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Sikhs are not Hindus: Tohra

By Our Staff Correspondent

CHANDIGARH Oct. 11. The speech of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad general secretary, Praveen Togadia, in Amritsar on Friday has provoked various organisations including political parties. The Central and State Governments have been asked to initiate action as the utterances carried potential to disturb the delicate communal balance in the State.

According to reports, Mr. Togadia, in his speech at a function to mobilise participation for the October 17 rally at Ayodhya, is reported to have remarked that like all Brahmins, all Sikhs were also Hindus first. He even accused secularism of being the worst hurdle in achieving the target of a "Hindu rashtra".

Reacting to Mr. Togadia's utterances, the president of the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) and senior Akali leader, G.S. Tohra, said Sikhs did not need any certificate for their identity, which had been bestowed on them by their Tenth master, Guru Gobind Singh. It was unfortunate that even after having made the greatest sacrifices for achieving and then guarding the country's freedom, Sikhs were being provoked unnecessarily. Mr. Tohra said it had been accepted the world over that Sikhs had an identity of their own, they followed a different faith and had an independent religious as well as cultural practices. He warned that utterances made by leaders like Mr. Togadia smacked of a mischief and appealed to all Punjabis in general and Sikhs in particular to defeat the design.

The general secretary of the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), Kanwaljit Singh, said there was absolutely no reason to disturb the sentiments of any minority community. Under the Constitution, each community was guaranteed freedom to follow its religious beliefs, and it should be left to the members of the sects to decide about their identity and religious thought. He appealed to the people of the State to avoid any reactions to any provocation.Kanwarpal Singh Bittu, general secretary of the radical Sikh organisation Dal Khalsa, said the RSS and the VHP had been regularly insulting the Sikh identity and were deliberately compelling the community to take drastic steps.

He warned that if such organisations did not end their mischief making machinery, Sikhs in defence of their faith, would have to react in a manner, for which the Sangh Parivar would be solely responsible.

Appealing to the veteran leaders like Mr. Tohra and the former Chief Minister, Parkash Singh Badal, to stop submitting to the forces of "Hindutava", Mr. Bittu also urged the Sikh community to give up brahmanical rituals.

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