Centre allows Sikh staff to wear Kirpan at airport

The Civil Aviation Ministry has altered the new order restricting Sikh employees from carrying Kirpan at the airports; the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Manjinder Singh Sirsa tweeted and thanked PM Modi and the Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia on Monday. Employees and passengers can now carry Kirpan at Indian airports, Singh tweeted. 

The document read that a Sikh passenger can wear a Kirpan of a blade length as 15.24 cms, i.e., 6 inches (should not exceed), and the total overall length of the Kirpan should not exceed 9 inches. The bureau of civil aviation security said it is approved while travelling by air on Indian aircraft within India. Previously it banned Sikh staff from wearing a Kirpan; the corrigendum to the guide has reportedly dropped the clause. 

A Sikh staff wearing a Kirpan recently stopped serving his duty at Sri Guru Ram Dass Jee International Airport, Amritsar; due to the new rule, the Sikh organisation objected to the rule. Following banning Sikh employees from wearing Kirpan, Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) president Harjinder Singh Dhami wrote to civil aviation minister Jyotiraditya Scindia.

Dhami, in his letter, said that this discrimination is a significant attack on the Sikhs' religious freedom in their own country, and it will never be adopted. The Centre should never forget that the Sikhs have always been at the forefront of making sacrifices for the country's freedom, and it is because of the Sikhs the country's culture has survived to this day.

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• Bharatiya Janata Party
• Civil Aviation Ministry
• Domestic flights
• India
• Jyotiraditya Scindia
• Manjinder Singh Sirsa
• Sikh
• Sikh community