JALANDHAR: The president of the Akali Dal (Mann), Mr. Simran jeet Singh Mann has said that Sehajdharis (clean-shaven Sikhs) have no right to vote or stand for elections to the Shiromani Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee (SGPC).
Speaking to media persons, Mr. ‘Mann said his party was of the view that as the Sikhs are a separate nation, the Hindus cannot have any say in its religious affairs. Even if they are practitioners of the Sikh faith in principle, they do not observe the outward manifestations.
He was reacting to the reported suggestion by the Shiromani Akali Dal headed by Mr. Prakash Singh Badal. Where the S A D is suggesting a fixed reservation for Sehajdharis in the SGPC in its memorandum to the Minorities Commission of India. Hitting out at the “traditional Akali leadership” he said that have been the Sikhs and that is why Mr. Badal is not heading the delegation of the minorities commission. “We cannot agree to Mr, Badal’s premise that the Hindus and Sikhs should be clubbed in the SGPC,” He added. Because there is great potential for mischief if the gates are opened to Sehajdharis in the SGPC, he added.
‘Commenting on the opposition of the SAD to his suggestion to reduce the age limit for voting to the SGPC house, he said that this was because the SAD is scared of including the youth in the polls for fear of losing many of their seats to them. Similarly, ‘on their opposition of reservation for women, he said that the traditional Akalis have always discriminated against women and opposition of reservation for them is a “retrograde step.” He denied that his seeking of the minority’s commission intervention in the religious affairs of the Sikhs will in any way delay SGPC elections, as charged by the SAD leaders. On the contrary, he said that by suggesting this, it would mean that “we cannot ask for any kind of reform.”
The traditional Akalis, he said, are ‘opposed to elections as they are the beneficiaries of the prevailing police raj and are therefore not keen for holding of SGPC polls. Mr. Mann assailed the Punjab government for perpetuating the “police raj” and said that not only the Congress but even the Akalis and the Communists have been conniving to maintain the supremacy of police as they are all beneficiaries of this system.
Article extracted from this publication >> December 1, 1995
