Amritsar (December 21, 2011): The Dal Khalsa today slammed politicians including Captain Amrinder Singh and Sehajdhari Federation leader Paramjit Singh Ranoo for creating unnecessary confusion over the definition of Sehajdhari, mixing it with patits (apostates) for vested interests.
Going further, the organization has clarified that apostates were not eligible to vote in the SGPC elections ever since the Sikh Gurdwara Act, 1925 was enacted, whereas Sehajdharis were debarred in 2003 with a government notification.
Dal Khalsa spokesperson Kanwar Pal Singh said the voting right to the Sehajdharis has been a major cause of concern for the community as Sikhs were of the considered opinion that no non-Sikh under any garb should be allowed to meddle or influence in their religious affairs.
Strongly objecting to the term ‘Sehajdhari Sikh’ being repeatedly mentioned in the media, he clarified that Sehajdharis are non-Sikhs, hence, describing them as part of Sikhism is untrue.
Owing to some strange political reasons, the Sehajdharis were given voting rights in 1959 though there was no such provision in the original Sikh Gurdwara Act, 1925, he said and added that this anomaly was corrected in 2003 after Sikhs strongly took up the matter with the then Union government.
However, he said it’s ironic that the High Court verdict allowing Sehajdharis to vote has reversed the situation back to square one plunging the community into fresh crisis.