[publication.samachar.com]


NEW DELHI: Sikh religious leaders, who accuse the RSS of attempting to portray their faith as part of Hinduism, on Monday pressed their demand for a constitutional amendment to classify their faith as a distinct religion.

They denounced the Sangh for stating in its mouthpiece Organiser that the Guru Granth Sahib is known for its salutations to Lord Ram.

"The RSS has been repeatedly trying to portray Sikhism as part of the Hindu religion and we have been repeatedly condemning these statements.

"We would request the government to amend Article 25 of the Constitution to establish that Sikhism is a separate religion," Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (DSGMC) leader Harvinder Singh Sarna told reporters in New Delhi.

He also demanded a separate marriage law to govern Sikh weddings.

The DSGMC leader, whose party is opposed to the BJP and Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, rejected suggestions that Sikh religious texts carried praise of Lord Ram.

"They are those scholars who, for their own vested interests, have denied the role of a Brahmin courtier in the martyrdom of Guru Arjan Dev (the fifth Guru). Sikh doctrine is solely based on monotheism," Sarna said when asked that some Sikh scholars do agree with what the Sangh journal has written in its latest issue.

Last year, the DSGMC had called for a Sikh boycott of the BJP over senior party leader Sushma Swaraj's comments endorsed by some prominent Sikh scholars, that Chandu, a Hindu courtier, had no major role in the execution of Guru Arjan Dev under Mughal order. Chandu, it said, was the main conspirator.