Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU/SRINAGAR, Jan 16: Various Sikh organizations are up in arms against the Coalition Government for non-inclusion of any member of the community in the Cabinet, which was expanded and reshuffled yesterday.
All Parties Sikh Coordination Committee (APSCC) has threatened to carry out a campaign against the State Government for ignoring the Sikh community in the expansion of the Cabinet.
In a statement, Jagmohan Singh Raina, Convener APSCC said that there are Sikh leaders in the fold of National Conference and Congress but none among them was given a Cabinet berth in the Council of Ministers.
“APSCC will start a tour of villages and towns of the State to educate minorities especially Sikhs on the discrimination they face from Government and how they have been kept out from circles of power and governance,” he said.
Raina said that in the next general elections the APSCC will ask Sikhs not to vote for the coalition candidates as they don’t care about Sikhs.
An emergency meeting of several Sikh bodies was held under the chairmanship of S Mohinder Singh wherein a serious concern was expressed over non-inclusion of any Sikh in the Cabinet. The meet also decided to send a delegation of prominent Sikhs from J&K to meet AICC president Sonia Gandhi and NC president Dr Farooq Abdullah seeking their intervention for representation to the community in State Cabinet.
The meet was attended by representatives of Shiromani Youth Akali Dal, All India Sikh Students Federation, State Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee, Sikh Naujawan Sabha and others.
A meeting of the executive body of the Kashmir Sikh Displaced Forum was also held today to deliberate on the issue of induction in Omar Abdullah Government.
Speaking on the occasion R.S.Bali general secretary of the Forum said that Government led by Omar Abdullah has miserably failed to safeguard the interests of the minorities particularly the Sikhs by denying them the representation in the Government. He further said that when the Government gives representation to the different areas of the State then why not to the Sikhs who are the true nationalists and have given their due share in the overall development of the State.