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Rejection of Anand Marriage Act: The constitutional discrimination against Sikhs continues

August 30, 2011 | By Sikh Siyasat Bureau

Amritsar (August 30, 2011): Dal Khalsa slams the Union government for rejecting the proposal to implement the provisions of Anand Marriage Act, lying defunct since the India adopted the present Constitution in 1950.

In a hard hitting statement, party’s head H S Dhami and political secretary Kanwar Pal Singh said the constitutional discrimination against Sikhs continues. Contesting the basis on which the Union government has decided to drop the proposal, he said the rejection flows from New Delhi’s mindset to subsume Sikhism into Hinduism. He described the decision as one form of “cultural terrorism” being heaped on Sikhs by the Indian state.

Asserting the separate identity of the Sikhs, they said unlike Hindus, they (Sikhs) have their own way and traditions to solemnize their marriages. Why someone else culture and traditions which were contrary to their beliefs were being imposed on Sikhs? Is this not a cultural terrorism, they questioned.

The decision of the government has opened the old wounds of the Sikhs, they said. It smacks of hegemonic approach of the government. It is in tune with the sinister design of Hindutva class to subsume “Sikhs into Hindu ocean”.

Refusing to buy the argument of Law Minister that the implementation of Anand Marriage Act violates Article 44 of the Constitution which aims at bringing the uniform civil code, they questioned when Muslims and Christians have their own Personal laws, why Sikhs can’t have their own Personal law?

It has been established beyond doubt that Sikhism is a separate religion and Sikhs are a distinct people, they pointed out. However, it is a matter of great regret that the birth, marriage, adoption, death of a Sikh is in accordance with the law of another religion. The registration of marriages, adoption, succession, formation of a family business for all these we have to adopt a set of procedures incompatible with our belief systems, they rued.

The first blow was dealt on 26th January 1950 with in the framing of the constitution itself, when recognition of the unique character of the Sikh religion was heavily compromised. The Explanation II of Article 25 (2) (b) of the constitution still continues to classify Sikhs as Hindus.

“This dubbing of the Sikhs in the Constitution, in spite of a recommendation of the Constitutional Review Committee is the root cause from which flows the legitimacy armed with which all organs of the government continue to discriminate against the Sikhs in various ways”.

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Related Topics: Anand Marriage Act, Sikh Identity, Sikh Personal Law

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