics; but ignored and neglected.

We fought and died, in WWI and other global conflicts, which were entirely not of our making and of zero benefit to our people. Yet this is what we get back in return. We the ‘rag-heads’, ‘turbanators’ and ‘bin ladens’ (terms of abuse commonly used in the UK, over time towards us visible turban-bearded Sikh males) remain the fringe and obscure part of the British-European world war story.

More soldiers from the continents of India, Arabia and Africa combined, fought and died for the British-European war alliance in both world wars, than immediate soldiers from these ally home territories. Sadly and painfully, we remain but a speck in the whole official story, imagery, rhetoric and paraphernalia presented by the British and European establishment (politicians, media, remembrance events, etc).

How many turbans and beards did we see in the big heads of state gathering in Paris international commemoration conference on 11 November 2018, with their self-congratulatory tone, images and rhetoric. None! For we are demonstrably excluded and not part of their official story.  Indeed, after the end of WWI, within 6-months, the British Empire which needed us so much in 1914-18, turned its own machine guns on us in the gory Jallianwala Bagh Amritsar Massacre, 13 April 1919.

In 1946, Colonel Landed Sarasfield lamented and argued in agonising terms about the ‘Betrayal of the Sikhs’ in the grotesque and undemocratic British-India colonial ‘Transfer of Power’ of 1947. In a direct call to the British government, he protested about the impending political and economic oblivion of the Sikhs in the political and territorial carve up of the Indian colony and construction out of it, of two hegemonic states of India and Pakistan.

 Also Read: Smeth­wick Sikh Sol­dier Statue cel­e­brates for­got­ten li­ons of World Wars

Panjaab overridden and cut up into two pieces, once again. 10 million of its people displaced, and 2 million slaughtered in weeks. In the personal words of Alan Campbell-Johnson, the personal secretary of Lord Mountbatten who presided over and decided on this mega-mess, “The Sikhs were sacrificed on the altars of Muslim ambition and Hindu opportunism.” (Mission with Mountbatten, Alan Campbell-Johnson, London). We were used and abandoned, as ever.

“If there be a Third World War, we would not be fighting and dying for the British establishment. No! No! N0! ”

Since 1947, the British and European governments have combined to aid and abet our oppression and persecution in the monstrous Indian state.   Today we continue to clamour for some degree of recognition and inclusion from the British-European establishment. We have evidently and demonstrably  been left on the side lines, with no dignity or regard. Hate crime on Sikhs is not recognised by the British government. Sikhs are excluded as an ‘ethnic category’ from both the UK wide census and UK government and public sector population statistics monitoring, despite compellingly proving themselves to the “more than just a religion” in the UK Supreme court case of Mandla v Dowell Lee, 1983 – over thirty years earlier.

In France, where the Sikhs fought in gruelling conditions and gave tens of thousands of lives, we today have a modern day apartheid being applied by the French state, which legally forbids Sikhs with turbans and beards having driving licenses, working in schools as teachers, having any official ID documents, holding any public sector employment, etc. Even Sikh children are barred from attending state sector schools and colleges due to their visible Sikh appearance. This horrifying comprehensive discrimination is open and officially endorsed by the French state! As one of the hundreds of the French Sikh victims has said: “I cannot get myself treated,” he said. “I cannot get X-rays, I cannot get my blood test done, I cannot get admitted to hospital.”

All this is powerful evidence of the major disregard for Sikhs, across European governments, despite their life-changing sacrifices for these states and their peoples. Official European leaders talk about the fundamental freedoms, human rights and dignity won through these sacrifices, but fail to apply this to the Sikhs!

Sikhs are not mentioned in the UK mainstream media, except when sensationalising a Sikh-related scandal or calling Sikhs ‘terrorists’. No UK media or government take up of the worlds most gruesome modern genocides – 1984. There is open UK government rejection of the setting up of a Sikh regiment in the modern British Army, as was common and favoured in WWI and WWII.

Isn’t it an irony that the French government showed no regard for the contribution of the Sikh soldiers when it banned the wearing of the turban by Sikh students in public schools? They may be worried by memories of the Crusades but they could have taken solace from the bravery of the Sikh soldiers and now it was their turn to show respect and recognition. Yet, they conveniently failed to do so.

Our cup is full. Perhaps, if there will be a World War III, the same powers will need us as cannon fodder, once again, to fight their cruel and crass wars. Then, surely we will be a lot more astute and free to decide yes or no! I will certainly follow the route of my grandfather -Maghar Singh, who along with his colleagues in the Sikh brigade of the Central India Horse regiment (Meerut cantonment), mutinied in Bombay  in 1940 in reaction to orders to board ships to European battlefields for WWII.

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The British government throughout, from 1845 to 1947 and from 1984 to now, have always acted in a hostile way to the Panjaabi nation. If there be a Third World War, we would not be fighting and dying for the British establishment. No! No! N0!