Global Punjabi diaspora unites to support flood-hit Punjab

A sense of shared identity is sweeping across Britain’s Punjabi diaspora as communities, gurdwaras, charities and MPs rally to support families devastated by the worst floods in decades.

In Southall, Gravesend and Birmingham, gurdwaras have launched appeals, with volunteers stacking donated food and clothing. Sangat TV, the Birmingham-based Sikh television channel that broadcasts religious, cultural and community programming, has switched to wall-to-wall coverage of the disaster, urging viewers to contribute.

Established Sikh charities are also in action. Khalsa Aid UK, the Slough-based humanitarian charity founded by Ravi Singh from Hoshiarpur, has dispatched volunteers across Gurdaspur, Kapurthala, Ferozepur and Abohar, distributing food, clean water and animal feed. United Sikhs UK, a UN-affiliated humanitarian group, has raised thousands of pounds online and pledged to adopt entire villages for long-term rehabilitation.

The UK business community is playing its part. Surya Foods, the Essex-based distributor behind the Laila Basmati brand, is sending relief parcels in partnership with World Food Aid. East End Foods has also signalled support. “Punjab has given so much to us and to the world,” said Surya CEO Harry Dulai. “Now, when it is hurting, we must stand by it.”

British politicians of Punjabi heritage have voiced solidarity. Preet Kaur Gill MP described the devastation as “heartbreaking” and linked it to the wider climate emergency. Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi, Seema Malhotra and Navendu Mishra are being pressed by community leaders to raise the issue in Parliament and push for greater UK government engagement.

From London, the mobilisation ripples outward. Across the Atlantic, Punjabi radio stations in Canada became nerve centres of fundraising. Red FM, broadcasting in Vancouver, Calgary and Toronto, raised around USD 2 million (Rs 16.5 crore) in just two days through radiothons, with donations channelled via Sikhi Awareness Foundation (SAF). Callers named the specific villages they wanted their money to reach, underscoring the personal connection.

In North America more widely, some 176 NRI associations across the US, Canada and the UK have pledged to match donations made to the Prime Minister’s Relief Fund, multiplying the impact. Gurdwaras in California, New Jersey and New York are serving as collection hubs for medical supplies, blankets and water purification tablets.

Europe has stepped forward too. NRI groups in the UK, France and Austria are providing buffaloes and cattle to dairy farmers in Fazilka and Ferozepur who lost their livestock, restoring both income and food security.

The diaspora’s cultural stars are adding their weight, leveraging fame and fan bases to raise funds and awareness. Singer Babbu Mann pledged his concert income from Canada, while Karan Aujla donated a rescue boat for Ajnala. Superstar Diljit Dosanjh announced he was adopting ten villages in Gurdaspur and Amritsar for relief and rehabilitation.

Two Punjabi performers with particularly strong UK followings have also stepped forward. Ammy Virk — a singer-actor who has headlined concerts in Birmingham, Leicester and Southall — promised to support 200 families. Sunanda Sharma, the playback singer whose appearances at diaspora festivals in London regularly draw large crowds, distributed 250 relief kits including solar lights and tarpaulins. “These are not just people of Punjab, they are my extended family,” Sharma said during her visit. Their appeals are being amplified across UK Punjabi social media networks.

UK Punjabis have also been made keenly aware of how Bollywood has joined in, with diaspora media highlighting celebrity pledges. Salman Khan, through his Being Human foundation, sent five rescue boats and pledged to adopt flood-hit villages. He said his organisation would focus on long-term rebuilding, not just immediate relief.

In Australia and New Zealand, gurdwaras mobilised almost overnight. In Melbourne, collections after prayers filled entire halls with rice sacks, dal, blankets and tarpaulins. Funds are being channelled through Khalsa Aid and United Sikhs to ensure direct delivery in Punjab.

Elsewhere, smaller Punjabi communities in East Africa and Southeast Asia have also responded, proving that distance has not dimmed emotional ties.

Reports from the ground highlight the devastation. Parmpreet Singh, a farmer from Ajnala in Amritsar district, has been widely quoted in local Indian media as saying: “My seven hectares of farmland are destroyed. I invested in seeds and fertiliser; now everything is gone.” Another farmer in Kapurthala said: “We survived the floodwaters, but our animals did not. Without cattle there is no milk, no income, no future. We are grateful the diaspora is sending help, but it will take years to recover.”

What makes this mobilisation distinctive is the way it expresses an international Punjabi identity. Punjabis abroad do not see themselves only as migrants in their host countries. They carry with them a sense of Punjab as homeland, even generations after migration. That identity is stitched together through language, music, gurdwaras and kinship ties, but it is also evolving into something global.

In cities like London, Toronto, Melbourne and New York, Punjabi culture has fused with local traditions to create hybrid forms — diasporic Punjabi dialects, bhangra remixes, community festivals. Yet when Punjab suffers, the diaspora responds as one, transcending national borders.

Scholars of migration note this pattern as a hallmark of Punjabi identity. Andrew Milne, a senior lecturer at University of Bordeaux-Montaigne in France, has described the Sikh diaspora as “a community that transcends borders with interconnectivity, solidarity and kinship”. In his words, they “maintain a strong sense of solidarity, mutual assistance, and a transnational kinship that binds them together across borders” (The Sikh Diaspora: A Community that Transcends Borders with Interconnectivity, Solidarity and Kinship, 2025).

For families in flood-ravaged districts, this outpouring of support is a reminder that they are not forgotten. As one villager in Ferozepur was cited as telling the media: “The water has taken our homes, our crops and our cattle. But knowing that Punjabis everywhere are standing with us gives us the courage to rebuild.”