Thursday 18th September is the most awaited date for both Scotland and the UK. The Scottish referendum posed to the electorate of Scotland will have strong implications in terms of economic, social and of course political policies. The UK government has a clear policy that it wishes to see Scotland remain part of the UK, while the Scottish government is determined of seeking independence. British Indians, Non residential Indians or persons of Indian origin (PIOs) especially the British Sikhs, living in Scotland, like other Britons, are divided on which way to vote on Thursday's referendum.
This historic relationship between Britain and the Sikh community is particularly poignant this year due to the 100th anniversary of the start of the First World War, when 80,000 Sikhs fought for the British armed forces. According to the British Sikh Report 2014, over half of Sikhs in Scotland identified as being 'Scottish Sikhs' whilst the remainder referred to themselves as 'British Sikhs'.
The Sikh community also has a long relationship with Scotland which dates back to 1855 when Maharaja Duleep Singh (the last Maharaja of the Sikh Empire and the first Sikh to set foot on the British Isles) established his home in a castle in the Highlands and came to be known as the 'Black Prince of Perthshire'.
In the last 160 years, the Sikh community in Scotland has developed to become one of the most affluent and influential groups in the nation and its members have excelled in all walks of life despite there being fewer than 10,000 Sikhs as of the 2011 Census (9,055 Sikhs in Scotland as of 27th March 2011).
Scottish Sikhs can be found throughout mainstream society, from cookery and entertainment shows on TV through to the music and the arts, they were involved in the opening ceremonies of London 2012 and Glasgow 2014, and there is even a 'Singh' tartan on the Scottish Register of Tartans. The courts recognised Sikhs as a race as well as a faith, and that it was Parliament in Westminster which gave exemptions to turban wearing Sikhs from wearing motorcycle helmets and hard hats on construction sites.
Ray, an International news agency, reported that Indian government's assessment, according to a diplomatic source, is "the community is split on their voting intentions". He could not definitively say whether it was the older or younger generation that was favouring Scottish independence.
There are an estimated 23,000 overseas Indians resident in Scotland. They are considerably concentrated in the western city of Glasgow, but are also to be found in the capital Edinburgh and along the east coast in Dundee and Aberdeen. They engage in a variety of occupations from being doctors to professors, professionals in multi-national corporations to running restaurants and shops. 60% of the NRIs/PIOs are believed to be Sikhs.
The Indians' active involvement in Scottish politics is limited. There are only four local councillors in the whole of the region, with no one elected to the Scottish parliament or to the British parliament from Scotland.
Such a situation is in sharp contrast to the Pakistani community's inroads into public life in Scotland. The present Scottish Nationalist Party's external affairs minister is 29-year-old Humza Yousaf, whose father migrated from Pakistan in the 1960s.
Yousaf is a strident figure in the "Yes" campaign and had proved to be particularly influential with younger Pakistani voters. To counter his impact, the Labour party has wheeled in the current governor of the Pakistani province of Punjab, Mohammad Sarwar, who previously as a Labour candidate in Glasgow, became in 1997 the first person of Pakistani origin to be elected as an MP to the British parliament. He retained his seat until 2010.
The City Sikhs Network speaking with Asian Voice said that they would like to urge the Scottish Sikhs to vote 'No' at the Referendum on Thursday. The rest of the United Kingdom would be at a loss without Scotland, and British Sikhs would be all the poorer without their Scottish Sikh compatriots.
However they also added, that whatever be the results of the referendum, they hope that the ties between Sikhs in Scotland and elsewhere in the UK will remain strong. They are ready to welcome the Moderator of the Kirk (Church of Scotland) in his resolve to hold a Service of Reconciliation immediately after the Referendum in order to bring the nation of Scotland together in harmony, whatever the historic result may be.
Autonomy, independence and desperate promises- the Scottish Referendum
Mr. Cameron, addressing the Scots who dislike him and his government, stated that he would not be the Prime Minister forever but if Scotland leaves the UK, that will be permanent.
Unlike other UK elections, in this referendum 16 and 17 year olds will be able to vote in the which is being touted as a once-in-a-generation opportunity for people in Scotland to have their say about the country’s future.
Addressing the issue of citizenship and immigration, the Scottish government says that dual citizenship will be permitted, subject to Whitehall’s call over the matter. The Scottish secretary Alistair Carmichael has called the Scottish government plans 'fundamentally contradictory'. UK PM David Cameron said the reality would involve stricter borders which could mean an people being forced to “pack their passport when they’re going to see friends and loved ones”.
All the three main pro-union UK parties- Labour, the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats – have pledged to offer a version of 'devo-max' if Scotland votes no in Thursday’s referendum. 'Devo-max', a term for Maximum Devolution, would mean Scotland having the power over its most reserved matters, except defence and foreign affairs.
RBS, Tesco Bank, TSB, Lloyds and Clydesdale Bank last week issued market advisories on their contingency plans in the event of independence, suggesting they may move their headquarters to England. There is also great speculation and anticipation over the future of BBC in Scotland and the expansion of Scottish Broadcasting Corporation.
UK is a member of the most influential global organisations including the G7, G8, G20, NATO, the UN Security Council, and the EU. This means that people in Scotland are represented at the highest levels when it comes to the world’s major economic, political and security issues.
No one knows how long it might take an independent Scotland to join the EU, but Alex Salmond revealed that talks have taken place with major European states including France, Spain and Italy about the prospect of an independent Scotland joining the EU. In the UN Security Council, UK currently has one of only five permanent seats which an independent Scotland would find too ambitious to attain.
Although Buckingham Palace has been at pains to stress that the Queen has no position on the independence referendum, the Scottish First Minister went ahead to say, “The balance of Scottish opinion is, very substantially, that we want Her Majesty the Queen to be Queen of Scots.”
The opinion polls remain divided. Social media is exploding with stories from both sides. It remains to be seen how it influences the added 100,000 teenaged voters. Summing up all the implications, Joseph Stiglitz countered the view of fellow Nobel prize-winning economist Paul Krugman, who recently warned that Scotland would face "huge risks" going it alone and told Scots to "be very afraid". Mr. Stiglitz said that while there would be risks in the event of a Yes vote, the risks of Scotland remaining in the union and UK leaving the EU would be "significantly greater".
