Could Khalistan have been a Reality?
Khalistan is a bird that was flown away. It was an ill-defined concept that could not have bone fruit in independent India but there was a time before 1946 when Khalistan or the state of Punjab could have become an independent entity.
Punjab was the biggest province in North India but I think people must know that neither the Congress Party not the Muslim League ruled Punjab. In those days Punjab was ruled by the Union Party which consisted of the landed gentry and consisted of Muslims, Sikhs, and Hindus. This was a party of the rich but Punjab was the richest state in India at that time
Punjab in 1946
The Akali party which represents the Sikhs was a member of the union party and it supported it. Master Tara Singh the Akali leader was, however, wary of the Muslims and had built bridges with the Congress Party and Mohandas Gandhi. This was after Jinnah had made overtures to the Muslim's in the Union Party. The British were waiting to fish in troubled waters and also they wanted to reward the Sikhs for all they had done to perpetuate the reign of the Raj.It's a known fact that the Sikh Troops not only stormed Delhi in 1857 but also took part in the first and second Afghan wars. They also took part in various campaigns from the Siege of Peking to battles against Japanese in Burma and Singapore.
The offer
Lord Mountbatten sent his secretary to meet the Akali leader Master Tara Singh. The British offered master Tara Singh an independent Sikh State. Lord Mountbatten Secretary offered Tara Singh a state which would be almost similar to the area ruled by Maharajah Ranjit singh.
The situation was however not all that rosy as Muslims who were members of the Muslim League in Punjab were hell-bent on joining Pakistan and they were carrying out many attacks on Hindus and Sikhs . Master Tara Singh in his wisdom at that time decided that in case a independent Punjab was created the large number of Muslim's in the state would create a perpetual strife as in west Punjab the Muslim were in the majority. The British could give him no assurance as to what would happen to the vast Muslim population.
Tara Singh was in a dilemma. He was wondering what to do. In early 1946 Jinnah met Tara Singh and other Sikh leads and offered them to join Pakistan. He offered a blank check to the Sikhs. But during the same period riots broke out in Karachi and many Sikhs were killed. Tara Singh and Akalis realized that Sikhs and Muslim could not live together. In a subsequent meeting with Gandhi, he was told Sikhs would have a special status in India. The die was cast as the Sikh leadership decided to reject Jinnah's offer and join India. In addition, Tara Singh felt an independent Sikh state may not be viable because of a large number of Muslim's in Punjab.
In hindsight one can see that 1946 was a very crucial period in the history of India . A more ambitious leader then master Tara Singh had been there and he had accepted the offer of an independent Punjab then the history of the subcontinent would have been entirely different. This was the one chance of Independence but there was a problem because in the state which was to be carved out the Sikhs themselves constituted only 30% of the population. the Muslims were about 55% and the Hindus were 15% The question arises what would happen to the Muslim population and would it have remained in Punjab ? there was very little chance that Sikh state t would have been carved out. What is more likely is that an independent Punjab would have come into being. We cannot now judge whether it would have been good or bad because we must remember that the union party was ruling Punjab for good part of two and half decades and this consisted of both Muslims and Sikhs.
Sikhs in Punjab
Special rules had been passed and special laws enacted to protect the Sikhs, who were in minority but the British had the revenge on the Silbs because at the time of partition most of the major Holy shrines of the Sikhs which were in the Western Punjab were not handed over to them.The Sikh demand of Lahore to be incorporated into India as it was the capital of Maharaja Ranjit Singh not accepted .
Even Gandhi after 1947 backtracked on his promise of special status for the Sikhs. However, over a period of time the Sikhs who are a hardy people though constituting only 2% of the population of India have made their presence felt in all walks of life all over the country. We can now only study the period from 1944 to 46 which was one of the most two traumatic periods in Indian history was also the period when Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru and Sardar Patel to stop Jinnah becoming the Prime Minister of India agreed on the partition.
Tunion party in Punjab never favored partition. These are facts of history and there's nothing much one can do about them except to read about them and interpret what all happened in that period. An independent Sikh State if formed would have been guaranteed by the British and it would have well been an ally of the British for all time to come but now we can only look back at that error and wonder whether Master Tara Singh and the Akali leadership was correct or not to accept an independent state. There can be no clear-cut answer because now as I am already written the bird has flown and the Sikhs are the sword arm of India and I do not see an independent Punjab ever coming up in the decades to come
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