[10 November 2018] There are so many tear jerking documentaries about Partition and subsequent violence in Punjab. Old and feeble sardars cry and recall the atrocities during partition. I always wondered, why there is not even a single Hindu farmer among those. We always see Sikh and Muslim farmers recalling the horrible days of partition in all the documentaries and textual content available. The only Hindus that we see talking about the partition are Hindus who lived in Lahore city, an urban area.
So should we conclude that spread of Islam and Sikhism in rural Punjab was so intense that there was 100% conversion either in Islam or Sikhims. Or was it something else?
If you are clueless like me, read about Punjab Land Alienation Act, 1900.
Basically in late 19th century British identified that money lending was a severe issue in Rural Punjab which was affecting the land holding and led to exploitation of rural Punjabis. Most of money lenders were Hindu according to British observation
So they came up with an idea of Punjab Land Alienation Act. British with their infinite wisdom identified 'traditional agriculturists', 'martial races' and 'trading castes'. Yesterday I made a post on Martial races: [Reddit link], [Blog link] )
Now British interfered in the civil system of Punjab as well. They divided all of Punjabi population among agricultural tribes and trading caste.
And guess what, if you did not belong to agricultural tribe, law did not permit you to buy land in rural Punjab. This act came into effect in 1900. This created a lot of upheaval in rural Punjab in a span 2-3 decades only. Hindu land owners had to eventually give up the land ownership. Today we read that many landlords in Pakistan like Zardari and Sharif own thousand of acres in Pakistan. The Muslim communities and Jat Sikhs benefited a lot from this law. In West Punjab, Muslim landowners abused this law to consolidate their land ownership. Hindus and many Punjabi castes had to move out of villages as they did not have right to own land in rural Punjab, for example - Khatris, kapoor, Khanna etc. many castes lobbied to be included in agricultural tribes so that they can benefit from this act.
I tried to find out which castes were enlisted as agricultural tribes by reading the original text act but guess what there was no list as such. The decision to declare any caste as agricultural tribe was totally left to the local administrators. [source]
It also led to many families making their first son to follow Sikh religion
We have read about forced displacement of population in Nazi Germany and Soviet Russia. Punjab Land Alienation Act was as draconian as compared to the similar acts of Nazis and Commies. But why don't we hear about this more? Because criticising this act did not benefit either the rich and powerful Muslims in West Punjab in pakistan or the Sikhs who dreamed of separate nation for them. This discriminatory act went against their narrative. Congress complied with the Sikh leaders in order to appease them. But so many issues that we faced in Post independence Punjab had their origins in Punjab Land Alienation Act.
Links used for this write up:
Original post made by user ranjan_zehereela2014 on indianews.reddit.com.
So should we conclude that spread of Islam and Sikhism in rural Punjab was so intense that there was 100% conversion either in Islam or Sikhims. Or was it something else?
If you are clueless like me, read about Punjab Land Alienation Act, 1900.
The Punjab Land Alienation Act of 1900 was a piece of legislation introduced by the British Raj with the aim of limiting the transfer of land ownership in Punjab Province. It created a an "agricultural tribes" category, the membership of which was almost compulsory to buy or sell land.So basically British presented this act as land reform measure but what it did was elimination of Hindus in rural Punjab and complicating caste and religion issues in rural Punjab.
Basically in late 19th century British identified that money lending was a severe issue in Rural Punjab which was affecting the land holding and led to exploitation of rural Punjabis. Most of money lenders were Hindu according to British observation
So they came up with an idea of Punjab Land Alienation Act. British with their infinite wisdom identified 'traditional agriculturists', 'martial races' and 'trading castes'. Yesterday I made a post on Martial races: [Reddit link], [Blog link] )
Now British interfered in the civil system of Punjab as well. They divided all of Punjabi population among agricultural tribes and trading caste.
And guess what, if you did not belong to agricultural tribe, law did not permit you to buy land in rural Punjab. This act came into effect in 1900. This created a lot of upheaval in rural Punjab in a span 2-3 decades only. Hindu land owners had to eventually give up the land ownership. Today we read that many landlords in Pakistan like Zardari and Sharif own thousand of acres in Pakistan. The Muslim communities and Jat Sikhs benefited a lot from this law. In West Punjab, Muslim landowners abused this law to consolidate their land ownership. Hindus and many Punjabi castes had to move out of villages as they did not have right to own land in rural Punjab, for example - Khatris, kapoor, Khanna etc. many castes lobbied to be included in agricultural tribes so that they can benefit from this act.
I tried to find out which castes were enlisted as agricultural tribes by reading the original text act but guess what there was no list as such. The decision to declare any caste as agricultural tribe was totally left to the local administrators. [source]
It also led to many families making their first son to follow Sikh religion
Many families got around this artificially imposed caste barrier by raising one or more son as a Sikh, chiefly by having them adopt the name Singh and grow hair/beard to match." [source]The impact of Punjab Land Alienation Act is enormous on Punjab society. British very successfully trifurcated the Punjab society among Hindu, Muslims and Sikhs. This law forced many families to adopt to Sikhism so that they can avail land ownership right. Hindus and trading castes among Sikhs had to move to urban area so they became richer due to better economic opportunities, while most of the Sikhs in the rural area stuck to farming. Even if they wanted to sell their land, there were not enough buyers. So they become poorer. This led to alienation of Sikhs in Independent India. On the other hand Muslim land owners kept consolidating their land ownership persecuting poor Muslims and Sikhs in rural Punjab.
We have read about forced displacement of population in Nazi Germany and Soviet Russia. Punjab Land Alienation Act was as draconian as compared to the similar acts of Nazis and Commies. But why don't we hear about this more? Because criticising this act did not benefit either the rich and powerful Muslims in West Punjab in pakistan or the Sikhs who dreamed of separate nation for them. This discriminatory act went against their narrative. Congress complied with the Sikh leaders in order to appease them. But so many issues that we faced in Post independence Punjab had their origins in Punjab Land Alienation Act.
Links used for this write up:
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Punjab_Land_Alienation_Act,_1900
- http://pseweb.eu/ydepot/semin/texte0910/CAS2010BRI.pdf
- http://www.rediff.com/news/special/why-dera-sacha-sauda-draws-followers/20170828.htm
- http://www.wichaar.com/news/319/ARTICLE/10994/2009-01-01.html
- https://www.esamskriti.com/e/History/Indian-History/Why-was-the-first-son-made-a-Sikh-1.aspx
- https://www.revolvy.com/page/Punjab-Land-Alienation-Act,-1900
- https://www.thehindu.com/2002/01/29/stories/2002012900030800.htm
- http://punjablaws.gov.pk/laws/18.html
Original post made by user ranjan_zehereela2014 on indianews.reddit.com.
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