CPI demands cancellation of SGPC elections

Amritsar, Sep 19 (PTI) Alleging that all norms of Gurdwara Election Commission were enormously violated during the SGPC polls, CPI National Council member Joginder Dayal today demanded its cancellation. "There were clear cut instructions by the Chief Gurdwara Election Commission that no Sehajdhari Sikh would exercise voting right, following the court directions, but not even Sehajdhari people many clean shaven were also shown casting their votes at various tv channels," Dayal said. When the matter related to Sehajdhari Sikhs was still pending in the Punjab and Harayna High Court, why non-Sikhs and clean shaven people were given chance to cast their votes for SGPC elections on September 18, he asked. "Now thousands of Sehajdhari Sikhs who didn't come out from their houses with the impression in their mind that they wouldn't be allowed to cast vote, fell discriminated...In such precarious circumstances, SGPC elections should be cancelled," Dayal said.

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Polling peaceful, turnout lowest in sitting SGPC president's constituency

Ludhiana Polling for the SGPC elections passed off peacefully with the district recording 56.43 per cent voter turnout. Votes for 18 seats falling in 13 constituencies involving 73 candidates were cast on Sunday. With a 39.25 per cent polling percentage, Ludhiana West recorded the lowest voter turn-out. Sitting SGPC president Avtar Singh Makkar is the SAD(B) candidate from this constituency while the highest polling percentage was recorded in Raikot (71 per cent) where Jagjit Singh Talwandi, son of senior SAD(B) leader Jagdev Singh Talwandi, is the front runner.

Counting of votes has begun with initial trends indicating a SAD(B) lead with the lowest lead of about 400 votes being recorded at Ludhiana South, at the time of writing this report. SAD(B)’s candidate Simerjeet Singh Bains is contesting this seat against independent Surinder Singh Ryat.

Meanwhile stray incidents of heated arguments were reported from areas like Doraha, Humbran, Praian and Moti Nagar. Sitting SGPC president Avtar Singh Makkar too was accused of creating ruckus in some polling booths which fall in his area. Makkar, however, denied the charges.

Deputy Commissioner Rahul Tewari maintained that the polling went off peacefully. Khanna recorded a poll percentage of 68 per cent. Polls for four seats were held here in which candidates like Amrik Singh of SAD (1920), Sandeep Singh (independent), Jaswinder Singh of SAD( Amritsar) and Davinder Singh of SAD (B) are in the fray.

Payal meanwhile recorded 66 per cent voter turnout. Surjit Singh of SAD(Amritsar), Devinder Singh of Panch Pardhani, Mangat Rai Singh of SAD(1920) and Raghubir Singh of SAD(B) are contesting for this seat. Sidhwan Bet which recorded a poll percentage of 58.25 per cent has Harnek Singh of SAD(A), Gurbaksh Singh (independent, Jaswant Singh SAD(B), and Jagir Singh (independent) in the fray.

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SGPC poll on schedule on Sept 18 without Sehajdharis voting

NEW DELHI: There was disappointment but not despair for Sehajdhari Sikhs in the Supreme Court, which on Friday allowed the Shiromani Gurudwara Prabhandhak Committee elections to be held as scheduled on September 18 without the faction voting in it.

However, a bench of Justices J M Panchal and H L Gokhale said the outcome of the SGPC elections would be subject to the Punjab and Haryana High Court's decision on the voting rights of Sehajdhari Sikhs.
The Sehajdhari Sikh Federation had challenged a September 9 order of the full bench of HC refusing permission to them to vote in the polls to the Sikh religious body, which controls most of the gurudwaras in the country. 
The controversy started with the October 8, 2003, notification by the NDA government excluding Sehajdharis from voting in SGPC polls. The controversy gained political overtones when the Centre's counsel Harbhagwan Singh made a statement recently before the HC, where the issue was pending since 2002, that the Centre was contemplating withdrawing the notification.

The HC disposed of the petition on the basis of the statement. But the Centre's purported statement led to a huge uproar in Punjab and led to BJP and Akali Dal MPs seeking a clarification from the Centre in Parliament. 


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Gatka and A Riot of Colours

For more than 13 years, Ambala-based mechanical engineer and entrepreneur, MS Sodhi, has never missed Hola Mohalla, a Sikh festival that’s also known for the Sikh Olympics. Sodhi has seen and documented every session of the festivities — up, close and personal. The result: a collection of over 1,000 photographs. Forty of those have found find their way to a photography exhibition titled “The Spirit of Hola Mohalla”.

While one photograph evokes the enthusiasm and fervour with which the festival is celebrated at Takht Sri Keshgarh Sahib in Anandpur Sahib,with people indulging in martial arts, another captures their daredevil approach, with a man standing on a running bike. “I have tried to summarise the event and bring out its best in this photo essay exhibition,” says the 48-year-old, standing near the photograph after which the exhibition has been named — it’s a snapshot of nihangs as they climb on to a tree to get a glimpse of the festival.

Amongst other works are those of simulated mock battles, gatka moves and fun events. While a photo titled ‘Weapons of War’ showcases the historical weapons used by the Sikhs, ‘American Dream’ zooms in on a man with a scarf with an American flag on it. As for ‘Colours of Joy’, the picture captures people playing Holi. Also finding place in the exhibition are snapshots of the langar (community kitchen), of men indulging in sword wielding, jousting and other sports.

Sodhi has earlier showcased these photographs in Washington DC and also in Toronto, Canada. His short film by the same title was selected and screened at the “The Spinning Wheel Film Festival” in Toronto.

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Sajjan first Sikh to command Canadian army regiment

Lt-Col Harjit Singh Sajjan has become the first Canadian Sikh to assume command of a Canadian army regiment. 

Lt-Col Sajjan was over the weekend given his charge as the Commanding Officer (Designate) of the British Columbia Regiment in a ceremony held at the Beatty Street Armoury in Vancouver.

In a statement, the World Sikh Organization of Canada (WSO) offered its congratulations to Lt-Col Sajjan.

Lt-Col. Sajjan joined the British Columbia Regiment as a Trooper in 1989 and was commissioned in the Regiment in 1991.   He was promoted to Captain in 1995 and to Major in 2005.

Lt-Col Sajjan has served in Bosnia-Herzegovina as well as three deployments to Afghanistan.

Most recently, in November 2010, he was requested to serve as the Special Assistant to US Army Major-General James Terry, Commanding General of 10th Mountain Division and Commander of Regional Command South.

Lt-Col Sajjan is also the recipient of the Commander-in-Chief's Commendation and the Deputy Minister of National Defence Award for recruiting in the Sikh community.

He is married to Kuljit Kaur, a medical physician and they reside in Vancouver with their daughter, Jeevut, and son Arjun.

Lt-Col Sajjan's parents Kundan Singh Sajjan and Vidya Kaur Sajjan are long-time members of the WSO and S. Kundan Singh currently serves on WSO's National Executive. 

WSO president Prem Singh Vinning, who attended the Change of Command ceremony, said: "This is a proud moment for all Canadian Sikhs. Lt-Col Sajjan is an inspiration to young Sikhs and he shows just how much a part of Canada Sikhs are today."

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THE NEW SGPC AFFIDAVIT

A Sehajdhari  Sikh is one who performs cermonies according to Sikh rites, does not use tobacco or ‘katha’ in any form, who is not a Patit and who can recite ‘mul mantra’. Patit means a person who being a Keshdhari Sikh trims or shaves his beard or ‘kesh’ or who after partaking ‘amrit’ commits anyone or more of the four ‘kurahits’. Sehajdhari Sikh and Patit are two separate entities any Keshdhari Sikh who cuts/trims his hai and beard is a Patit.

“A person who cuts/trims his beard/hair although he might be performing his cermonies like a Sikh, might not be using tobacco, etc and could recite ‘mulmantra’, cannot be a Sehajdhari because he cuts/ trims his hair and beard and as per the sections (of Sikh Gurdwara Act, 1925)... he cannot be a Sehajdhari Sikh.”


WSN

Hon'ble Chief Justice Mr. J. S. Khehar

Justice Khehar was born on August 28, 1952. After graduating in science from GovernmentCollege, Chandigarh, in 1974, he received his law degree from Punjab University in 1977 and completed his LLM in 1979. He was enrolled as an advocate in 1979 and was appointed Additional Advocate General, Punjab, in January 1992. He was elevated to the High Court of Punjab in 1999 and appointed as Chief Justice of Uttarakhand High Court on November 29, 2009. Thereafter he was transferred and appointed as Chief Justice of Karnataka High Court from August 8, 2010.

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Justice Khehar had defined Sikh identity

CHANDIGARH: Justice J S Khehar, who will be taking oath on Tuesday as judge of the Supreme Court (SC) and is expected to become the first Sikh Chief Justice of the country in 2017, had once defined a Sikh.

While heading full bench of the Punjab and Haryana high court on May 30, 2009, Justice Khehar had held, "Retaining hair unshorn is a fundamental tenet of the Sikh religion and a Sikh is one who keeps unshorn hair and does not trim beard or pluck eyebrows."
Justifying judicial intervention on such issues, Justice Khehar, who spoke for the bench, had also maintained that once a court arrives at the conclusion that a particular aspect of a religion, is fundamental and integral, as per the followers of the faith, it must be given effect to, irrespective of the views expressed on the said issue, based either on science or logic.



"Not only that, under the 'Sikh rehat-maryada', a Sikh is not permitted to dishonour hair, or even to harbour any antipathy to hair of the head with which a child is born. Dyeing one's hair is considered as an act of dishonouring hair. Transgression of these norms is treated as 'tabooed practice', which is condonable only after suffering a chastisement prescribed," he had held in the historic judgment. Two other judges, Justice Jasbir Singh and Justice A K Mittal, were also part of the bench headed by him. 

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French schools undo ban on Sikhs' top knot

AMRITSAR: Two French schools have withdrawn their decision not to allow Sikh students to tie up their unshorn hair in top knots and cover it with handkerchiefs.

The schools -- Lycee Leon Blum in Creteil and Lycee Romain Rolland in Goussainville -- had asked two Sikh students Amarjit and Harpal in the beginning of this month to undo or cut their unshorn hair tied up as jooda.

However, the schools withdrew their order following a flurry of active advocacy, according to NGOUnited Sikhs' legal director Mejinderpal Kaur. She told TOI on Sunday that Harpal's parents contacted them after the supervisor of Lycee Romain Rolland refused to admit him if he did not follow the rules.

"We wrote letters to the head teacher of the school, the education inspector of Goussainville (district level), the mediator and Rector of Versailles (department level) and sought meetings. Earlier in the week, we had written to Amarjit's school and the education department when we found that he was asked to cut his hair," said Kaur.

She said that ever since a ban was imposed in 2004 on wearing a turban to school, French Sikh students had been tying their hair as jooda, while they wore a patka or turban outside the school.

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India may get 1st Sikh CJI in 2017

NEW DELHI: Three new judges of the Supreme Court will take oath on Tuesday and one of them, Justice J S Khehar, will go on to become the firstSikh Chief Justice of India in the year 2017.

President Pratibha Patil has signed the warrant of appointment for Justice Khehar, chief justice of Karnataka, Justice Ranjana Desai of the Bombay High Court and Gujarat chief justice S J Mukhopadhyay.

Justice Khehar will become the Chief Justice of India on January 4, 2017, on the retirement of Justice T S Thakur, who is expected to take the reins of the top judge's post in September 2014.

Justice Desai, who was part of the Bombay High Court decision to uphold death penalty to 26/11 terror attack convict Mohammad Ajmal Kasab, will become the fifth woman judge of the Supreme Court after Justices Fathima Beevi, Sujata Manohar, Ruma Pal and Gyan Sudha Misra.

Though the apex court got its first woman Judge in 1989, this will be the first time that there will be two sitting women judges in Justices Misra and Desai. 

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UK Parliament Gets Its ‘First Turbaned’ Sikh MP

Indarjit Singh, who’s been dubbed the ‘Lord Singh of Wimbledon’, will be first turbaned Sikh to sit in UK’s House of Lords

LONDON – The first turbaned Sikh selected to sit in the UK’s House of Lords says he is likely to be styled Lord Singh of Wimbledon, not because of his fondness for tennis but because that is the name of the London suburb where he lives.

Indarjit Singh said in an interview, “That is most likely – Lord Singh of Wimbledon – its an obvious one and I haven’t much imagination. I still haven’t made up my mind, but I am meeting someone this week to discuss it.”

Singh, the director of a charity linking several Sikh organisations in the UK, is absolutely delighted at the honour of making history.

“I am delighted to be the first turbaned Sikh in Parliament. It is an honour for the whole Sikh community,” said Singh, the director of the Network of Sikh Organisations (NSO).

Recommended by the House of Lords Appointments Commission, the 79-year-old Singh will enter the House and sit as an independent.

“It gives me a new opportunity to do what I have always tried to do, to work with people of all beliefs to increase tolerance and understanding and work for greater social and political justice in society,” said Singh, who was appointed OBE in 1996 and CBE in 2009.

Sikhs already in Parliament include the Conservative MP Paul Uppal, who does not wear a turban.

Singh, who is the first Sikh to have addressed a conference at the Vatican, said “the mantra of today’s times – to look after ourselves because we are important – is creating a selfish and fragmented society in which rights are put before responsibility.”

“We saw the worst features of this in the recent riots,” he said, adding “I would like, in my small way, to work with like-minded people in all communities to reserve this trend.”

Singh, 79, was born in Rawalpindi and came to the UK when he was only a year old. In recent years, he has become a familiar voice on the prestigious ‘Thought for the Day’ programme that is broadcast on BBC Radio 4. His contribution to the programme he has been broadcasting for 28 years invariably contains a reference to the Sikh faith, which means he can take personal credit for introducing British listeners to the life, times and ideas of Guru Nanak. His programme contributions over the years total more than 250.

A champion of inter-faith harmony, he has also edited a journal called ‘Sikh Messenger’, which has entitled him to represent the Sikh faith at many important official events, such as the recent wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton.

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