Dr Nalwa Roots for Integration

Hyderabad: The legacy of Sardar Hari Singh Nalwa, who once stopped the Afghan forces at the Khyber Pass, is not merely history but a living inheritance, said Dr A. Tajinder Pal Singh Nalwa, his descendant. “If we could protect India from invasions then, we must now protect our children’s minds from disintegration.”

Dr Nalwa was speaking to Sikh educators, community members, students, and lawyers at a seminar hosted by the Sikh Education Society at Guru Nanak High School Lecture Hall.

Presided over by former DGP Tejdeep Kaur Menon, president of the Telangana Sikh Society, the seminar focused on legal issues and identity questions confronting the Sikh community. Menon recalled Dr Nalwa’s contributions to the anti-Sikh riot cases of 1984 and his work with Kashmiri refugees and flood-hit families in Kerala.

Dr Nalwa, an attorney qualified in India and Australia, recalled an issue handed to him earlier that day by a member of the Hyderabad Sikh community. “That one file will keep me busy for the next two years,” he said. What followed was a two-hour dialogue punctuated by wit, candour, and calls for structural action. His focus was not confined to history but widened to Sikh representation in governance, education, and employment.

“There are 70-plus Sikh MLAs and MPs across the world today,” he said. “But in India, why are we still asking our sons to sit at their fathers’ shops?” Economic independence, he asserted, cannot be substituted by displays of wealth. His critique of lavish ‘langars’ run as competitions was pointed. He said, “If the roti is dripping ghee but lacks humility, it’s not Guru Nanak’s langar.”

Audience questions steered the session toward Sikh personal law and the ongoing debates around the Uniform Civil Code. Responding to a question on legal identity and whether Sikhs fell under the Hindu umbrella, he said, “The Constitution is clear. Sikhs, Jains, Muslims, Parsis and Jews are all separate. We don’t need to prove our identity by shouting it aloud.”

On the matter of adoption, marriage registration and the pending implementation of the Anand Marriage Act in some states, Dr Nalwa acknowledged the patchy execution across India, despite legal provision. “Haryana and Delhi have already acted. Punjab has recognised it from the start,” he said. He pointed out that the act, first proposed during the British period, is only now beginning to see implementation, decades after independence.

As the session neared its end, Dr Nalwa left a task for the community to commit to training five children over the next thirty years. “Guru Nanak waited 300 years before the Khalsa was formed. That patience and planning is the reason we still exist.”