Press Release February 15, 2008

Khalistan Affairs Center
956-National Press Building
529 - 14th street NW
Washington DC 20045 USA

Tel: 202-637-9210 :: Fax: 202-637-9211

E-mail: kacwashdc@yahoo.com

 PRESS  RELEASE

Washington DC, Friday February 15, 2008: In a Press Statement issued here today, Dr. Amarjit Singh, Director of the Washington-based Khalistan Affairs Center, vehemently condemned the assault on Nanakshahi calendar and other subversive shenanigans of ‘rent-a-Sikh’ agents provocateurs, led by polygamist Jathadar Iqbal Singh of Takht Patna Sahib. The Nanakshahi calendar has helped dispel Hindutva dezinformatsiya and oblique suggestions that monotheistic, egalitarian Sikhism is just a variety of polytheistic caste-ridden Brahmanism/ Hinduism, which it is NOT.

Iqbal Singh is an associate of the Rashtriya Sikh Sangat.(RSS) which is an off shoot of the Neo-Nazi, Hindu fundamentalist organization, RSS (Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh)  According to Rashtriya Sikh Sangat website the 3^rd All India conference of Rashtriya Sikh Sangat was held, in 1990, at Patna Sahib  where, “Newly appointed Jathedar of the Takht Singh Sahib Giani Iqbal Singh Ji was the chief guest of the conference. In this meet importance of socio-religious and cultural relationship between the different segment of the society was discussed. Sikh identity was also an issue…”

Under attack Nanakshahi solar calendar, is named after the founder of the Sikh religion, Guru  Nanak Sahib, (year one is the year of Guru Nanak's birth in 1469 CE) and is based on scientific calculations. After the world-wide acceptance of the Nanakshahi calendar, in March 2003, it has made life much easier for Sikhs everywhere, the statement said. Dates of Sikh holy days no longer change from year to year, as they used to, under the Hindu Bikrami calendar. Gurpurbs (celebrations devoted to Gurus) now always fall on the same date, every year. More than that, the Nanakshahi calendar is now seen by 26 million Sikhs all over the world (3 million free in the diaspora and 23 million captive in India) as a symbol of Sikh pride and religious identity. (> http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/sikhism/customs/nanakshahi.shtml <)

The statement concluded by urging Jathedar Akal Takht Sahib to stand firm on decisions already made regarding Nanakshahi calendar and Sikh Rehat Maryada. It also warned the Badals, Junior & Senior, that the Sikh diaspora will not tolerate any compromise on vital Sikh issues as is their wont. The Badals should hold in leash their ‘Sangh Parwar’ allies, the RSS and BJP, to ensure that they do not interfere in matters Sikh.