This panel explores the multifaceted struggles of the Sikh community for freedom and human rights, focusing on both historical and contemporary contexts. It examines the role of Sikh religious and cultural symbols in motivating and legitimizing collective actions, as seen in the Kisan Andolan farmers' protest. The panel also delves into the use of torture against Sikh militants during the 1980s and 1990s, highlighting the gendered and psycho-political dimensions of such practices.
By integrating insights from these two studies, the panel underscores the enduring impact of Sikh teachings on resistance movements and the complex interplay between identity, power, and violence. It aims to foster a comprehensive understanding of how Sikh struggles for autonomy and justice are shaped by and respond to broader socio-political dynamics, offering diverse perspectives on the ongoing quest for equality and human rights within the Sikh community.
Based on a book chapter recently published, this presentation will focus on the role played by religion as a force of social change in the contemporary world, discussing how Sikhi has been a major source of inspiration and a tool of mobilisation during the Kisan Andolan (the Indian farmers protest of 2020-21). Sikh ethos has indeed provided potent values and heroic figures drawn from past struggles as well as religious institutions and practices, such as langar, that have been instrumental in sustaining the over-one-year-long struggle.
Based on interviews conducted at two of the protest sites at Delhi borders, my research provides an insight into the broad array of religious resources that were mobilised during the largest and longest rural struggle of post-colonial India, and their uneasy alliance with other ideologies, particularly the secular left, dominant among the farmers unions.
This paper examines the use of torture as a psycho-political tool during the 1980s–1990s Sikh insurgency, arguing that it targeted not only individuals but also the collective Sikh psyche. It explores the gendered nature of torture, demonstrating how patriarchal violence shaped the experiences of both men and women, particularly through sexualized abuse. Engaging with psychoanalytic theories from Freud, Sade, and Yeğenoğlu, the paper investigates how fantasies of dominance and subjugation informed both state violence and cultural representations. By drawing a comparative analysis with the Algerian War of Independence and its depiction in The Centurions, this study reveals how torture was framed as a means of reclaiming masculinity. The deliberate degradation of Sikh identity is analyzed as a tool of state control, illustrating the broader relationship between gender, power, and fantasy in modern India. This paper contributes to critical discussions on violence, subjectivity, and representation in postcolonial contexts.