Sikh veterans flay jathedars to quit posts

CHANDIGARH, Nov 3: Sikh veterans have taken it upon themselves to rid the community of quot;elements harmful to the Sikh causequot;.At ...

CHANDIGARH, Nov 3: Sikh veterans have taken it upon themselves to rid the community of quot;elements harmful to the Sikh causequot;.

At a meeting in the city today, the Sikh veterans, along with former Lieutenant-Governor of Goa, Col retd Pratap Singh Gill, bitterly flayed Puran Singh, Kewal Singh and Manjit Singh, the jathedars of Akal Takht, Takht Damadama Sahib and Takht Anandpur Sahib, respectively, for quot;insulting the communityquot;. quot;Any religious leader who commits murder and dubs it as a service to the Panth, or is involved in a murder case, or behaves like a property dealer, along with being a Singh Sahib, is not in a position to safeguard the interests of the community,quot; Col Gill said in a statement. They have also demanded that the jathedars step down on their own without creating any kind of controversy.

Deliberating on what ails the leadership of the community, the veterans, under the newly-formed Rashtriya Raksha Dal RRD, further lashed out at Bhai Ranjit Singh, the predecessor of the Akal Takht jathedar, for being quot;equally responsible for the downfall.quot;

In a statement, the veterans said: quot;It is imperative that the religious, pious and upright individuals, who are not hungry for money or power, replace Bhai Manjit Singh, Bhai Kewal Singh and Bhai Puran Singh.quot; quot;They are Singh Sahib8217;s only in name. They are misusing the religion Sikhism 8230; quot; said Col Gill, adding that the jathedars have proved themselves unfit for the highest religious posts with the various controversies they are involved in. The RRD president, Col Harsharan Singh Sandhu retd, pointedly urged Giani Kewal Singh to step down to preserve the dignity of the office, as he has been charged in a dowry death case. A case under Section 304-B IPC has been registered against the jathedar and his family for allegedly driving daughter-in-law Sharanjit Kaur to suicide.