As the world celebrated Earth Day last week, followers of Sikhism are trying to spread the "green message" through religion in their native land of Punjab, India.

The leader of the Ek Omkar Trust Sikh religious sect, Baba Balbir Singh Seechewal, has appealed to Indo-Canadians to pressure Indian politicians to commit themselves to a pollution free environment.

With an eye on the parliamentary elections in India, Seechewal – who was declared an Environment Hero by Time magazine last year – has pushed the political parties of Punjab to make green promises in their election campaigns.

Seechewal has urged Punjabi immigrants, who are closely watching India’s elections, to not only grill visiting Indian politicians on this issue, but to also support the green crusade he has launched close to the election campaign.

Many Indian political groups have branches in Canada, while others have big supporters here who send donations back home.

Seechewal, who visited Metro Vancouver last year, is currently touring villages in Punjab to make people aware of the damage done to their natural resources by industries. His supporters voluntarily cleaned a rivulet in Punjab recently as a symbol of their commitment to Seechewal’s cause.

The religious leader popularly known as ‘Green Baba’ also distributes free saplings to encourage people to grow trees in that state, which lacks forest cover. In fact, this practice was first started by Prof. Manjit Singh, a former Sikh clergyman, in 1999. Prof. Singh was also involved with the Alliance of Religions and Conservation. The campaign continued smoothly until he was sacked on corruption charges. Another Sikh saint, Sewa Singh, now continues the tree-planting practice.

The founder of Sikhism, Guru Nanak, described the air as guru, water as father and earth as mother in Japji Sahib, the morning prayer of the Sikhs.

Seechewal quotes Nanak repeatedly in his discourses to make people understand the value of natural resources.

A prominent Sikh author, Khushwant Singh, who has written many books on Sikhism, has declared that he shouldn’t be cremated after death. Instead he wants his body to be buried as he does not approve of wasting the wood. Since this goes against the principles of the Sikh religion, fundamentalists have mocked him for "being obsessed with the Muslim culture."

Regardless of these and other criticisms, the Sikh clergy is to be commended for its renewed commitment to the environment we all share.