Congress, AAP leaders confusing people on Sehajdhari issue: Dal Khalsa

JALANDHAR: Lashing out at Akali-turned-Congressman Manpreet Badal for saying that 80 per cent of the total Sikh population including him, were Sehajdharis, the Dal Khalsa has said he and his new boss Punjab Congress president Captain Amrinder Singh have knowledge about the distinction between Patits (apostates) and Sehajdharis.
Questioning the basic knowledge of Congress leaders including Amrinder Singh, Congress MP Ravneet Bittu, AAP MP Bhagwant Mann and Manpreet Badal about Sikh Rehat Maryada and Sikh Gurdwara Act 1925, Dal Khalsa spokesperson Kanwar Pal Singh said such politicians were deliberately blurring the difference between Patits and Sehajdharis with an eye on Patit votes.The organization issued the statement after deliberating upon the issue in a meeting.
Quoting the Sikh Gurdwara Act he said it defined Sahjdhari under clause 10 –A, as a person who was not a Patit beside three other parameters. “In the sub-clause it explains the meaning of Patit as a Keshadhari Sikh who trims or shaves his beard or Kesha's or after taking Amrit commits any one or more of the four cardinal sins,” he said.
“Going by what Sikh Gurdwara Act says, there is no doubt left that neither Manpreet nor Ravneet nor Bhagwant Mann are Sehajdharis. They fall under the definition of Patits,” Dal Kahlsa argued.
As per the Act, Patit Sikhs are denied the right to vote since the adoption of the Act in 1925. “However, neither religiously nor legally, they are excluded from the Sikh fold. He wondered why these politicians were raising hue and cry,” Kanwarpal added.
Those who were making sinister noises that we had excluded a large section of the community (Patits) from Sikhism were highly mistaken. Dal Khalsa activists said no one can exclude or oust a person from the Sikh fold who is born in a Sikh family until and unless he or she is declared a tankhaiya. "Patit Sikhs are very much part of the Panth, they are our sons and brothers and no one can segregate them. At the same time, it’s their responsibility also to be true to their religious identity, symbols and tenets.
“The meet was of the opinion that the decision to do away with the voting rights of Sehajdharis stems from the collective wisdom of the community after it realized that non-Sikhs were penetrating or interfering into Sikh religious affairs under the garb of Sehajdharis,” he said adding Sehaddhari Sikh Federation was also a Congress front.
Dal Khalsa leaders clarified that the passage of bill in both the houses and the on-going court case was between Sikhs and Sehajdharis and it had nothing to do with the Patit Sikhs, who were denied voting rights under the Sikh Gurdwara Act 1925 from the very first day when the Act was promulgated.