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SGPC finds a 'Singh' in Pavit Mattwal, says father-son duo did great service
WSN Network 

Chandigarh: Close chums of the ruling Badals of Punjab, advocate general H S Mattewal and his clean shaven son Pavit Mattewal, have pushed the SGPC president Avtar Singh Makkar into a situation where he has to defend them as champions of Sikhism and great votaries of essentiality of unshorn hair in Sikhism.

After the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (DSGMC) came out with a booklet on the role of the Mattewals in the entire imbroglio created by the submission of a contrived and wrong affidavit before the Punjab and Haryana High Court which the SGPC was later forced to withdraw, the SGPC is now bending over backwards to defend the duo.

Makkar and three advocates have asserted that the DSGMC booklet is “motivated attempt to defame as a part of larger conspiracy the SGPC, Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, advocate-general Hardev Singh Mattewal and his son Pavit Singh Mattewal."

It is interesting to note that while SGPC has found a "Singh" in Pavit's name, he himself does not use the suffix. 

In an open letter to the DSGMC, “in reply to their pamphlets containing false claims about the proceedings in Gurleen Kaur case” on definition of the Sikhs, they have asserted that even their counsel KTS Tulsi “had complimented Pavit Singh Mattewal for his assistance to the court”.

Tulsi may have done so, but what Makkar failed to notice was that Pavit Mattewal was himself clean shaven and for him to have argued that hair were essential for a Sikh would have been ironical too. That he did not argue any such thing is a matter of record and well and extensively reported by the World Sikh News and other media.

With a rather canny eye, the SGPC chief claimed to have "noticed in the judgment" the "submissions of Pavit Singh Mattewal regarding the significance of unshorn hair."

Lest Makkar is accused of defending Mattewals at the cost of his real boss, the statement added: “The SGPC knows fully well and duly acknowledges the contribution of Parkash Singh Badal as a world Sikh leader of the highest order, along with his contributions for the path. SGPC also acknowledges the contribution of HS Mattewal for the SGPC and the larger Sikh cause."

As for the fact, the controversial role of Pavit Mattewal was ascribed by many to the anti-Sikh lobby in the BJP and the Radha Soami cult to which Mattewals’ affiliations are well known.  

The real role of Mattewals 

As for the senior Mattewal, he had gone so far as to actually write an article in The Tribune newspaper advocating that Sehajdharis should be given the right to vote under the Sikh Gurdwara Act 1925. Pavit Mattewal who describes himself as the Legal Advisor to CM Prakash Singh Badal, does not use “Singh” and does not sport a “turban”, cuts his hair, shaves his beard and calls himself a role model for Sikhs, impleaded himself as a party in the case that involved the question of the definition of a Sikh for the purpose of admission in minority-run professional colleges.

Pavit argued strongly in favour of Sehajdharis being counted as Sikhs even if they cut their hair. “As an avid student of Sikh history and tradition, I requested the court to make me a party in this case which it did,” he claimed.

What made this legal advisor of Badal an expert on the issue “two months of research and brainstorming,” he said. It is not clear what kind of research this man did, but in the Punjab and Haryana High Court, where a three-judge bench was hearing the case, Pavit Mattewal dropped a bombshell that jolted even the judges. He said there was no historical or documentary evidence to prove that the first nine Sikh Gurus were “keshadharis”.

One of the judges asked Pavit to close his eyes and tell them if he can visualise a Sikh Guru without his hair. That was something that cooked Pavit’s goose. Otherwise the clacking was just not stopping.

9 September 2009
 

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