Holla Mohalla military festival looks to encourage more Sikhs to join UK Armed Forces

A military festival organised by the UK Defence Sikh Network is looking to encourage more Sikhs to join and improve their experience in the Armed Forces.

The event marks the Holla Mohalla festival, which was originally started as a gathering for Sikhs who would practice military exercises and mock battles to remind people of valour and defence preparedness.

Major Deljindr Singh Virdee, Royal Army Medical Corps, told Forces News it made "perfect sense" that Sikh personnel marked the festival.

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"It's a time and opportunity for the Sikh armies to come together, train together, demonstrate the physical bravery, valour [and] evoke within the community a sense of courage and those martial traditions that Sikhs are renowned for," he said.

Throughout history, Sikh soldiers have had a reputation for excellent marksmanship, with a shooting competition held as part of Holla Mahalla.

Traditional Sikh folk music was used before battle to evoke the warrior spirit, which proved a good way to get everyone in the mood for demonstrations of Sikh martial arts.

Sikh soldiers have a proud history of military service, and have served in the Army since the 1800s but in 2024 there are just 150 in the service and 300 across defence in total.

It is unclear why the numbers of Sikhs in the UK military is so low, but the UK Defence Sikh network is looking to change this with inclusion events like the festival.

Captain Brijinder Nijjar, an Apache Pilot with 653 Squadron, told Forces News the number of Sikhs in the British Army does not reflect their presence in society.

"Clearly there are many more Sikhs in the UK who could be doing what we're doing today," he said.

"I guess it's just a case of knowledge. We don't have those family links that we might have had in the past where an uncle, a brother, a cousin, was part of the Armed Forces.

"So, it's just about re-establishing that link, reaching out to the community… and hopefully drawing some more attention to us."