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| NC is destined to lose the 2014 elections | | Minority Sikhs up in arms | | Neha
JAMMU, Aug 29: Feeling insecure, unprotected and totally ignored, the miniscule minority of Sikhs in Kashmir has raised a banner of revolt both against the National Conference (NC) and the Congress. The total number of Sikhs who inhabit certain parts of the Kashmir valley, especially Anantnag and Srinagar, is approximately 50,000.
That the Sikhs in Kashmir have no love lost for the NC and the Congress could be seen from what president of All Parties Sikh Coordination Committee (APSCC) Jagmohan Singh Raina said on Wednesday while addressing a press conference in Srinagar. "We have decided to launch a peaceful agitation in the name of Jammu and Kashmir Sikh Dharam Yudh Morcha (JKDYM). Since the present State Government has failed to address the issues confronting Sikhs in state we have decided to teach them a lesson. We will move from door to door and carry out a campaign against the fallacies of the NC and Congress parties," he said, and added that "enough time has been given to the State Government for implementation of National Minorities Act in the state" and that "once Sikhs would not vote for politicians of the NC and the Congress, both parties would suffer heavily in the next Assembly elections". The Sikhs hold a key in half a dozen Assembly constituencies, especially in Jammu, Kathua and Poonch districts in Jammu province.
Raina said that his co-religionists have several grouses against the State Government and to make his point he said that "despite repeated pleas and requests from APSCC the State Government has not implemented the National Minorities Act in Jammu and Kashmir". He disclosed that the State Government even ignored Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and President Pranab Mukherjee, who had "asked the State Government to get the National Minorities Act implemented in the state". He also disclosed that "Chairman National Commission for Minorities Wajahat Habibullah had also written to Chief Minister Omar Abdullah and former Law Minister Ali Mohammad Sagar to implement the Act in the state, but with no result".
President of the APSCC not only denounced the State Government for not implementing the National Minorities Act but also accused certain elements in the administration of interfering in the religious affairs of the Sikhs. "Some of the Government officials are interfering in the religious matters of Sikhs and are denying revision of electoral rolls to those Sikhs who had to leave their native places during turmoil and settle down in Srinagar and other district headquarters…These officers are asking Sikhs that their electoral rolls cannot be revised and they cannot vote in the upcoming Gurdwara Prabhandhak Committee (GPC) elections since they no longer live at their native places," he bemoaned and urged the authorities to hold a "probe in this matter" and ensure that "no officer interfere in the religious affairs of the Sikh community".
He did not stop just there. He went on to accuse the State Government of denying jobs to the Sikh youths and not doing anything to promote Punjabi language in the educational institutions, including colleges. He asserted that all this is being done deliberately to harm the Sikh community and its legitimate interests.
It needs to be noted that the APSCC has been highlighting the problems of the Sikh community for quite sometime now, but has failed to evoke any positive response from the State Government. Only some two months ago, the APSCC had administered a threat that the Sikh community would migrate if the State Government failed to redress their grievances and rein in anti-Sikh forces in the Valley. The latest threat that the Sikh community would not vote for the NC and the Congress should be viewed in this context.
It is not only the Sikh community which has turned against the NC and the Congress. The fact is that all the minority communities have turned against them. And if the present trend continues, the NC and the Congress would surely bite dust in the 2014 Assembly and Lok Sabha elections. |
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