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Amrit Dhillon

India's most distinctive minority, the Sikhs, are in danger of losing their identity if youths continue shaving their beards, cutting their hair and discarding the turban, according to reports from Punjab, north India.

The hair and turban are the symbols of Sikhism and two core tenets of the faith. But Sikh organisations in Punjab - which is predominantly Sikh - are alarmed at the number of youths opting to get rid of them.

The Shiromani Gurudwara Prabandhak Committee, the highest decision-making body for the Sikhs in Amritsar, estimates that 80 per cent of youths in Punjab have cut their hair and abandoned the turban.

'I envisage a day when not a  single Sikh village will have any turbaned youths. My own nephew has shaved his beard off and stopped wearing the turban. He said it was a nuisance,' said Sukhbinder Singh Tohra, a member of the committee.

Sikhs constitute only 2 per cent of the Indian population. As a  minority, they have always been proud of their identity and  when they have settled in the west, they have fought for the right to wear their turbans.

Yet in their home state of Punjab, their identity is withering.

Rajesh Sarao, a sociologist at Chandigarh University in Punjab, says that Sikh youths find it tedious to maintain a beard and tie a 5-metre long turban every morning.

But he also blames the Sikh religious leaders  for the decline. 'They have been so involved in politics  and bickering among themselves that they have failed to do their job of preserving Sikh traditions and customs,' Mr Sarao said.

Wider forces, such as the growing westernisation of Indian society, are also responsible.

'I got rid of my turban because I wanted to be fashionable and attractive to women. When I was growing up - and even now - I had no Sikh role models. There wasn't a single Indian model or Bollywood actor with a turban,' said New Delhi investment banker Mikha Kochchar, a 24-year-old Sikh who removed his turban two years ago.

Some Sikh leaders  argue that getting rid of external symbols of faith makes it easier for youths to commit sins prohibited by Sikhism.

'When a Sikh wears a turban and beard, he is inhibited about drinking or taking drugs. It bothers his conscience,'  said one gurudwara priest Amarinder Singh Dhami.



Sikh identity under threat as youths shed beards, turbans