The acting Akal Takht Jathedar, the highest temporal seat of Sikhism, Giani Harpreet Singh, alleging “forced conversions” to Christianity are taking place, has said the Sikh community needs to “seriously think about demanding an anti-conversion law” in Punjab. He has called a gathering of the Sikh community at Anandpur Sahib on September 5 to discuss the issue and warned that the practice “will not be tolerated anymore”. This is not the first time that the Akal Takht Jathedar has singled out the spread of Christianity as a threat to the survival of the Sikh religion in Punjab. Is he right to be worried?
This story was first published on June 8, 2022
Of Punjab’s 2.77 crore population, Sikhs constituted 57.7% while Christians constituted just 1.3% of the population. This is according to the 2011 Census — the last one for which figures are available. In fact, of the state’s 20 districts, Sikhs are in a majority in 16 of them with the remaining four dominated by Hindus, who constituted 38.49% of the population while Muslims stood at 1.9%.