Sunday, February 17, 2008 (Chandigarh)

The Supreme Court has taken a call on the debate whether Sikhs are a minority and deserve reservation, giving six-week time to all parties to come up with their arguments.In December last year, a high court ruling had said that Sikh students can no more be entitled to the 50 per cent reserved seats in institutions run by the Shiromani Gurudwara Prabandhak Committee (SGPC), as Sikhs are not a minority community in the state.Unhappy with the order, the state government had moved to Supreme Court.The Advocate General of Punjab, HS Mathewal said, the Sikh Gurudwara Act that defines a Sikh is not very clear and based on the Act, there has been no census on the actual number of Sikhs.''Sikh Gurudwara Act says, a person is a Sikh if he believes in ten Gurus and Shri Guru Granth Sahib. That doesn't mean you don't have respect for others,'' said HS Mathewal.''But the question is for achieving your goal ultimate of achieving the lord that you are only following Guru Granth Sahib and teaching of the ten gurus. Now whether anybody has ever collected, who all are Sikhs under that Act?'' he added.But the SGPC claims those who follow different sects like the Dera Saccha Sauda cannot be considered as Sikhs.''I can tell you that Sikhs only follow Ten Gurus and Guru Granth Sahib only, followers of other sects are not Sikh,'' said Avtar Singh Makkar, SGPC chief.This may trigger a new debate as to who is true Sikh. Though Supreme Court may have the final word but surely the Punjab Government is trying its best to retain the label of minority for Sikhs in Punjab.