Sehajdhari issue: Capt takes fight to Badals’ camp,demands probe

The former chief minister was reacting to the statements by the Badals who had alleged that Amarinder had,since 2002,been hatching conspiracies to gain control over the SGPC through proxy forces. The Congress,Sukhbir,had said was rattled with the unprecedented support to the SAD candidates and Amarinder,seeing the writing on the wall (for the forthcoming Vidhan Sabha elections),decided to scuttle the process. They had also demanded a CBI inquiry into the alleged ‘volte face’ by the Centre.

Addressing a press conference after meeting delegations from different sections of the society,Singh reiterated that the Sehajdari Sikhs have a right to participate and vote in the SGPC elections and the 1925 Act clearly specifies that they are as much Sikhs as anyone else. He said the Akalis were trying to repeat the same mistake they committed during the Punjabi Suba movement.

He pointed out,of the 1.22 crore Sikh voters,62 lakh Sehajdharis have been excluded which is totally illegal,unjustified and unlawful.

“You can’t ignore such a large section of people,” he said and added that “anybody who is born to Sikh parents and has faith in the Sikh religion must have the right to vote in the SGPC elections”.

Asked about the impact of the SGPC results on the Assembly elections scheduled for February 2012,the former Chief Minister said,“the SGPC elections represent a very small segment,rather a fraction,of the Punjab electorate.”

In a related development,in Amritsar the SGPC member and head of Akhal Purakh Ki Fauj,an NGO,Jaswinder Singh Advocate said that the Sikhs were clear about the definition of the Sehajdhari Sikhs and the Centre should stay away from Sikh affairs and should not use legal and political tools to interfere.