Last week, the Lok Sabha passed the Sikh Gurdwaras (Amendment) Bill, 2016, paving the way for a ban on Sehajdharis \u2014 Sikhs who do not wear the symbols of their religion, like unshorn hair \u2014 from voting or contesting in elections to shrine trusts in three states and one Union Territory in north India.
\nMumbai\u2019s largest Sikh representative body, the Guru Singh Sabha, already has rules banning Sikhs with shorn hair from becoming its members or contesting elections. Anyone can pray at the 100-odd gurdwaras in the city, but membership to the trusts is restricted to Keshdharis \u2013 men with unshorn hair.
\nThe debate whether clean-shaven Sikhs should be excluded from elections to the community\u2019s religious trusts is an old one. In 2003, the Union government tried to amend a 1925 law to disallow Sehajdharis from administration rights to religious trusts, but this amendment was quashed eight years later by the Punjab and Haryana high court after the Sehajdharis filed a petition. The Rajya Sabha has already passed the bill, which now needs the President\u2019s nod to become a law.
\nSikhs classify themselves according to the degrees with which they practice and wear symbols of their faith. A Patit, for instance, is one born in a Sikh family, but who does not practice the religion in its entirety. The term also includes those who were once baptised but have now abandoned the religious code. Those who wear the five symbols of their faith, including a dagger and steel bangle, but are not baptised, are called \u2018Sabat Surat\u2019 (complete by appearance) and Keshdhari is a similar term. The highest classification is Amritdharis \u2013 also called Khalsas \u2013 who not only wear the symbols but are also baptised in a rite called Amrit Sanchar. The new rules say that Sabat Surat Sikhs can vote, but Sehajdharis and Patits cannot; Amritdharis can vote as well as contest the polls. The law will only be applicable to the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC), the powerful body which controls all major Sikh shrines, including the Golden Temple, in the northern states. Elections to the SGPC are as keenly and bitterly contested as state and national polls. Mumbai\u2019s gurdwaras, on the other hand, are managed by public trusts. \u201cUnlike trusts in the north, which are governed under laws specifically enacted for gurdwaras, temples in Mumbai are public trusts and we can make our own rules,\u201d said Kulwant Singh, vice-president of the Guru Singh Sabha, while explaining how they already have rules banning non-Keshdharis from holding posts in community trusts.
\nIt is estimated that a third of the country\u2019s 20 million (2011 census) Sikhs are Sehajdharis, and many members of the community think it is unfair to deny co-religionists their place in administrative bodies just because they dress differently. \u201cThough they may not wear the external symbols of their religion, Sehajdharis are among the most devout,\u201d said Puran Singh Banga, a Chembur resident.
\nBut others disagreed that everyone should be treated equally. \u201cBelieving is one thing, and following all the rules of the religion is another. You are part of a religious community only if you follow the rules,\u201d said Ajit Singh, former principal of Mumbai\u2019s Khalsa College.
\nAs the younger generation shifts from traditional jobs in agriculture to services, there is worry that a tradition is dying. Concerned with the increasing number of Sikh youngsters abandoning the community\u2019s traditional attire, there have been attempts to stop the trend. \u201cUnlike in western countries, like Canada, where a lot of Sikhs wear a turban and grow a beard because they are Sikhs by conviction, young people in India are discarding the turban,\u201d said Kulwant Singh.
\nTo promote the unshaven look, Mumbai hosts an annual \u2018Mr Singh\u2019 competition, where participants have to sport the traditional Sikh look. The message at the contest is that the \u2018no razor\u2019 look, too, can be glamourous. The event is scheduled in November.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Last week, the Lok Sabha passed the Sikh Gurdwaras (Amendment) Bill, 2016, paving the way for a ban on Sehajdharis \u2014 Sikhs who do not wear the symbols of their religion, like unshorn hair \u2014 from voting or contesting in…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"coauthors":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/indianewsnet.com\/marathi\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15518"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/indianewsnet.com\/marathi\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/indianewsnet.com\/marathi\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indianewsnet.com\/marathi\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indianewsnet.com\/marathi\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=15518"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/indianewsnet.com\/marathi\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15518\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15520,"href":"https:\/\/indianewsnet.com\/marathi\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15518\/revisions\/15520"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/indianewsnet.com\/marathi\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=15518"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indianewsnet.com\/marathi\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=15518"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indianewsnet.com\/marathi\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=15518"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indianewsnet.com\/marathi\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcoauthors&post=15518"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}