M A I N   N E W S

NCM chief raps Sikh sportsmen for not sporting turbans

New Delhi, October 5
National Commission for Minorities (NCM) Chairman Tarlochan Singh has expressed regrets at top Sikh sportsmen trimming their beards and hair, acts which he said were encouraging apostasy in the community’s younger generation.

“Top golfer Chiranjeev Singh, son of Flying Sikh Milkha Singh, doesn’t sport Sikh appearance. Only two out of seven Sikh Indian hockey players could stand out as ‘Sikhs’. Hockey stars like Prabhjot Singh, Gagan Ajit Singh and Jugraj Singh do not keep hair required by their faith. World-famous off-spinner Harbhajan Singh does not wear a turban and rather shows up in a ‘patka (headscarve)’,’’ pointed out the NCM chief while delivering the keynote address on “Sikh youth at crossroads” at the India International Centre here last evening.

The topic aimed to discuss the high incidence of apostasy among the Sikhs, especially in their very heartland of Punjab where, Mr Tarlochan Singh observed, 80 per cent of Sikh school students did not keep hair required by their faith.

The NCM chief, also Deputy Chairman of the Afro-Asian Games Organising Committee, pointed out that as many as 90 per cent of Punjab’s sportsmen were Sikhs, but none wore a turban.

“There was a time when Punjab’s kabaddi team comprising Sikhs would stand out in a crowd and win honours for both the community and the country, but today’s kabaddi players from Punjab have no distinct identity to show.”

Mr Tarlochan Singh also recalled JCT Phagwara’s prestigious position in the Indian football, saying the team was then identified with Sikh personalities.

“Footballers like Inder Singh and Jarnail Singh needed no other recognition. But today the entire team has given up its Sikh appearance.”

The NCM Chairman blamed discarding of the key Sikh symbol of uncut hair and beard by the young members of the community on “overpoliticisation” of the top religious administrations of the SGPC and the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (DSGMC). — UNI