Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) president Sukhbir Singh Badal on Friday deputed a five-member party delegation to visit Madhya Pradesh to assist the Sikligar community which is claiming of being unduly harassed and victimized by the MP police forcing them to even leave their homes and take shelter in forests.
Sukhbir said that Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (DSGMC) president Manjinder Singh Sirsa is heading the delegation.
Members of the Sikligar community claimed that they have been ignored for decades and even implicated in criminal cases. More than 35,000 Siligars live in Madhya Pradesh along the Narmada River. They are finding it difficult to make ends meet because they were not given land grants or jobs due to which their economic condition is extremely poor.
“SAD deputation would also take up the issue of rehabilitation of the Sikligar community which is presently marginalized and even discriminated against. We will pursue a package to bring them back into the national mainstream,” said Sukhbir.
Meanwhile, Sirsa said that the delegation had met members of the Sikligar community in Khargon. “Members of the community were gems of Sikh community who had assisted Sikh Guru Sahiban in war against Mughals by making Kirpans and other weapons and later they made these weapons for Indian independence war,” he said.
He said that it was shocking to see their current state when police are torturing them and they were forced to flee to nearby jungles and many of them have been arrested and sent to jails.
“I am assuring the community members that we will establish a factory here in which they will prepare weapons like kirpan etc and Sikligar brand will be established into a leading brand and I will urge the Sikhs settled in the country and worldwide to purchase Sikh weapons of this brand only,” he said.
At the same time, Sirsa announced their rehabilitation programme saying that the DSGMC will use its land at Fatehabad to make residences for economically weaker community members and a full-fledged colony will be established there.
He said that DSGMC will also establish a factory and education to the children will be provided up to Class XII. DSGMC’s legal team will start working here from August 7 and will secure release for those arrested and return of those who have fled, he said.
“We will meet the MP Chief Minister soon and will ensure that the lease of their lands is restored and their land is returned to them. Those dhabas, which are being demolished, will also be handed back to them,” he said.