SIKHS AND THE 2011 CENSUS

Author:  Dr Indarjit Singh UK

The Sikh Federation’s legal challenge against the ONS will strike a resonant chord in the hearts of many Sikhs who, without necessarily understanding the pros and cons of ethnic monitoring, rightly feel that Sikhs have been progressively marginalised in British society.
But all is not as it seems, and UK Sikhs should remember that the Federation are the very same people who brought disgrace on the Sikh community by their rowdy behaviour outside the Miri Piri gurdwara in Southall.

They demonstrated in support of those in the SGPC and at the Akal Takht who, with their allies in the BJP and the Hindu Sant Samaj, wish to blur the distinctiveness of Sikh teachings. They demonstrated to prevent a respected Sikh, who had the courage to condemn the assault on Sikhs in 1984, doing kirtan because he had objected to placing the Dasam Granth which contains clearly pornographic material of questionable authorship (along with verses in consonance with Sikh teachings) on a par with the Guru Granth Sahib.

Coming now to the merits or otherwise of the legal challenge against the ONS, the Federation refuse to acknowledge that the desire for ethnic monitoring is NOT necessarily shared by all in the Sikh community. Yet they have put forward the legal challenge on the basis that they speak for the Sikh community, whereas they are only a very small part of it. The much larger Network of Sikh Organisations (NSO), easily the largest umbrella body of Sikhs in the country, has for example, consistently expressed the desire to be counted as a religious group, rather than as an ethnic category. The ONS as well as speaking to the Federation have also spoken to other Sikhs and these differences, and the strength with which they are held are well known to them.

Before the launch of the legal action, I repeatedly offered to discuss or debate the pros and cons of ethnic monitoring with the Federation so that we could arrive at a greater consensus and a more united voice. But the only debate which the Federation seem capable of is that seen in the rowdy demonstrations outside the Miri Piri gurdwara. In the absence of debate,
I’m setting out the pros and cons of ethnic monitoring below for calm and considered reflection:

ETHNIC MONITORING OF SIKHS
Strength of feeling on the issue.
Passionate feelings have been shown on all sides of this debate. There is evidence that absence of an ethnic category for Sikhs in 2001 led to calls by some to ignore the religious question. This on top of general apathy in the Sikh community could have led to significant under-enumeration to the detriment of all UK Sikhs.
Passionate feelings have also been expressed by those who say that Sikhism is a world religion and Sikhs should be counted as a religious group, and who see idea of Sikh religious identity being subservient to an ethnic classification as contrary to our Gurus’ teachings. An ethnic group tick box instead of a religious one, would almost certainly lead to even greater abstention and under enumeration.

Can we have it both ways; both religious and ethnic monitoring in the Census?
The real danger here is that those who feel strongly for or against would fill in only one tick box, leading to even greater under enumeration.

How can we meet all objections and get a realistic count of Sikhs?
In discussions with the NSO, the ONS have offered to create cross tabulations of all data on the religious information on Sikhs (and Jews) so that this information can be used in the same way as that gathered for ethnic categories. They cannot make it compulsory for local authorities to do this. Those of us on the Faith Communities Consultative Council can however with the support of the wider Sikh community lobby the Department of Communities and Local Government to issue the necessary directive.

Dr Indarjit Singh
Director Network of Sikh Organisations.