Will continue the boycott of RSS Sikh wing until it clarifies its agenda, says Akal Takht
JATHEDER ASKS SIKHS TO MEDITATE FOR ONE MINUTE ON NOV 1 TO PAY TRIBUTES TO THOSE KILLED IN 1984 ANTISIKH RIOTS
AMRITSAR:Akal Takht jathedar Giani Gurbachan Singh on Monday said the boycott of the Rashtriya Sikh Sangat, an affiliate of RSS, will continue till this outfit comes clean on its agenda about Sikhs.
Talking to the media, he said the Akal Takht had constituted a special committee in 2004 to make Rashtriya Sikh Sangat answerable on its agenda. “This committee had sent a list of eight questions to the RSS outfit, but so far it has failed to answer these questions. In such a situation, the Akal Takht’s decree on its boycott stands,” he said.
He added, “The boycott won’t be revoked until it does not come clean on its agenda about the Sikhism”.
To a question, he said the Sikh clergy will decide over the complaints the Akal Takht received against some Sikh leaders who attended the event organised by the Rashtriya Sikh Sangat in Delhi recently.
Meanwhile, the jathedar appealed to the Sikh masses to pay tributes to those killed in 1984 anti-Sikh violence by meditating for a minute at 6 pm on November 1.
‘PUSHING PUNJABI DOWN A CONSPIRACY’
Taking a serious note of relegating the Punjabi language on the third place on sign boards on the national highway from Bathinda to Amritsar, he said it is a deeprooted conspiracy to eliminate the mother tongue of Punjabis.
He lauded the activists who protested the marginalisation of Punjabi and applied black colour on Hindi and English words on these sign boards. He also opposed the cases registered against these activists.
“In other states, their respective mother tongues are well recognised and given primacy. But why Punjabi is discriminated against in Punjab?” he asked.
“It is the duty of Punjab government to ensure usage of Punjabi language in all government, semi-government and private departments,” he added.
The jathedar also asked the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC), Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (DSGMC) and other Sikh organisations to celebrate the birth anniversary of Guru Gobind Singh’s wife Mata Sahib Kaur, who is called as ‘Khalse di Mata’ (mother of Khalsa), on November 3 on a large scale.