In the 1950s, the British brought 300 Sikhs to Shillong to keep the city clean. The British settled the Sikhs on a 3.5-acre plot variously known as Harijan Colony, colloquially called Sweeper Colony, now called Panjabi Lane. Panjabi Lane is free land sandwiched between three kinds of administration: the Cantonment land, the Municipal Board land, and the 6th Schedule Tribal reserve land. Over the last 170 years, many of these Sikhs married local Khasi women, their families grew, they found work in the city – mostly as sweepers and local vendors – and some returned back to Panjab. Panjabi Lane has now grown into a densely packed residential area with 342 Panjabi families residing in 220 houses. Two decades back, the local Khasi community started feeling uncomfortable with the Sikh presence in their midst. Though the traditional Shillong society has no caste system, the locals started targeting the mostly Sikh-Khasi mixed population, who religiously follow the Sikh faith over their Dalit caste identity. It led to riots, a bitter legal battle with the Meghalaya government, and the long red tape of land relocation paperwork. This is an issue about the beautification of Bara Bazaar, a neighborhood in the heart of Meghalaya’s capital – a city’s urban renewal dream. However, the questions it brings up apply to Sikhs globally outside Panjab: does ethnicity alone determine belonging, or does labor also determine belonging? For generations the people of Panjabi Lane have labored for the city. Does the city not owe them permanent homes?
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