Union Minister for Food Processing Industries Harsimrat Kaur Badal on Wednesday hailed the unanimous passage of the Sikh Gurdwaras (amendment) Bill, 2016 in the Rajya Sabha denying ‘sehjdharis’ the right to vote in the Shiromani Gurudwara Prabandhak Committee (SGPC) elections.
Terming the passage of the amendment bill as a historical moment in the Sikh history, Badal said the Rajya Sabha had righted a wrong by passing this amendment retrospectively with effect from October, 2003 besides respecting the sentiments of the Sikh community on this sensitive issue. The Union minister said this was a red letter day for the Sikhs all over the globe whose rights and interests to supervise management of Gurudawaras’ have been protected by the NDA government. She also said that with this step, the NDA government had earned the gratitude of the Sikh community. Badal said the passing of this amendment was also a victory for the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) which was always steadfast in its resolve not to let outsiders to vote by proxy in the SGPC elections through the ‘sehajdhari’ route. Punjab Congress president Capt Amarinder Singh, however, condemned the amendment to the Sikh Gurdwara Act debarring and disenfranchising the Sehajdhari Sikhs from their voting rights in the SGPC elections, saying, it will simply divide the community.
“This is the most regressive and retrograde move by the Government of India at the behest of the Akalis just to retain their hold on the SGPC and in the process have divided the community”, Capt Amarinder said in a statement issued here.
The former Chief Minister reiterated that every Sikh, who believes in the tenets of Sikhism, must have the right to vote in the SGPC elections. “It is an irony that the very democratic legislative procedure has been misused to disenfranchise a large section of the society from exercising their democratic right to vote”, he observed, while hoping that the amendment does not stand the scrutiny of the judicial review.