Steel City Sikh groups rue tepid response from other communities, ask them to join protest
Item
Title
Steel City Sikh groups rue tepid response from other communities, ask them to join protest
Description
Jamshedpur: Leaders of the Sikh community in Steel City have appealed to the members of the other communities to join their protest against the farm laws passed by the Union government. “Farmers don’t belong to any particular community and all of us should stand with them at a time when their future is at stake,” Jharkhand State Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee (JSGPC) president Shailendra Singh said on Tuesday. Appealing to the members of other communities to join their stir, the JSGPC functionary said they have invited prominent citizens across communities to participate in the special prayers to be organised at the Sakchi gurdwara on Friday. The Bihar and Jharkhand unit president of the All India Sikh Students Federation (AISSF), Satnam Singh Gambhir, said the protest by farmers was not against any political party but against the farm laws of the Centre. “The tone and tenor of the protest would have been the same if the Congress or any other political party at the Centre would have brought the contentious farm laws,” Gambhir added. He said that farmers irrespective of whether they were from Punjab, Uttar Pradesh or some other state were equally hit by the decisions of the Narendra Modi-led government. The head of the Sakchi Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee, Inderjeet Singh, said residents of the industrial town were not directly involved in agriculture and hence they were not realising the consequences of the three farm laws. “A handful of people from other communities have joined our agitation till now, but we expect encouraging response from the citizens in the near future,” Inderjeet Singh added. In the past 20 days, Sikhs here have organized dharna thrice at different places, conducted special prayers twice, observed a one-day fast and took out a protest march, among others. The Sikh leaders have warned that they would intensify the agitation if the Centre did not repeal the laws.
Publisher
The Times of India
Date
2020-12-16
Coverage
Ranchi