The decision by the Indian Government to deny Sikhs a separate Marriage Act has triggered outrage in the global Sikh community while plans are underway to force New Delhi to rethink its ruling.
Calling the decision, an “anti-Sikh posture”, “a violation of equal rights” and an insult to “Sikh sentiment”, various political as well as religious bodies in Punjab and around the world say they will fight to have a separate marriage act.
Sikh religious, social and political organisations are seeking the Anand or Sikh Marriage Act for the registration of marriages of the community. Currently, Sikh marriages can be registered only under the Hindu Marriage Act.
Muslims, Parsis, Christians and Jews of India already have separate acts for registration of their marriages.
The Indian government contends that providing a separate Act for the Sikhs would invite similar demands from other communities.
“There may not be any justification for secluding Sikhs from the rest of the categories (covered by the Hindu Marriage Act), as such a step would invite similar demands from other religious denominations (like Jains and Buddhists),” Law Minister Salman Khurshid said.
“This will further alienate Sikhs from the central government of India,” said Manpreet Singh of Surrey, who has been watching the controversy build over the last week in the United States, Canada and India.
All India Sikh Students Federation (AISSF), too, accused the Central Government of India of usurping the identity of Sikhs and said it planned to file a petition before the Supreme Court to challenge the decision.
“The government’s action of forcing Sikhs to register their marriages under Hindu Marriage Act is in violation of ‘equal rights’ provided under Articles 14 and 15 of the Constitution of India,” said AISSF president Karnail Singh Peermohamad.
He said they would also launch ‘Proud to be a Sikh’ campaign to build public movement in support of Anand Marriage Act and Sikhs’ Right to Self Determination.
Punjab chief minister Parkash Singh Badal said the central government had hurt the sentiments of Sikhs by rejecting the proposal.
“The sudden U-turn by the government to outrightly abandon the said proposal not only tantamounts to a breach of trust but also torments the psyche of the Sikhs across the globe,” he said.
He blamed the Congress-led government for always taking a hard stand against the Sikh community, and added that comprehensive enactment of a Separate Sikh Marriage Act by amending the Anand Karaj Act, 1909, would go a long way in curbing the malpractice of deserting brides.
Badal asserted that the issue of immense social significance had been time and again raised by the ambassadors of Britain, Canada, Italy and the US with the Punjab government for resolving it permanently, and said the only ray of hope for registration of marriages under the amended act has been dashed.
These countries wanted a stronger law for the religion so that Sikh community members settled there could not easily desert their brides.
The powerful Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (DSGMC) and Sikh radical organizations have joined hands with it on the issue.
DSGMC president Paramjit Singh Sarna said they would wait for another month for government to change its stand, and only then decide on moving the court and launching an agitation.
The Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC),w hich operates the Golden Temple in Amritsar, Sikhism’s holiest shrine, said the refusal to provide a separate marriage act for Sikhs is “unfortunate”.
In a letter to the Prime Minister, SGPC president Avtar Singh Makkar said the Sikhs were demanding a separate marriage act because at present they have to get their wedding registered under the Hindu Marriage Act under compulsion, which affects the religious sentiments of the community.
Sikhs for Justice, a US-based Sikh community advocacy group has sought UN intervention to persuade India to pass a law for separate registration of Sikh marriages.
Sikhs for Justice has submitted a memorandum to UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief Heiner Bielefeldt seeking UN intervention to impress India “to amend article 25 of the Indian Constitution to restore the independent status of Sikhism”.
The Indian “government’s refusal to pass law for separate registration of Sikh marriages is yet another instant of discrimination based on religion towards Sikhs”, it said.
SFJ legal advisor Gurpatwant Singh Pannun alleged the demand and struggle of Sikhs to have Sikhism recognized as a separate religion has resulted in extreme repression by Indian government.