Chandigarh-based Sikh scholars and activists, in a statement released to the media, have said that the case of Sikh girls’ marriage with Kashmiri Muslims has deliberately been blown out of proportion to suit the political ambitions of the right-wing BJP pursuing its ‘Love Jihad’ campaign. The statement chastised the Delhi Sikh leaders without taking their names. WSN reports.

As the condemnation of the role of the Delhi Sikh leaders gains momentum, a message has been conveyed by Chandigarh-based scholars and activists to the Kashmiri Muslim population and the Muslim community at large, as well as to Delhi-based Sikh leaders that respect and grace should not be compromised by anyone.

Muslim activists Taj Momhamd and Imam Shamsher Kari and Sikh leaders and activists  Sukhdev Singh,  Jaspal Singh Sidhu, Gurbachan Singh, Bhinder Singh, Dr Kuldip Singh, Rajinder Singh, Prof Manjit Singh, Gurpreet Singh, Rajwinder Singh Rahi and Khushhal Singh, in a joint statement issued to the media, stated that “The Delhi Sikh leaders consciously whipped up the issue to depict the minority Sikhs as aggressors to increase their vote banks by segregating them from the majority community.”

The statement alleges that the Delhi Sikh leaders intentionally kicked up a religious frenzy over the Kashmiri girls issue.

“It is a known fact that every religious community in India opposes both inter-religious and inter-caste marriages. 

The activists including journalists, teachers, doctors and businessmen stated that “Regrettably, the Delhi Sikh leaders posed as if they were representing the entire Sikh community while attempting to push the Sikhs against another minority which is now on the hit list of the Hindutva forces.”

They appealed to the leaders of the Muslim community to take proactive steps to resolve such situations in future. 

The statement observed that it is highly disturbing that the Delhi Sikh leaders failed to gauge the harm that they were doing by stoking communal tension by their exaggerated pronouncements for the Kashmiri Sikh population.