Khadoor Sahib by-poll and Sikh Politics

Khadoor Sahib : In month of October, 2015, a number of incidents of Guru Granth Sahib’s sacrilege happened across Punjab on large scale, deeply hurting Sikh sentiments. These incidents were accompanied by another incident, during which the Punjab Police opened fire at peaceful Sikhs who were undertaking peaceful agitation against the sacrilege. The firing by police led to deaths of two Sikh youth. These events triggered unprecedented uprising among Sikhs against the government across the state and paved the way for Sarbat Khalsa which was successfully held on November 10, 2015 at Chabba village of Amritsar Sahib, despite several restriction imposed by the government.
The Sarbat Khalsa established that despite lacking proper organizational structure and cadre, Sikh political forces cannot be ignored in Punjab. As a result, these forces revived on political scene of Punjab and hit headlines.This political development has close relationship with the Khadoor Sahib by-poll as its MLA (nowformer) Ramanjit Singh Sikki who belongs to Congress party, resigned from the post to protest against the sacrilege incidents, following which the seat was declared vacant by the election commission to conduct bypoll. Being a Sikh, Sikki also attended the Sarbat Khalsa and made a speech. Sikki again has been fielded by the Congress for this bypoll. In addition, the Khadoor Sahib segment is considered as ‘Panthik segment’ as Sikhs enjoy unprecedented majority in this constituency.