Across the Sikh world, there is a sense of sat­is­fac­tion that the Gov­ern­ment of Ma­ha­rash­tra has passed on the mat­ter of new leg­is­la­tion for Takht Hazur Sa­heb to a Cab­i­net Sub-Com­mit­tee, the Sikhs of Nanded over the last 15 days have been fast­ing in front of the Dis­trict Col­lec­tor’s Of­fice as they fear that the gov­ern­ment is in­sin­cere in its move of with­drawal of the new Act. WSN re­ports from Nanded.

Since the last two weeks, there has been to­tal in­dif­fer­ence by the lo­cal rep­re­sen­ta­tives of the Bharatiya Janta Party even though by and large the Sikhs in Nanded have po­lit­i­cally aligned with the BJP and the re­gion which has Sikhs in large num­bers has re­turned 3 MLAs and 3 MPs from the area. Amidst grow­ing dis­il­lu­sion­ment and dis­con­tent with the BJP in Nanded, Sikhs are on a chain-fast protest.

It is per­ti­nent to note that in­stead of ad­dress­ing the lin­ger­ing is­sues ex­pressed by the Sikh com­mu­nity against the new Act ap­proved by the Ma­ha­rash­tra Cab­i­net on 5 Feb­ru­ary, Dis­trict Col­lec­tor Ab­hi­jeet Raut has asked pro­test­ers to with­draw their ag­i­ta­tion and trust the state gov­ern­ment, which has been turned down by the pro­tes­tors.

Speak­ing on the phone line to World Sikh News, Jagdeep Singh, who has been spear­head­ing the protests said, “Our protests will con­tinue till the gov­ern­ment gives an ex­press un­der­tak­ing to the Bom­bay High Court and or­ders the con­duct of elec­tions with­out de­lay.”

Our protests will con­tinue till the gov­ern­ment gives an ex­press un­der­tak­ing to the Bom­bay High Court and or­ders the con­duct of elec­tions with­out de­lay.

Jagdeep Singh Nam­bar­dar, Leader of Protest Cam­paign against New Act at Nanded, Ma­ha­rash­tra

Lo­cal lead­ers of the Shiv Sena (Bal Thack­eray), Con­gress, and NCP (Sharad Pawar) have been lend­ing full sup­port to the protest Dharna reg­u­larly. The Sikhs in Nanded hope that the newly elected Ra­jya Sabha MPs Ajit Gopchade and Ashok Rao Cha­van will sup­port them.

Re­cently the protests have re­ceived pub­lic sup­port from the for­mer Mayor of Karim­na­gar, the Pres­i­dent of Nanded Dis­trict Ad­vo­cates As­so­ci­a­tion, Adv. Ashish God­ham­gaokar, Adv. San­jay Wakode, Adv. Suren­dras­in­gLoni­wale, Adv. Amol Wagh, Adv. Maruti Badal­gaokar.

In the last two days, com­mu­nity lead­ers in­clud­ing Ravin­dra Singh Bungi, Pre­mjyot Singh Sukhi, Deepak Singh Hazuria, Tega Singh Bawri, Manin­der Singh Ram­gadiya, Jagdeep Singh Num­ber­dar, and Gu­rudev Singh Ram­gadiya fasted. They were joined by Shers­ingh Fauji, Gurmeet Singh Ma­ha­jan, Man­preet Singh Kun­ji­vale, Man­bir Singh Granthi, Deepak Singh Gal­li­wale, Ra­jen­dra Singh Pu­jari, Jar­nail Singh Gadi­vale, Karan Singh Loni­vale, Ravin­dra Singh Pu­jari, Kri­pal Singh Hazuria, Sim­ran­jit Singh Kun­ji­vale, Harb­ha­jan Singh Pu­jari, Deepak Singh Hazuria, Biren­dra Singh Bedi, Ma­hen­der Singh Paidal, Suren­dra Singh Mem­ber, Jas­pal Singh Lan­gri, Av­tar Singh Pahredar, Jas­bir Singh Bugni, Gur­prit Singh Sokhi, Man­preet Singh Kara­gir, Harb­ha­jan Singh Digwa, Kash­mir Singh Bhatti, Sukhvin­der Singh Hu­dal, In­der Singh Shahu, Gur­deep Singh Sandhu, Amar­jit Singh Kun­ji­vale, Bhola Singh Gadi­vale, Ki­ran Singh Shahu, Babu Singh Basari­vale, Baljit Singh Bawri, Dalip Singh Ragi, Jeet Singh Dukanadar, In­der­jit Singh Gadganj, Ke­har Singh, Jagjit Singh Khalsa, Daljit Singh Hy­der­abad, for­mer coun­cil­lor Babub­hai Khoke­vale, and Habib Bag­wan par­tic­i­pated in the protests.

On the four­teenth day, the Jathedar of Gu­rud­wara Mata Sahib, Te­jas­ing, and Mo­han Ham­birde from Nanded South vis­ited. Those on fast on the four­teenth day in­cluded Jagdeeps­ingNum­ber­dar, Manin­der­s­in­gRam­gadiya, Gurmeets­ing Bedi, Bho­las­ing­Gadi­vale, Hazuras­ing Shahu, Amar­jeets­ing Ma­ha­jan, Shers­ing Pu­jari, and Jas­birs­ing­Bugni.They were joined by Shers­ingh Fauji, Gurmeets­ingh Ma­ha­jan,  Man­preets­ingKun­ji­vale, Ravin­der­s­ingh­Bungi, Man­birs­ingh Granthi, Deep­aks­ingh­Gal­li­wale,  Ra­jen­der­s­ingh Pu­jari, Jer­nals­ingh­Gadi­vale, Karans­inghLoni­vale, Ravin­der­s­ingh Pu­jari, Kri­pals­ingh­Hazuria, Sim­ran­jeets­inghKun­ji­vale, Harb­ha­jans­ingh Pu­jari, Deep­aks­ingh­Hazuria, Biren­dras­ingh Bedi, Ma­hen­der­s­ingh­Paidal, Suren­dras­ingh Mem­ber, Jas­pals­ingh­Langri, Av­tars­ingh­Pahredar, Gur­prits­ingh­Sokhi, Man­preets­inghKara­gir, Sukhvin­der­s­ingh­Hu­dal, In­der Singh Shahu, Gu­rudeeps­ingh Sandhu, Amar­jeets­inghKun­ji­vale, Jag­jeets­ingh Khalsa.Ravin­der­s­ing, Man­jeets­ing Con­trac­tor, Bis­hans­ing, Yash­pals­ing, Savarns­ing, Bal­birs­ing, Ma­hen­der­s­ing, and Mandirs­ing