Sindhi
speaking people of India, migrated from the Sindh province of undivided India,
after the partition on 14th August 1947.
The
Sindh, gave the name Hind to the Nation. The archeological excavation of
Mohan-Jo-Daro in Sindh, proved that Indus valley civilization was the oldest
civilization of more than seven thousand years old, making India feel proud,
among the community of World civilizations. But merely 67 years after
partition, the same Sindh province has been forgotten completely. Most of the
present Politicians and Administrators in Central government & the
governments in provinces in the age group of 40-60 years, hear the word
‘SINDH’, only when the National Anthem is played on ceremonial occasions. They
are therefore not aware of the betrayals, discriminations and injustices faced
by Sindh and its people.
To
put the issue of Sindhi Linguistic state in proper perspective, following
historical facts are being introduced:-
1)
After resisting
the “Two Nation Theory” for ten years from 1937 to 1947, the National
Leadership represented by Indian National Congress, agreed to the division of
India, on the basis of the “Two Nation Theory” propounded by All India Muslim
League. Under this theory, all the “Muslim majority provinces” of British
India, Punjab, Bengal, Sindh and N.W.F.P. were to join Pakistan and all
non-Muslim majority provinces were to remain with residual India.
2)
Contrary to this
theory, exceptions were made only in case of Punjab and Bengal, but not in case
of Sindh. The Eastern one third portion of the Punjab and Western one third
portion of Bengal having majority of non-Muslims, were retained in India, but
the eastern one third portion of Sindh with Hindu majority, consisting of
largest district of Tharparkar, Mirpurkhas etc. were not retained in India.
This is clearly betrayal/discrimination with Sindh and her people.
3)
In violation of
the “Two Nation Theory”, even single Muslim majority district of SYLHET in
predominant Hindu majority province of Assam, was given the facility of
referendum, enabling its merger with East Pakistan, but the same facility of
referendum was denied to the Hindu majority district of Tharparkar, enabling
its merger with India. Otherwise, Tharparkar, along with princely states of
Jaisalmer, Kutch and border cities of Barmer, Jalore etc. of the princely state
of Jodhpur, having similar language & culture could have formed province of
East Sindh, like East Punjab & West Bengal. Obviously this was gross
discrimination with the Sindhi people.
4)
Merger of entire
Sindh with theocratic state of Pakistan without ascertaining the wishes of
Sindhi People by referendum, resulted into complete ENSLAVEMENT of entire Sindh
and exodus of Sindhi Hindus, to save their religion.
5)
Punjabi migrants
from West Punjab and N.W.F.P. were settled in planned manner in East Punjab, in
princely states of Punjab, Haryana & Himachal Pradesh and in adjoining
non-Punjabi territories. Similarly Bengali migrants from East Bengal &
Assam settled in planned manner in West Bengal, adjoining Princely states and in
other adjoining non-Bengali territories. Thus Punjabi & Bengali
migrants got a compact territory having majority of Punjabi and Bengali
speaking people respectively, safeguarding their language & culture.
This pattern of compact settlement should have been
applied in case of Hindu migrants from Sindh also. They should have been
settled in the compact territory bordering Sindh and princely states of
Jaisalmer, Kutch and border towns of Barmer, Jalore etc. of the princely state
of Jodhpur for the sake of preserving their language, culture and distinct
identity.
The
authorities ignored even the advice of the then Relief & Rehabilitation
Minister of Central Government Shri K.C. Neogy. Even the views of Father of
Nation Mahatma Gandhi was violated, as described below:-
The written advice of Shri Neogy reads as follows:-
“An important point to remember is that Sindhis are
threatened with extinction as separate people with their own peculiar &
distinctive customs and qualities. Thinly spread all over India with no
place to call their own. They cannot hope to retain their culture and
language”
It is relevant to mention that even
a tiny place of Ulhasnagar, having almost 100% of Sindhis, is not named
SINDHUNAGAR officially, inspite of vigorous demand of the citizens for the last
67 years in true spirit of the Central Minister’s observations quoted above.
Views of Father of Nation Mahatma
Gandhi
When
Bhai Pratap, A Sindhi leader approached Gandhiji for guidance, The father of
Nation, Mahatma Gandhi told him to plan a secure but natural alternative for
Sindhi Hindu community at a place where their identity would remain intact and
he suggested Kutch as a natural choice from historical, cultural and linguistic
point of view, where there would be no threat to their natural way of life.
As
a followup, the Maharao of Kutch on advice of Mahatma Gandhi and Sardar Patel
gave 15000 acres of land as grant on 29th January 1948, to Sindh
Resettlement Corporation with Acharya Kriplani as Chairman and Bhai Pratap as
Managing Director. But after the death of Gandhiji on 30th January 1948
and the merger of princely state of Kutch with India on 4th May
1948, Kutch was declared as independent commissionery under direct control of
the Central Government with the appointment of first Chief Commissioner of
Kutch on 1st June 1948.
The
bureaucracy of Central Government didn’t honour the solemn commitment of the
Maharao of Kutch and instead of 15000 acres of freehold land, meagre 2600 acres
of land was given to Sindh Resettlement Corporation not as a freehold grant but
on lease for 99 years with so many conditions including prior permission
from Kandla Port Trust Authorities. Because of these changes the
resettlement plan finally took shape after approval in 1952, when most of
the Sindhi migrants were already settled elsewhere.
The
large scale migration from Sindh started after the Hindu massacre of 6th
January 1948 in Karachi and the martyrdom of the Father of Nation on 30th
January 1948 and was almost complete by 30th June 1948. The plan of
the father of Nation to resettle Sindhis in Kutch and provide them Kandla
Port in lieu of Karachi Port, stood scuttled by the bureaucracy of Central
Government, as illustrated above.
The
discrimination in case of resettlement of Sindhi migrants as compared to
resettlement of Punjabis & Bengalis in compact areas is obvious. The
Sindhi migrants were temporarily given shelter in makeshift arrangement of
refugee camps, from where they should have been shifted in a planned manner
following the same pattern, but Sindhis of these camps were given free railway
passes to find & search suitable places themselves in entire India. This
proves that the authorities wanted scattered settlement of Sindhis,
ignoring the sane advice of the Father of Nation and other impartial
personalities.
Above
is the brief summary of betrayal, discrimination and injustices with Sindh and
her people during last 67 years, resulting in complete slavery of Sindh and
near extinction of roughly one crore uprooted Sindhis, scattered in more than
3000 towns in 2.85 lakh sq. km area of India, where North is separated from
South by 3214 km & West from East by 2933 km. Due to adverse impact of
local cultures, they are loosing their Mother tongue, culture and the very
identity. They are virtual second class citizens devoid of Political rights
and social status not at par with 14 other major linguistic communities of
Punjabis, Bengalis, Gujratis, Marathas, Tamils, Telegus etc.
By
the dint of their hard work, business acumen and devotion to one Point
Program of earning money, they have by their outward show off, created a
HYPE around them that they all are billionaires. But in reality, the Indian Sindhis
(excluding NRI’s) can be categorized wealth wise as follows:-
|
5% in the category of Rich
|
|
|
30% in the category of upper
middles class having big shops & higher salaries of people in jobs
|
|
|
35% in the category of lower middle
class having small shops & lower salaries of people in jobs
|
|
|
30% are below Poverty line
|
|
Although
Sindhi Language is recognized & placed in the VIIIth schedule of the Indian
Constitution, at par with other 14 major Indian languages. But creation
of the linguistic states for the people of only 14 languages, put Sindhi
speaking people to great disadvantage. All others have government patronage
while Sindhis have to depend on themselves only. Apathy in all the fields and
adverse effect of other cultures everywhere, is resulting into virtual
annihilation. This is clear from census figures on Population. The population
of other 14 major linguistic communities having their own states are
increasing in each census, while population of Sindhis is declining in
every census.
When
Nation is concerned about the decline of population of GIR LIONS and some other
species of animals & birds, the Nation should be concerned with the
extinction of entire 7000 years old Sindhi civilization. The only way is to
compensate for the 67 years of betrayal, discrimination, injustices and virtual
social boycott of Sindhi community as a whole. The only compensation, we want
is to accord Political status to entire Sindhi Linguistic Territory (S.L.T.),
still in existence in India after the merger of mainland Sindh in Pakistan.
This
Sindhi Linguistic Territory (S.L.T.) within present Political boundaries of
India consists of:-
a)
Princely state of
Kutch, as per Linguistic Survey of India by Sir George Greirson and other Linguistic
wizards - Kuchchhi is dialect of Sindhi language.
b)
Princely State of
Jaiselmer, as Dhatki spoken in this state is dialect of Sindhi language
c)
Barmer, Jalore and
other towns bordering Tharparkar and Kutch have Thali, Thareli spoken here, are
dialects of Sindhi language.
Following
are other historical facts:-
1.
Maharao of Kutch
signed the instrument of accession on 4th June 1948 and his state
was made independent commissionerate, administered by the Chief Commissioner
appointed by Central Government – Status equivalent to present Union Territory.
It was wrongly merged with Bombay presidency on 1st
November 1956 ignoring the protests by native people. Even Sindh was separated
from Bombay Presidency in 1936, along with Orissa from Calcutta presidency.
2.
Similarly, Sindhi
Linguistic Territories of Princely State of Jaisalmer, Barmer, Jalore etc of
Jodhpur Princely State were merged with Hindi speaking East Rajasthan ignoring
the protests of native people, who wanted the status of Union territory in
the absence of mainland Sindh in India.
3.
The Princely
States speaking the Sindhi dialects were merged in the neighboring British
Provinces because both Sindh & Multan, speaking various Sindhi dialects had
become part of Pakistan. This was out of compulsion of prevailing situation
at that time.
Although these Sindhi linguistic Territories were
merged in Gujarat & Rajasthan in 1960 i.e. 54 years ago, affecting their
original culture adversely, but bonds of Common Deity, Common folk tales
& folk songs cannot separate the natives from Sindhis.
The creation of Linguistic States
On 15th August’1947, there was no
linguistic province, because the British Government had divided entire British
territory in India, only on the basis of administrative convenience. There were
three Presidencies, at Calcutta, Bombay & Madras and one Viceroy in the
National Capital at New Delhi. Entire Eastern Sector was governed by the
Presidency at Calcutta, Western Sector by Bombay Presidency and the Southern sector
by Madras Presidency. Besides, there were the territories over which the crown
had suzeranity, but which were under the control of hereditary rulers. These
Princely States were given the option of joining either INDIA or PAKISTAN.
Like British Government, the successor Congress
Government at New Delhi, especially Prime Minister Pandit Jawahar LaL Nehru was
dead against the creation of Linguistic States. But Telegu speaking people of
British Indian Territory of Andhra State, which was part of Madras Presidency
started agitation for separation from Madras Presidency. Their Leader
Amarajeevi Potti Sriramulu started fast on 19th October 1952,
demanding statehood for Telegu speaking areas of Coastal Andhra &
Rayalseema and separation from Madras Presidency. There was widespread
agitation in support of his demand but Pandit Nehru and RajGopalchari, the
Chief Minister of Madras resisted. On 16th December 1952 with the
death of Shri P. Sriramulu during fast, the peaceful agitation turned violent.
The popular agitation disrupted normal life in Madras and entire Andhra region
of British India, forcing Pandit Jawahar lal Nehru to announce on 19th
December 1952 the formation of First Linguistic State in free India of Andhra
State for the telegu speaking people of Madras Presidency, with KURNOOL as the
capital.
With the creation of the first linguistic state, the
demand for other linguistic states increased and Pandit Nehru and Central
Government was forced to appoint States Reorganisation Commission (S.R.C.) in
December 1953 to recommend the creation of States on linguistic lines. On the
basis of its report and The States Reorganisation Act of 1956, new states by
& large were based on ethnicity and language. But due to violent
agitation and imperialistic tendencies of Powerful Political leaders, the
aspirations of certain territories were ignored, inspite of positive
recommendations of Reorganisation Commission of 1953.
Some
of these territories are:-
1)
Telangana region
of Nizam Hyderabad Princely State, was unwillingly merged in Vishal Andhra
Pradesh
2)
Vidharbha
consisting of Nagpur & Amravati Divisions were merged in Marathi speaking
state to make Maharashtra, ignoring recommendations of S.R.C.
3)
Kutch was a
separate part C state till 1956. But was merged in Bombay Presidency against
the wishes of local people and was subsequently merged in Gujrat province in
1960, due to agitation of MahaGujrat Parishad.
4)
Saurashtra was a
separate state till 1956. It was first brought in to Bombay Presidency against
the wishes of local people and subsequently merged in Gujrat Province in 1960, due
to agitation of MahaGujrat Parishad.
5)
Sandy areas of
Princely state of Jaisalmer & Jodhpur, bordering Sindh & Kutch were
unwilling to merge in Hindi speaking areas of Rajasthan. They wished to have
Union Territory Status for this area which they call Maru Pradesh, the Pradesh
of Sand.
6)
People of
Dargeeling hills & Dooars in West Bengal are Nepali speaking Gorkhas, but
was not separated from Bengali speaking Province, appears to be anomalous.
With the creation of Telangana as 29th
State, other demands enumerated above would get momentum and there is
probability of the declaration of Second State Reorganisation Commission.
The justification of Sindhi linguistic state has been
given on Page 3 to 4.
The territory of proposed Sindhi Pradesh has been
summarized in the following table.
|
Code
|
District
|
Headquarters
|
Population(2011)
|
Area(Sq
Km)
|
Density(/Sq
Km)
|
|
JS
|
Jaisalmer
|
Jaisalmer
|
672,008
|
38,401
|
17
|
|
JL
|
Jalore
|
Jalore
|
1,830,151
|
10,640
|
172
|
|
BM
|
Barmer
|
Barmer
|
2,604,453
|
28,387
|
92
|
|
KA
|
Kutch
|
Bhuj
|
2,090,313
|
45,652
|
46
|
GYAN HEMNANI
General Secretary
United
Sindhi Forum
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