A village in Bihar is a mini Punjab Premium

Many Dalits from Araria district have migrated to Punjab and converted to Sikhism in the hope that it will accord them respect and free them from caste-based exploitation. Amarnath Tewary reports on how caste-based discrimination and poverty drive thousands of people away from the State, especially the Kosi area, in search of greener pastures

One muggy afternoon, a pair of goats and a calf lazily graze near a structure with a tin roof, at ward number 3 in Halhalia village of Araria district, Bihar. The structure is surrounded by a bamboo barricade. A board hung outside on the gate reads: ‘Gurdwara Sri Akal Sir Sahib’. Loudspeakers have been placed on the roof and a tree branch nearby to amplify the recitation of the Guru Granth Sahib, a holy book treated as a living Guru by the Sikhs.

Nearby, Dilip Singh Rishideo and Pramod Singh Rishideo stand below a neem tree wearing yellow, black, and sky blue turbans on their head and straggly beards. They carry kirpans (short swords or knives with curved blades and one of the five distinguishing signs of the Sikh Khalsa) on the right side of their waist. The Rishideos, who are Dalit, migrated to Punjab many years ago, where they converted to Sikhism. All of them have added ‘Singh’ to their names.

They are not exceptions. Over half the people of ward number 3 in Halhalia, which has a population of about 750 voters, migrated to Punjab as migrant labourers over the years and returned as Sikhs. “On Gurpurab day (which marks the birth anniversary of the first Sikh Guru, Guru Nanak Dev), the village looks like a mini Punjab,” Pramod Singh says, smiling.

“This is our way of getting rid of centuries-old caste-based discrimination and finding respect in society,” says Narendra Singh Rishideo, 50, the head priest of the gurdwara, in Hindi laced with a heavy Punjabi accent. “After all, Sikhism talks about equality, humanity, and respect to all.”

It was Narendra Singh who set up the gurdwara in the village on December 16, 1985. At the age of 12, Narendra migrated to Balliawal village of Ludhiana district in Punjab, where he found a job as a domestic helper. There, he would visit the local gurdwara often. Slowly, he began to listen more and more to the Gurbani, the compositions of Sikh Gurus, and grew enchanted with the hymns.

Narendra stayed there for 25 years, visiting his village in Araria district, located about 322 km from Bihar’s capital Patna, only twice. “There was nothing to greet us here except humiliation and poverty, for we belonged to the Dalit Rishideo (Musahar) caste,” he says. “I did not come here for the first 10 years of my stay in Punjab.”

Narendra recalls painful memories of how members of other castes, such as the Yadavs and Paswans, would not allow the Musahars to sit with them at functions or at festival ceremonies. “They always maintained a physical distance from us,” he says.