Punjab, India - Migrant labour from Bihar is turning to the Sikh religion and converting in a bid to reduce discrimination against them in the agricultural and labour sectors in Punjab.
There are over 10 lakh such migrant labourers in Punjab.
Unlikely couple
Vijay Singh, a resident of Talhan village in Jalandar, and his wife make an unlikely couple.
Vijay speaks in typical Punjabi while his wife can barely follow the language. She speaks in Bihari.
Even though Vijay originally belongs to the Purnea village of Bihar himself, he came as a migrant labour to Punjab 27 years ago and became a baptised Sikh while his wife joined him just three years back.
Keeping a turban!
Babloo Kumar, another Bihari migrant labourer, has not actually converted but started keeping a turban and a beard, saying it enhances his social status.
"I just felt like keeping a turban. All the guys around here started calling me 'Gianiji'. It felt good," he says.
"But do they stop calling you bhaiya? No, they won't stop calling us bhaiyas even if we become baptised Sikhs. The discrimination does not stop. The entire industry and agriculture is largely dependent on bhaiyas. Take the soap factory or the construction work, there are no Punjabis. It's the bhaiyas who are employed," maintains Sikander Yadav, a Bihari migrant labourer.
Attractive wages
Punjab has a million plus strong migrant labour population, largely from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, employed in agriculture and industry. They are attracted by the higher wages they get in this state.
"They speak better Punjabi than us. Punjabis working on our lands are less than five in a hundred," says Harjinder Singh, Landowner.
"The discrimination against them is reducing. They were earlier outcastes but have now become an accepted part of the periphery. Though at one level, discrimination against them reduces, they remain at the lowest end of the hierarchy," says Pramod Kumar, Analyst.
It's a sentiment that's echoed by Vijay Singh who tells us that even though he's become a baptised Sikh, he's not allowed to forget he was a Dalit who later converted.
Discrimination even when Sikhism doesn't recognise caste. But for many, it's the beginning of a process of assimilation in Punjab's society.