RSS’s Sikh front criticises supply of liquor to SGPC voters

New Delhi : The RSS’s Sikh Front has severely criticised the open distribution of liquor in the recent religious elections to local gudwara committees attached to the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee(SGPC) in Punjab and Haryana.

A pamphlet, titled ”Spoken Truth is Better than Hidden Lie,” circulated here by the Rashtriya Sikh Sangat (a RSS front body) said,”if a political party distributes poppy husk and liquor openly to lure the voters, who will save the Punjab and Sikh youth from becoming addicted to the intoxicants”.

Even though the circular did not name any political party, the Shiromani Akali Dal(SAD) headed by Mr Parkash Singh Badal is said to be ”controlling the SGPC” and has publically claimed to have swept the recent local gurdwara body polls in both states.

The author of the circular and RSS leader Rulda Singh said the Sikh leaders should ensure that a minimum ‘Sikh Marayada’ (Sikh code of conduct) of non-supply of liquor by the candidates, (a sizeable section of them are amritdhari( baptised) is observed in Sikh shrine polls.

He also raised strong objections o the Chandigarh administration’s recent announcement to double the capacity and sale of liquor from the UT outlets.

It was shameful that when Sikh leaders were observing Tricentenary celebrations of the origin of “Khalsa” in 1999, no efforts was made to cut down or discourage the sale and use of liquor, which has accounted for one-third of the total revenue of Punjab, he added.

Mr Singh, who had led a ‘jatha’ of Sikh faithfuls to historical gurdwaras in Pakistan two months ago, said in the comparison to Indian Punjabis, the health of the Pakistani Punjabis was far better. The main reason for this is the restriction on consumption of liquor in Pakistan because of Islamic religious sanctions, he said, adding that “in our Punjab, the government is determined to promote the sale and consumption of liquor for earning revenue and our leaders are conveniently oblivious to the fact that in the long-run they have to pay a price for such short sighted vote-catching strategy”.