| Abstrakt: |
Abstract: The article essentially deals with the participation of Sikh volunteers in an agitation dealing with the opening of all roads in the vicinity of the Shiva temple in Vaikom, lasting over one and half years, between 1924 and 1925. The journey of the Sikhs to alien territories were by no means something strange, since the Sikh scriptures are replete with the long journeys that Guru Nanak undertook both within South Asia as well as to the distant parts of Asia. The Sikhs had always been ahead of other communities in traversing through trade routes and making use of the pilgrimage sites. However, their decision to take part in the Vaikom Satyagraha, launched primarily by the nationalist minded leaders in the princely state of Travancore met with opposition on the part of Mahatma Gandhi, who essentially viewed it as a Hindu affair. This opposition of Gandhi was to a great extent influenced by his own prejudical understanding of the Gurudwara reform movement spearheaded by the Akalis in the immediately preceding years, since there was a belief that the Sikh leadership had not totally comprehended the logic of satyagraha, based on the tenets of non-violence. Gandhi’s instructions to the Akalis to leave Vaikom, vindicated the fact that the developments in Punjab, particularly in Nabha and several other places would have a strict bearing over the participation and political strategies that were likely to be adopted in the Vaikom satyagraha. |
