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Panth rises against sinister SGPC
move on Sehajdhari Sikh
Makkar faces Sikh wrath in US * DSGMC, Taksal, Khalsa Diwan, many
SGPC members condemn SGPC definition
WSN Bureau
 SAN
JOSE/AMRITSAR/CHANDIGARH: Brash talk and blatant obfuscation
continued to be the strategy adopted by the top brass of the
Shiromani Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee (SGPC) as scores of Sikh
organizations questioned the clever attempt of re-defining
“Sehajdhari Sikh” even as Avtar Singh Makkar on his US visit himself
faced some pointed questions and failed to duck because he was
clearly on the wrong side.
Within days of
the World Sikh News breaking the story and exposing the sinister
attempt by forces within the Akali Dal and SGPC of corrupting the
definition of Sehajdhari, panthic organizations have been spitting
fire and are in rage over the seemingly RSS influence on Sikh
affairs under the current dispensation.
Now, Makkar is
hiding behind statements that have no link to the definition of
Sehajdhari submitted by SGPC in the
Punjab and
Haryana High Court. “No one from a Sikh family who cuts his hair can
claim himself to be a Sehajdhari,” Makkar has said, but then no one
has alleged that this is what the SGPC affidavit said.
In
San Jose,
Makkar got caught in a cleft-stick of arguments marshaled by the Bay
Area Sikh leaders, and when Jasjeet Singh read out some
objectionable aspects of the Sehajdhari definition, Makkar admitted
that he was clueless and will have to apprise himself of the facts.
Clearly, neither
Makkar nor those who were instrumental in his visit had any inkling
of the preparation of the engaged Sikh leaders regarding the
Sehajdhari issue. Those who questioned Makkar were well aware of the
sequence of events, including the SGPC’s action of selecting experts
for formulating definition of Sehajdhari, the deliberations at the
SGPC executive meeting, and the totally secretive way in which the
affidavit was submitted to the High Court and which was against the
recommendations of the experts.
Many of the
seven experts have already dissociated themselves from the
affidavit. Even SGPC general secretary Sukhdev Singh Bhaur has
admitted that the affidavit was wrong. Kiranjot Kaur, SGPC member
and a member of the expert panel, has also condemned the definition
as has G.S. Lamba, community affairs expert and member of the SGPC-appointed
panel. Suba Singh, principal of
Shaheed
Sikh Missionary College, Amritsar is also unhappy with the
definition.
The Delhi Sikh
Gurdwara management Committee (DSGMC) has condemned the SGPC’s new
definition, clearly a behind-the-scenes formulation of Punjab
Advocate General H.S.Mattewal and Sikh History Research Board
chairperson Anurag Singh. The latter was a member of the experts
team selected by the SGPC and was the only one who refused to sign
the definition that was acceptable to all but which was not
submitted in the High Court.
Now, the DSGMC
has convened a meeting on December 26 in
Delhi to
deliberate on the issue. The Chief Khalsa Diwan has condemned the
SGPC for trying to open the floodgates of the religion to non-Sikhs.
The Damdami Taksal has strongly opposed the move and has demanded
that the Sehajdhari concept be finished once and for all.
 The
American Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (AGPC) has decided to
challenge the stance of the SGPC in the
Punjab and
Haryana High Court while senior Akali leader Manjit Singh Calcutta
said the SGPC failed to take into confidence the Sikh panth and
defined Sehajdharis on its own.
Akali Dal (Panch
Pardhani) leadership including Bhai Daljit Singh Bittu, Harpal Singh
Cheema and others condemned the move as have Akali Dal (Amritsar)
president Simranjit Singh Mann.
Giani Iqbal
Singh, Jathedar of Takht Patna Sahib, has also expressed resentment
over the affidavit and said a meeting of the Sikh clergy of Patna
Sahib might be called in near future on the issue shortly.
Feeling the
heat, Mattewal is now trying to distance himself from the case but
by now the cognoscenti have understood his machinations and attempts
to secularize the Sikh affairs and institutions. Mattewal gave away
the game by writing an article in an English language daily
published from Chandigarh in which he had not only projected the
shorn-hair as Sehajdhari Sikhs but had also advocated voting rights
for them. Interestingly, the SGPC which had fought to disenfranchise
the Sehajdharis and had won the political and legal battle for it,
is never tired of honoring Mattewal.
Now, his son,
advocate Pavit Singh Mattewal proudly told the High Court that there
was no historic evidence that the first nine Gurus were Keshadharis,
something that irked even one of the judges in the High Court who
asked him to state whether he can visualize a Sikh Guru without
hair.
Now, a number of
Sikh bodies are mulling ways to challenge the SGPC’s stance legally
and intervene in the ongoing case in the High Court.
24 December
2008
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