The Sikh Community of Kashmir has threatened that they won’t participate in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections due to the government’s apathy towards the minority community, reported the Economic Times.
The report quoting community leaders claim that neither Government of India nor the state government has paid heed to their long pending demands of extension of Minority Community Act to the state and introduction of Punjabi language in the schools and colleges.
Chairman of All Parties Sikh Coordination Committee Jagmohan Singh Raina told ET that the community is facing discrimination for no fault of others. “We have decided to not participate in the Lok Sabha elections as a mark of protest. This our silent way of conveying that we are angry and have not been treated well,” he said.
Raina alleged that subsequent governments have always made false promises and ditched the community. He informed that there is a population of 3.2 lakh Sikhs in the state, with around 80,000 in Kashmir alone.
“We have no representation in any power structure. We were given some jobs under non migrant minority category, which was again taken away by a different community with the help of PDP government,” Manmeet Singh of United Sikh Forum told ET.
