Saryu Roy, Jamshedpur East MLA, vows to maintain Jharkhand Sikh rights in Patna Sahib Management Committee, countering attempts to deprive them of voting rights.
JAMSHEDPUR – Jamshedpur East MLA and former minister, Saryu Roy, has assured a Sikh delegation that he will make every effort to safeguard the rights of the Sikhs in Jharkhand.
His pledge came during a meeting with the Sikh delegation concerning the management committee of Takht Sri Harmandir Ji Patna Sahib, the second largest Sikh Takht and birthplace of Guru Gobind Singh Ji.
Saryu Roy committed to raising the issue in the Jharkhand Legislative Assembly and also personally writing to the Chief Secretary of Jharkhand and Bihar and the Chief Minister of Bihar, Nitish Kumar.
He seeks to find a respectable solution and to ensure more representation for Jharkhand, population-wise.
Sardar Bhagwan Singh, head of the Central Gurdwara Management Committee and leader of the Sikh delegation, presented a memorandum to Roy urging him to uphold the rights of Sikhs.
According to the constitution of 1956, franchise in the South Bihar constituency is limited to the Sikh Gurdwaras of Jharkhand.
However, the Bihar Sikh Representative Board and 15 Gurdwara Committees of Southern Bihar geographic area wish to deprive 115 Gurdwara Committees of Jharkhand of their voting rights, prompting legal steps.
The Sikh delegation pointed out that the state of Jharkhand was created by the Bihar State Reorganization Act 2000, and even after that, the Sikh community of Jharkhand continued to exercise franchise.
They expressed surprise that while states can be divided geographically, religious rights cannot be curtailed within boundaries or perimeters.
Some individuals, they argued, are exploiting this situation for personal gain.
