New Delhi: Thirty-two years after he resigned as a member of Parliament for being denied entry with his kirpan, Simranjit Singh Mann Monday took oath as the Lok Sabha MP for Punjab’s Sangrur, leaving his kirpan outside.
Mann, 77, a vocal Khalistan supporter, won the byelection for Sangrur — the home turf of Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann and stronghold of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) — on 26 June.
At a press conference on 14 July, Mann said that carrying a kirpan — a Sikh article of faith — is his constitutional right and he would go to Parliament with it. However, Monday, when he was stopped from carrying the kirpan inside, he left it out.
A senior official in the Lok Sabha Secretariat, who did not wish to be identified, told ThePrint, “Mr Simranjit Mann (on Monday) came with his kirpan but he was not allowed to take it inside the premises. The protocol was conveyed to him and he agreed.”
Mann carries a 3-foot-long kirpan, which can be seen hanging from his shoulder in public appearances. The senior officer said, “Sikh parliamentarians are allowed to carry smaller kirpans as per security protocols drafted by the Ministry of Home Affairs.”
A senior IPS officer, who did not wish to be identified either, said kirpans that are allowed in high-security areas have to be less than 9 inches (1 foot=12 inches) in length and their blades should not exceed 6 inches (0.5 foot).
Mann took oath in the chamber of Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla.
When asked why Mann took oath in the Speaker’s chamber unlike other MPs, who did so in the House, the Lok Sabha Secretariat officer said, “He (Mann) himself insisted that he should take oath in the Speaker’s chamber.”
One of Mann’s close aides said that he urged the Speaker to be included in standing committees concerning external affairs and defence.
Speaking to the media outside Parliament Monday, Mann said: “In the Parliament, I will be taking up important issues concerning Sangrur region, Punjab, farmers, freedom of Sikh prisoners, Kashmir, and bulldozing of houses owned by Muslims.”
Controversial MP
Mann was actively involved in protests against the Operation Blue Star and he was in jail between 1984 and 1989 — facing charges such as sedition and waging war against the state.
He won his first Lok Sabha polls from Tarn Taran in 1989, while still in jail.
For the last one month, Mann has been in the news for some reason or the other. He stirred a political row in Punjab by calling Bhagat Singh a “terrorist” on 16 July.
He also defends his grandfather, who is believed to have honoured General Dyer after the Jallianwala Bagh massacre in 1919.
(Edited by Sunanda Ranjan)
Also Read: What comeback of Simranjit Singh Mann, a vocal Khalistan advocate, means for Punjab politics