A Place Called Home: The Sense of Belonging of the Afghan Hindu and Sikh Diaspora in India

Anwesha Ghosh
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Anwesha Ghosh: Anwesha Ghosh is a Research Fellow at the Indian Council of World Affairs, New Delhi. She has taught at the Willy Brandt School of Public Policy, University of Erfurt, Germany, as a Lecturer while conducting her post-doctoral research. She holds a doctoral degree in Peace and Conflict Studies from the University of Erfurt, an MPhil from the Institute of Foreign Policy Studies, Kolkata, and double Master’s in History and Development Studies from the University of Calcutta and the University of Rome, La Sapienza, respectively. Ghosh has several publications to her credit, including four single-authored books, and she writes regularly for reputed newspapers and journals.

India Quarterly: A Journal of International Affairs, 2022, vol. 78, issue 4, 654-670

Abstract: The Taliban takeover of Afghanistan in August 2021 caused a humanitarian catastrophe in the country that triggered en masse exodus of a new wave of Afghan refugees desperate to flee the clutches of the Taliban. Although Pakistan and Iran had traditionally been the two main destinations of refuge for Afghans, yet for some Afghans—especially for the non-Muslim minority communities of Afghanistan, namely the Afghan Hindus and Sikhs—India has always been the foremost destination for refuge. The article aims to understand the experiences of the mentioned communities, as they moved from pre-conflict, to conflict, displacement and finally to the settlement phase in India. Thus, the article throws light on the experiences of Afghan Hindus and Sikhs both in their home and host countries and, in the process, engages with various aspects of the negotiations and marginalisation endured by them. It then strives to explore their sense of belonging at the scales of state, individual and community by discussing the significance and impact of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019, specifically for the members of Afghan Hindu and Sikh diaspora in India. A plethora of research has been produced that focuses on various aspects of India’s relation with Afghanistan, but the issues of the Afghan religious minorities in India remained a neglected topic of scholarly research. This article attempts to remedy this lack of literature by examining the unexplored dimension of India’s engagement and support for Afghan Sikhs and Hindus.

Keywords: Afghan Hindus and Sikhs; India; conflict; exodus; refugee; diaspora; CAA (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:indqtr:v:78:y:2022:i:4:p:654-670

DOI: 10.1177/09749284221128668

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