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Low caste people didn't have any rights in India. So they started converting to Sikhism because Sikhism gives equality to all people. Number of these low caste people were about 140 to 150 million and they were from 34 different castes. Seeing this Nehru and Patel gave more rights to low caste people and said only Hindus will have these rights. This stopped their conversion. Only 4 out of those 34 castes were considered Sikhs. Others claimed themselves as Hindus. Today, low caste people like Harijans have more rights. They even have reserved seats in colleges regardless of their grades. This was because of Patel. Furthermore, Punjab's capital Chandigarh was also made the capital of Haryana. There is no high court in Punjab. Punjab has no control over its water, electricity and dams. All the electricity produced in Punjab is sent to Haryana, Rajasthan, Himacham Pardesh and Delhi. These states are given hydro projects which is affordable and cheap. The electricity that Punjab is given comes from the thermal plant which is more expensive. Don't think its better for Punjab. Instead it is worse because most of the electricity will be used by farmers who happen to be Sikhs. This means they will have to pay more than others. It doesn't effect Hindus because they live in cities and work in other professions. Cheap electricity which belongs to Punjab and which could save Sikh farmers some money is given to the other Indian states. The government increased its activities against Sikhs in late the 70s which led to massacre of thirteen Sikhs in 1978 who were peacefully protesting against an Indian agent who was preaching anti Sikh material. When Sikhs filed a case in the supreme court in Punjab, it was heard in Haryana because the majority was Hindus in that state. Those majority people (Hindus) accused Sikhs for causing the trouble and the agent and his followers were released. This really outraged Sikhs. At that time a person named Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale started preaching Sikhism in Punjab and all over India. He spoke against Indian activities against Sikhs. His speeches made Sikhs realize that they were not free in India. They were being treated like second class citizens. Sikhs started demanding more rights and wanted to be treated like first class citizens. |