:dateline:Indian President has approved the Sikh Gurdwara Amendment Bill-2016 which was recently cleared by the Rajya Sabha and the Indian Parliament to abolish voting right of Sehajdhari Sikhs in SGPC elections. �President�Pranab Mukherjee signed the bill yesterday. �The bill bars��Sehajdhari� Sikhs�from voting in SGPC elections, this includes those who trim or shave beard and hair, smoke or drink alcohol.
Sikh Gurdwara Amendment Bill-2016 was staged in Rajya Sabha by the Home Minister Rajnath Singh where it was passed unanimously. The Bill was then presented in the Parliament of India and was passed there on April 25. The Bill has terminated the voting right given to �Sehajdhari� Sikhs in 1944 to elect SGPC members and members of internal committee.
Until now, Sikhs aged 21 years or older who violate religious mandates were given right to vote in SGPC elections but with implementation of this Bill, all apostate Sikhs have been barred from voting in SGPC elections. �
It is noteworthy here that Congress and other parties have condemned the move facilitated by Shiromani Akali Dal. SAD had always been blamed for dominating SGPC elections with votes of �Sehajdhari Sikhs� but the current stand of Shiromani Akali Dal has compelled the opposition to take U-turn on this issue.
On May 3, Punjab Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Badal had stated, “Heartfelt Gratitude to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the issue of release of cash credit limit and passing of ?#?SikhGurdwaraAmendmentBill?�in the Parliament. �We also thank him for smooth passing of Sehajdhari amendment bill in both the houses.“
The 1925 Gurdwara Act gives permission to the Indian Government to make judgements for issues related to the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbhandhak Committee.
To debar Sikhs habitual to drinks is the most sensible clause to check drunkards from participating in SGPC polls and later various holy practices, because drunkards every where are always seen with a disdain eyes, because they are always sources of troubles, disputes and first fights between sikh sangat, and some time also outside of Sikh Sangat. This in both cases brings bad names to the holy sikh norms. But how will such malpractices shall be checked, one way is to widely publicise this important clauses as passed in the recent amendment, including who shave their beards, smoke, and of course drink, and invite sikh sangat to report such vagrants to Sikh norms There are many such, even office bearers, who indulge in daily heavy drinks, for last more than a score of years, and proudly proclaim such habts, and thus making many more Sikhs indulge into this vice.
Suraj Parkash
sehajdhari Sikhs should get involved in Sikh affairs but not to the leadership
I think it might be helpful for you to look at the article posted before about Sehajdari (type in the word on the search box on this website or go directly http://www.sikh24.com/2016/04/23/exclusive-interview-with-s-baljit-singh-khalsa-on-sehajdhari-issue/#.VzM4OIQrLX4
If you reject Guru Gobind Singh’s baptism and start to accept different ‘varieties’ of Sikhs you will be reinstating the caste system within Sikhi and also give the enemies of the Khalsa ammunition to call Sikhs who openly look like Sikhs as being ‘orthodox’, ‘extremists’, ‘hardliners’ which invariably leads them to justify their persecution. A person who is not a Sikh (unwilling or as yet unable to make the necessary commitment) they are still perfectly able to come to the Gurdwara to listen to Gurbani and do seva which hopefully will bring them closer to Gurmat living but they cannot be allowed with their feint conviction to have any voice in Sikh religious affairs as they are unqualified to do so. This also applies to that Sikh wearing a beard and dastaar who does not practice Gurmat (a sizeable proportion of ‘Sikh’ politicians and Gurdwara committee members from their antithetical behaviour) as a Sikh is someone who not only looks like a Sikh but acts like it also no matter the circumstances.
‘The 1925 Gurdwara Act gives permission to the Indian Government to make judgements for issues related to the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbhandhak Committee’. This act was for the British Raj ‘Indian’ Government to help them try and maintain control of Sikhs! There is no way this bill should ever have been part of independent India in the first place – goes to show how poor and feeble Sikh leadership was at the time of Independence to have allowed such a piece of legislation to have sneaked through. A supposedly secular Indian State (particularly when it is increasingly dominated by Hinduvta parties) has absolutely no business or authority to interfere in Sikh religious affairs any more than apostate so-called Sehajdharis (a term which has zero religious merit either theologically or historically).