Sehajdhari Sikh Party on Sunday blamed the Bhupinder Singh Hooda-led Haryana Government of cheating Sehajdharis as they have been included in the definition but deprived of their voting rights which they had been exercising since 1944 as per the Sikh Gurdwara Act, 1925”.
“Now, Haryana Chief Minister’s statement that they were waiting for Supreme Court’s verdict in Sehajdhari case is totally baseless as it’s the Sikh Gurdwara Act, 1925, which is under challenge in the Supreme Court not the Haryana Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (HSGMC) Act, 2014,” said party’s national president PS Ranu.
He blamed that by ignoring Sehajdharis and distorting the definition of ‘Sikh’ by a fanatic definition that only Keshdharis are Sikhs, “the minority Sikh religion has been divided into another sub-minority and 80 per cent of Sikhs have been thrown out of the main stream of the religion”.
“Sikh leaders of Punjab and Haryana are not feeling sensitive pulse of the matter but are only busy in their fight for control of gurdwaras. No leader has pointed out this issue and all are only cursing each other for vested financial issues,” alleged Ranu.
Ranu also pointed that legislating a new Act by amending a sub-judiced Sikh Gurdwara Act, 1925, under the Punjab Reorganization Act, 1966, under section 72 and distorting the definition of Sikh and disfranchising voting rights of Sehajdharis “is against the spirit of Indian Constitution”.
Sehajdharis have also given ‘memorandum of objections’ on the same to the Governor and Chief Minister, and the Governor has referred the objections to the State. “If the rights of Sehajdharis are denied, the Sehajdhari Sikh Party will approach the Punjab and Haryana High Court for their legal rights,” he added.