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For two centuries, Sikhs have been famend within the British Empire and later, in unbiased India, for his or her preventing prowess and their customized of getting into battle of their distinctive headdress. Many Sikhs view maintaining lengthy, unshorn hair wrapped in a turban as a part of their faith’s Five Kakars, or sacred markers of identification, and for many years, Sikhs world wide have resisted strain by governments for them to don helmets, whether or not to serve in fight or to trip bikes.
Now, a plan by the Indian military to buy 12,730 ballistic helmets designed specifically for Sikhs has drawn criticism from the topmost spiritual leaders in Sikhism, sparking the most recent debate for a group that has lengthy tried to navigate the dueling mandates of its faith and secular authorities.
Typically, Sikh males cowl their hair with a skinny undercloth known as patka earlier than tying it in a knot on high of their heads. The 5-to-8-meter-long turban, or pagh, is wrapped over the patka. The apply is claimed to be one of many commandments handed down by Guru Nanak, the founding father of Sikhism, who lived between 1469 and 1539.
The Indian military’s new helmet, dubbed Veer, or gallant in Hindi, could be worn on high of the patka however exchange the turban. The helmet has a bulge to accommodate a Sikh soldier’s topknot, and its designers say it will supply safety in opposition to small-arms hearth and be appropriate with mounted evening imaginative and prescient goggles, cameras and communication programs that Sikh troopers beforehand couldn’t use with their turbans.
But in a statement Jan. 12, the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee, the foremost spiritual authority in Sikhism, wrote to Indian Defense Minister Rajnath Singh asking that the helmet procurement plan be withdrawn. The turban is a sacrosanct image of Sikh heritage, committee president Harjinder Singh Dhami wrote.
“Ordering a Sikh soldier to take off his turban and wear a helmet just because it offers better protection to his head, is ignorance to the Sikh’s psyche,” Dhami mentioned within the assertion, which listed historic battles through which Sikhs had fought with out helmets.
The controversy in India mirrors comparable debates within the West, residence to an enormous Sikh diaspora. Until just lately, the U.S. Marine Corps prohibited Sikhs from beginning fundamental coaching except they shaved their beards. Beards, that are additionally a part of the sacred Sikh markers, interfered with sporting gasoline masks, the Marine Corps mentioned.
After the ban was challenged by a Sikh American advocacy group in court docket, it was overturned by a federal choose in December. The Marines are reportedly contemplating an attraction.
Former Canadian Defense Minister Harjit Singh Sajjan, a Sikh veteran who served in Bosnia and Afghanistan, has mentioned he tried making his personal gasoline masks so it will work along with his beard throughout his time as a soldier.
In the civilian realm, the difficulty of whether or not Sikhs should put on helmets has additionally been debated. While Sikhs are exempt from helmet necessities to trip bikes in international locations together with India and Canada, German courts have dominated that Sikhs should put on the top safety. Australia, one other nation with a big Sikh inhabitants, additionally requires helmets for bikers, prompting protests by Sikh teams.
The debate in India has been particularly delicate as a result of Sikhs make up a big a part of the military and comprise a few of its most storied fight items, together with the Sikh Regiment, the Sikh Light Infantry and the Punjab Regiment.
Men from the Indian state of Punjab, which is majority Sikh, make up 8 p.c of the military although Punjab accounts for simply 2.5 p.c of India’s inhabitants. In many Sikh households, navy service is a degree of satisfaction and custom. That legacy is so entrenched that when filmmakers produced a Bollywood remake final yr of “Forrest Gump” and needed an Indian equal for the character performed by Tom Hanks, they devised a Punjabi Sikh protagonist (portrayed by Aamir Khan) who got here from a navy household.
Kusumesh Mishra, an engineer on the protection agency MKU and the Veer’s designer, mentioned he obtained the concept for the helmet after his firm met with a Sikh soldier who lamented the shortage of acceptable headgear.
“You have helmets for everyone but not us,” Mishra recalled the Sikh soldier telling firm executives. Last yr, Mishra interviewed greater than a dozen Sikhs to gauge their response to the helmet and examined it with Sikh troopers in excessive chilly in Ladakh, the Himalayan territory close to India’s tense borders with China and Pakistan, he mentioned.
“It’s very disheartening to see this,” Mishra mentioned in regards to the controversy. Those objecting to the helmet “don’t even know what the helmet looks like or how it was made.”
It is unclear whether or not the Indian Army, which has remained silent on the pushback from Sikh spiritual leaders, will drive by means of the usage of the brand new helmet. In latest years, the navy has confronted intense resistance to initiatives similar to a budget-cutting scheme to launch recruits after 4 years of service however enacted them anyway. (Many in India have historically seen navy service as safe, lifetime employment that additionally elevates one’s social standing.)
Some Sikh veterans have come to the military’s protection, calling their spiritual elders’ pondering impractical.
“Will Pakistan give a [pledge] that their snipers will stop targeting our Sikh troops if they wear turbans?” requested retired Lt. Gen. Okay.J. Singh, referring to India’s neighboring archenemy. Singh, whose four-decade service report included a stint with United Nations peacekeeping forces, mentioned Sikh traditions confronted greater threats within the trendy world, similar to rising numbers of younger village males who choose to chop their hair as a vogue alternative.
“Start with all these singers and actors who have cut their hair,” he mentioned with a sigh.
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