A party delegation — headed by Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (DSGMC) President, Manjinder Singh Sirsa — visited Madhya Pradesh a week ago.
The Shiromani Akali Dal has offered to relocate members of the Sikligar Sikh community, who are facing police action in Madhya Pradesh, to Fatehabad district in Haryana, besides making available infrastructure for factories to make traditional Sikh weapons like kirpan.
SAD president, Sukhbir Singh Badal, earlier this month had chosen a five member party delegation to visit Madhya Pradesh to assist the Sikligar community which is claiming it is being unduly harassed and victimized by the Madhya Pradesh police, forcing them to even leave their homes and take shelter in forests.
Following this, a party delegation — headed by Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (DSGMC) President, Manjinder Singh Sirsa — visited Madhya Pradesh a week ago.
On Tuesday, Sirsa said over the phone that the delegation of SAD had found that around 40 people from the Sikligar community were being hounded by the state police force in Madhya Pradesh. “Many of them have been booked purely because someone in their family was charged with making weapons. The Sikligar community has been into the profession of making weapons for the country, ever since our independence struggle and during the times of Guru Gobind Singh. They have no other source of income. After our visit, we offered to relocate all those who wanted to Fatehabad district in Haryana. We will give them 200 to 300 square yard property in Fatehabad where they can make traditional Sikh weapons, like kirpan. We have also assured free education to their children. We will also take up this matter with the Madhya Pradesh government,” said Sirsa.
The SAD added, “The members of the Sikligar community claim that they have been ignored for decades, during which they were even named in and implicated in criminal cases”.
“More than 35,000 Sikligars live in Madhya Pradesh along the Narmada River. They are finding it difficult to make ends meet because they were not given land grants or jobs due to which their economic condition is extremely poor,” the SAD said.
