Bidar’s Sikh Community is Dwindling

The Sikh community has been residing in Bidar, Karnataka for 80 years, anchored by faith and belief in Guru Nanak Jhira Sahib Gurdwara. Facing a dwindling population due to a lack of educational and industrial opportunities, many are leaving Bidar for better prospects in bigger cities. That the Bidar Sikhs still hold a fair bit of clout at the elections is evident from the fact that come election season, parties and functionaries cutting across the political spectrum miss no opportunity to woo them. From a population close to 15,000 in the early 1980s to less than 5,000 now, the Sikh community has a dwindling presence here, with some even claiming that their numbers could be as low as 1,500 at present. Once a thriving educational hub for Sikhs who came to Bidar to pursue engineering and other degree courses, and a major pilgrimage center for Sikhs, the town has seen little improvement in terms of its infrastructure. This has resulted in an exodus of the younger generation of Sikhs. ‘While faith is our community’s central reason for residing in Bidar, lack of higher education opportunities and inadequate industrial development have forced many to leave the town in search of a better future in metropolises such as Hyderabad, Mumbai, Bengaluru, and Delhi, or [they] have traveled abroad,’ said Manpreet Singh, 55, a businessman and member of the Gurdwara executive committee. ‘In the last two years, the average age of the population of our community has gone up to about 65 years,’ added Manpreet, who believes he is a Kannadiga first and then a Sikh.