Majha

Majha, from a word meaning “middle”, is the traditional name of the central region of the Punjab. The Encyclopaedia of Sikhism puts it in the upper Bari Doab, between the Beas and the Ravi, and calls it the birthplace and early home of Sikhism. It says four of the seven towns founded by the Gurus lie there, and that four of the five Tarna Dal misls settled in it. The Encyclopaedia’s definition takes in Lahore district, now in Pakistan.

In Indian Punjab, Majha means the districts of Amritsar, Tarn Taran, Gurdaspur and Pathankot, which together hold 25 assembly seats. Outlook India calls it “the Panthic belt” and says the Akalis have traditionally claimed it as their base.

Key moments

• 1539 to 1552: Guru Angad Dev lived at Khadur, which became the centre of the Sikh faith.
• 1604: the Adi Granth was prepared at Ramsar and installed in the Harimandar at Amritsar.
• 7 September 2021: the SGPC launched Ghar Ghar Andar Dharamsaal, sending 100 teams of seven preachers into the villages of Majha, Malwa and Doaba, each staying a week.
• 13 October 2021: Akal Takht Jathedar Giani Harpreet Singh accused Christian missionaries of running programmes of forced conversion of Sikh and Scheduled Caste Sikh families in border villages. Bishop Pradeep Kumar Samantaroy of Amritsar, of the Church of North India, called the claim baseless and said the church runs 150 educational institutions open to all.
• 2 December 2021: ThePrint reported that Kamal Bakshi, state president of the United Christian Front, said there were 600 to 700 churches in Amritsar and Gurdaspur districts, 60 to 70 percent of them built in the past five years, and that the Front had committees in 8,000 of Punjab’s 12,000 villages. These are the group’s own figures and the report did not verify them. The 2011 census put Christians at 7.68 percent of Gurdaspur, the highest share in the state, and a little over 2 percent of Amritsar district; ThePrint noted that the census probably misses converts who keep their old names.
• 4 June 2024: the Khadoor Sahib seat in Majha elected Amritpal Singh, then held in Assam, as an Independent.

What it means today. Sri Harmandir Sahib, Sri Akal Takht Sahib and the SGPC’s offices are all in Majha, and the SGPC and Akal Takht have treated its border villages as the ground where conversion has to be answered. Converts quoted by ThePrint said they came for community, equality and schooling and denied being paid, while Giani Harpreet Singh alleged force and money. The sources opened do not measure how many have converted.