Sarna to meet Patil, protest against raking up of Khalistan issue

New Delhi, Mar 8 (UNI) Members of the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (DSGMC), led by Akali Dal leader Paramjit Singh Sarna, will meet Home Minister Shivraj Patil today to seek action against a private channel for telecasting purported interviews with some Sikh leaders, projected as 'proponents of Khalistan' ''with some ulterior motive and design.'' ''The way the 'dead issue of Khalistan' is being raked up, titled as ' Desh Dhroh' (seditious activities against the country) smacks of a ''conspiracy by 'Hindutva' forces out to communalise polity,'' Mr Sarna said at a press conference here today.

He expressed surprise over any Sikh supporting the demand for Khalistan, ''when they now no longer feel discriminated against as they did 25-30 years ago,'' he said, adding that the community feels honoured with Dr Manmohan Singh occupying the office of Prime Minister, General J J Singh as Chief of the Army Staff and Montek Singh Ahluwalia as head of the Planning Commission.

''The inspired TV programme aims at downgrading the Sikh community in the eye of majority of Indians and seeks to remind them of the days when sikhs were conviniently painted as 'traitors' of the country,'' Mr Sarna said, adding that the Sikhs feel agitated over the 'orchestrated' TV programme and want action against the channel.

Echoing similar sentiments , senior Akali leader and former Punjab Minister Manjit Singh 'Calcutta' said ''flogging the dead horse will serve any design of 'communal forces' which were upset with the developing amity between India and Pakistan and opening of Wagha Border for facilitating the movement of Punjabis of both countries across the border.'' Besides, Daljit Singh Bittu, who was projected as a 'Khalistani leader' by the TV channel, had himself said it was 'one-sided' portrayal of the issue, isolated from the historical perspective which gave rise to the Khalistan demand.

Akali leader and fommer MP Simranjit Singh Mann said the TV programme had been designed and prompted by the intelligence agencies with an aim to keep the ''communal cauldron boiling to consolidate the suport of the Hindutva forces.'' However, several other leaders like former MP Prem Singh Chandumajra said the Khalistan was no longer a issue and it did not warrant any intervention.

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