M A I N   N E W S

RSS activities set off alarm
Sikh clergy to discuss issue on May 14
Tribune News Service

AMRITSAR, May 3 — The Sikh clergy will discuss the danger posed by RSS and the Rashtriya Sikh Sangat activities at its meeting scheduled for May 14 at Akal Takht.

This assurance was given by Giani Joginder Singh, Jathedar, Akal Takht to a deputation of the Dal Khalsa, the Shiromani Akali Dal (Amritsar), and the Human Rights and Democracy Forum which met him at his residence, here today.

Prof Jagmohan Singh, General Secretary, SAD (Amritsar), Mr Kanwar Pal Singh, spokesman for the Dal Khalsa, and Mr Jaspal Singh Dhillon, Chairman, Human Rights and Democracy Forum, at a press conference here today declared the RSS as a “terrorist body”. They announced that they would physically push out RSS and Rashtriya Sikh Sangat activists from villages if these organisations did not desist from “anti-Panthic” activities that could result in communal clashes in Punjab and outside. The “irresponsible” statements and “blasphemous” activities of these organisations could lead to militancy once again.

The leaders submitted a memorandum to the Jathedar, Akal Takht, on this regard. They claimed that they had been invited by the Jathedar to a meeting of representatives of various Sikh institutions on May 14. They said a copy of the memorandum would be handed over to Bibi Jagir Kaur, President SGPC. They alleged that the SGPC had failed to counter the “anti-Sikh” propaganda being launched by activists of the Rashtriya Sikh Sangat.

On the controversy over “Bachitar Natak” and “Dasam Granth”, they said the Rashtriya Sikh Sangat had no locus standi to interfere in the affairs of Sikhs. The Sikh community, in its wisdom, would analyse the scriptures.

They said if the Rashtriya Sikh Sangat was sincere towards the Sikh cause, it must give a call to all Punjabi Hindus to declare Punjabi language as their mothertongue in the 2001 consensus. “The Punjabi Hindus must not repeat their mistake of 1961 census when most declared Hindi as their mothertongue” they said.

Reiterating that Sikhs were a “separate nation” the leaders said they would give a call for separate cremation grounds for the Sikhs.

They said the BJP had joined the RSS chorus in declaring the Sikhs as Hindus. The presence of BJP ministers and MLAs at the national convention of the Rashtriya Sikh Sangat at Chandigarh made the BJP a direct accomplice in this act of sacrilege against the Sikhs. The “conspiracy of silence” by Mr Parkash Singh Badal and Mr Gurcharan Singh Tohra demonstrated their lust for political office even at the cost sacrificing the basic tenets of Sikhism.