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Khalsa Panchayat blasts SGPC on
affidavit
Rejects
concept of Sehajdhari altogether, blames Akali-RSS ties
WSN Network
CHANDIGARH:
Reacting to the SGPC's affidavit submitted before the
Punjab
and Haryana High Court, the Shiromani Khalsa Panchayat has said it
vehemently rejects the conspiratorial attempt to undermine the
identity of the Sikhs by submitting "a totally untenable affidavit
regarding the definition of Sehajdhari Sikh".
The Panchayat
leadership, in a press conference in
Chandigarh on
Monday, said the affidavit "has opened the back-door entry for all
non-sikhs to pose as Sehajdhari and enjoy the fruits of minority
community in SGPC run institutes and all other places."
It also pointed
a needle towards those experts who have "chosen to remain silent
after doing the damage."
"Shiromani
Khalsa Panchayat is convinced that this has been done by the
Shiromani Akali Dal Badal led SGPC under the direct interference of
the right-wing partners of the Badal led –the Bharatiya Janta Party
and the sinister influence of the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh,"
Panchayat leader Rajinder Singh said.
He said it was a
sad commentary that the defense lawyer of the SGPC in this case, who
is leading the proceedings, himself does not happen to fulfill the
prerequisites of the definition of a Sikh as per Rehat Maryada.
"It is very
difficult to assess fom the atitude of the defense lawyer whether he
is speaking for or against the Sikh cause and community," he said.
Shiromani Khalsa
Panchayat said it will not allow this mischief to be taken to a
conclusion as designed and desired by the SGPC. "We will take all
possible legal and political steps to undo the damage that has been
done by the affidavit. In consultation with our lawyers, we will
soon join issue in the
Punjab
and Haryana High Court by filing an amicus curie petition," he said.
He said the SGPC
must "immediately withdraw the affidavit" and those members who
formed the expert panel should resign from their primary membership
for their incompetence and cowardly buckling under the pressure of
the SGPC president.
The Shiromani
Khalsa Panchayat said it was convinced that "the solution to this
muddle which keeps bothering the Sikhs, particularly at the time of
the SGPC elections, is to annul the very concept of Sehajdhari.
"This concept had some historical justification in the past, but is
no longer relevant. The call of Sikhism is clear and unmistakable
–you are either a Sikh or you are not. There is no middle path,"
Rajinder Singh said.
17 December
2008
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