Delhi’s poor Sikligar Sikhs have not put much effort and interest in the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Elections. Clearly, the Sikligar Sikhs and other poor Sikhs of Delhi need guidance and support to enrol as voters and to ensure that they are not deceived by anyone in their name.  WSN invites socially-minded Sikh organisations to arrange awareness programs amongst Sikligars, Lubanas, Baath communities as has been happening over the decades.

SIKLIGAR ACTIVISTS AROUND EIGHT MAJOR DERAS OF SIKLIGARS IN DELHI are doing precious little for registration of votes for DSGMC elections since the process started two weeks ago. In the past elections, Sikligar majority areas of Tilak Vihar, Kalyanpuri, Mangolpuri and Sultanpuri have had substantial numbers of Sikligar votes.

It is significant to note that these are the very areas where a large number of the poor Sikligars were killed in a planned and systematic manner in the November 1984 pogrom.

Talking on the phone line with this reporter, Ravinder Singh from Tilak Vihar said, “We are facing many problems. Our DSGMC member Atma Singh Lubana does not care for our needs. He ignores us. He has done virtually nothing for the poor Sikhs as DSGMC member.”

“We are facing many problems. Our DSGMC member Atma Singh Lubana does not care for our needs. He ignores us. He has done virtually nothing for the poor Sikhs as DSGMC member.”

“We have a lot of problems -challenges of caste documentation, setting up of help desks for voter registration and completing our regular ID papers,” he added.

Apart from the problems of voter registration, young Sikligar boys are facing unemployment, which has become acute due to COVID19 pandemic. With massive unemployment, it has become more difficult to convince the Sikligar, Lubanas, Bhaats and other poor communities to be part of the DSGMC election process.

Though the Shiromani Akali Dal Delhi and the Shiromani Akali Dal are active in Sultanpuri and Kalyanpuri, here too the Sikligars are divided into groups and there is no effort to enrol all eligible Sikh men and women, including youngsters as voters.

This reporter has observed that no Sikh religious or social organisation has made efforts to launch an awareness campaign for these poor Sikligar Sikhs for DSGMC voter registration. Many in the Sikligar, Lubanas and Bhaat communities do not know the meaning of Form 4, 5 and 6. For them to register online is almost an impossibility, given their illiteracy.

Gurdwara committees have not done much to solve the problems that this poor section of the Sikh population faces in the capital region of Delhi.

Even Gurdwara committees have not done much to solve the problems that this poor section of the Sikh population faces in the capital region of Delhi.

Young Sikligar student Kamaljeet Singh, who has been monitoring the Sikligar scene in northern India for the last many years, had the last word, “Sikligars in Delhi are not given importance by the Gurdwara leaders, except during the elections. After elections, the Sikligars are forgotten by the parties and also by the candidates who get elected.”

“Our own community is in deep slumber. They need to wake up. I know that we have to fight this battle ourselves. However, if we get some support from any quarter, it will be a big leap for the poor Sikligar community, in Delhi and everywhere else,”