• Welcome to all New Sikh Philosophy Network Forums!
    Explore Sikh Sikhi Sikhism...
    Sign up Log in

India After Gujarat, Sikh Farmers In Haryana Face Eviction Threat Manjeet Sehgal

spnadmin

1947-2014 (Archived)
SPNer
Jun 17, 2004
14,500
19,219
After Gujarat, Sikh farmers in Haryana face eviction threat
Manjeet Sehgal

After Gujarat, Sikh farmers in Haryana are now facing eviction threat. The Congress party, which raised a hue and cry against the Narendra Modi government's decision to evict Sikh farmers from Kutch, is now on the back foot after a similar issue concerning Haryana Sikh farmers has reached the Prime Minister's Office.

Former chairman of National Commission for Minorities Tarlochan Singh in a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has requested the latter to save hundreds of farmers in Kaithal and Kurukshetra districts from displacement.

"I have requested the Prime Minister to save 3,500 Sikh farmer families, settled in Kaithal and Kurukshetra districts for the last 55 years, who are facing displacement threat following a court order. These Sikh farmers were settled by the then government of India in areas which later formed a part of Haryana state. The state government has asked them to vacate the land," Tarlochan Singh told Mail Today.

The land owned by the Sikh farmers in Kaithal and Kurukshetra districts is around 15,000 acres. More than 3,500 families were given barren land on lease for a period of 20 years in 1952. The lease was never renewed thereafter. The farmers were issued eviction notices in 1973, which was challenged by the affected farmers in a local court from where the case reached the Supreme Court.

The farmers lost the case in the Supreme Court but the court said the state government can extend the land lease. "The court had said the state government can give the land to the farmers but rather than extending a helping hand, the authorities are trying to snatch the land from us. They have asked 100 families to vacate their houses," said Beant Singh, one of the affected farmers.

These 100 families belong to Karah Sahib village. They lost their land in 2012 and now they have been asked to leave their homes.

"We are not growing any crop for the last 18 months. Now they have asked us to vacate our houses citing the court order. Sikhs are being treated as secondclass citizens here. The power supply to the village has been cut off to compel us to leave the place," said Lakhwinder Kaur, a farmer.

This is second time when the Prime Minister has been asked to intervene in the case. "During 2009, when Manmohan Singh visited Pehova, the affected farmers had requested him to intervene in the matter and safeguard their interests. He had directed Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda to take steps to protect the rights of the farmers. But the Haryana government just slept over the issue," Tarlochan said. Haryana revenue minister Mahender Pratap Singh was not available for comments.

State Congress Committee president Phool Chand Mulana expressed ignorance about the case of Haryana Sikh farmers. "I have no knowledge about the case. I am currently out of Haryana," he said.


Read more at: http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/...in-haryana-face-eviction-threat/1/298979.html
 

spnadmin

1947-2014 (Archived)
SPNer
Jun 17, 2004
14,500
19,219
Related story

SAD Urges Rajnath To ‘Direct’ Modi To Withdraw Case Against Sikh Farmers In Gujarat

http://thelinkpaper.ca/?p=31401jarat


JALANDHAR – Paramjit Singh Sarna led Shiromani Akali Dal (Delhi) on Monday submitted a memorandum to BJP President Rajnath Singh on the issue of eviction of Sikh farmers from Kutch region of Gujarat and urged him to “direct” Modi to withdraw the case against the Sikh farmers in the Supreme Court.

“If he fails to comply, we would be forced to approach the Sikh’s highest temporal body, Akal Takht Sahib to pass directions to the entire Sikh community to launch a non-cooperation movement against Modi in view of his anti-Sikh activities,” Sarna said in the memorandum in a not so subtle warning also to the BJP President in the memorandum.

The memo also pointed out that this discriminatory attitude of BJP’s Prime Ministerial candidate reflected very poorly on the entire party.

The memo also reminded the BJP president that the party needed to win the confidence of all minorities by following the policies of former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Delhi’s former CM Madan Lal Khurana. “Modi, who considers himself as a nationalist, should have an honest approach towards these policies for the sake of country’s unity and integration,” SAD (Delhi) said.

“We are pained to point out the fate of Sikh farmers in your party ruled state of Gujarat, which is ruled by one of your top leaders, Narendra Modi, who is considered to be primeministerial candidate of your party. It was expected that like other states of India, Sikhs would also get a fair and equal opportunity in Gujarat to follow the vocation of their choice. However, the state government is apparently following an anti-minority policy in Gujarat to drive out the Sikh farmers from Kutch by snatching away their farming rights in Kutch. Pooling their meager resources, when these farmers managed to win their case in Gujrat High Court in a bid to save their properties, the state government gave further proof of its partisan policies by deciding to challenge the verdict in the Supreme court,” SAD (Delhi)’s memorandum added.

“Let us also take this opportunity to clarify that we have no intentions of politicizing this issue, but if Modi continued to pursue his anti-Sikh and anti-minorities policies by continuing to oppress the Sikh farmers of Kutch, then, all the Sikhs based in India and abroad would vociferously oppose him which can have an adverse effect on your party’s prospects in the coming elections. We appeal to you to amicably resolve this issue of Sikh farmers of Gujarat,” the Sarna led Akali Dal said.
 

❤️ CLICK HERE TO JOIN SPN MOBILE PLATFORM

Top