Second Gurdwara Movement to damage SAD

Written by SadaPunjab Staff

Chandigarh : The second Gurdwara reforms movement to be launched by the opponents of the Shiromani Akali Dal President and the former chief minister, Mr. Parkesh Singh Badal, already stands deflated with the Akali Dal 1920 President, Mr. RaviInder Singh, distancing himself from the coordination committee constituted for this purpose. The development has taken place virtually within hours of his name having been associated with th coordination committee. The opponents of Mr. Badal had come on a single platform under the garb of launching second gurdwara movement to damage the prospects of the Shiromani AKali Dal in the forthcoming Assembly election. Interestingly, this initiative had been taken with the indirect support of some Sikh organizations functioining overseas. However, the composition of the coordination committee has raised eye brows in some sections. Hectic activity is being observed in the sikh political stream ahead of the Assembly elections to throw a direct challenge to the leadership of Mr. Badal. And ironically, the charges against Mr. Badal and the counter-allegations have not changed much during the last three decades. It is the same ‘Badal is RSS stooge’ versus the ‘Congress agents’ cacophony again. As part of the new strategy, the opponents of Mr. Badal have decided to launch the second gurdwara reform movement with an announcement to constitute a shadow Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee. The coordination committee set up includes leaders Chandumajra and Mr. Jaswant Singh Mann on the one extreme and Mr. Simranjit Singh Mann and Bhai Daljit Singh on the other with the saran brothers also thrown in, thus lacking ideological and political cohesion. The only common thread is being anti-Badal. The denigration of the Sikh institutions, including Akal Takht, the supreme seat of the community for prayer and politics, is not a new phenomenon and it was witnessed during the militant movement also. That was the period of marginalization of Sikh institutions and the traditional organizations of the community including the Akali Dal. In this context the launching of the Gurdwara reform movement is not a new slogan. However, it is the heterogeneous groups and individuals coming together without any common ideology which raises questions. According to the sources, the Sikh Youth of America had alerted those close to Bhai Daljit Singh against enlisting the support of certain leader like Mr Manjit Singh, Mr. Prem Singh Chandumajra and Mr Jaswant Singh Mann. A close confident of Bhai Daljit Singh conveyed to him these views of the organization functioning overseas. The leaders from this organizations question the credentials and the role of these during the militant movement. It is the denial of opportunity by Mr. Badal which has brought them to this group. What is now being questioned is the inclusion of these leaders in the coordination committee formed to launch the Gurdwara reform movement. The credibility of these leaders has come to be questioned even before the movement has been launched. Moreover, the proximity of some of these leaders to the rulers in Punjab is too well known. It is this proximity which adds weight to their criticism of being Congress agents. The core point is whether this coordination committee would be able to deal with the basic issues which have been rocking the community for the last three decades, including the denigration of the Sikh institutions. The apprehension is that the sole purpose is to damage Mr. Badal in the forthcoming Assembly election with out providing any panthic alternative to the people. In that eventuality, the gainer could be the congress. It is a different matter that the relationship of the Sikh Community with the Congress should also be discussed and debated under the changing situation when the Chief Minister, Capt. Amarinder Singh, is posing himself more as a panthic leader rather than that of the congressmen do not lag behind in flaunting panthic credentials of Capt. Amarinder Singh. Then the relationship with the Congress should also be discussed in the context of the role played by some of the leaders during militancy who have been inducted into the coordination committee. It calls for a thoroughly objective analysis None would deny the need for the reform movement in the backdrop of the distortions which have crept in, including the lack of a uniform maryada the political interference in the functioning of the functioning of the Sikh institutions including the shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee and the Akal Takht has increased after the death of jathedar Gurcharan Singh Tohra. It is mainly after his death that Mr. Badal has become all the more active in the religious domain. Shiromani Akali dal dismissed the meeting of the so called panthic elements as “a convention of the sonia Brigade tasked by the congress party to carry out its agenda of eroding Sikh religion and Sikh culture through internal sabotage. The party said that it would confront the efforts of these element to terrorize the Sikh masses through acts of violence in the holy shrines in a naked attempt to drive the devout away from the Guru’s abode. "It is a fight by the No. 10 Jan Path and the Guru’s abode (Guru Ghar) These elements have committed the unpardonable sin of joining the ranks of the known enemies of the panth. The Guru and the Sikh masses through their elected representatives in the SGPC will carry these elements to the destined end, “ said senior Akali leaders Mr Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa, Mr. Gurdev Singh Badal and jathedar Tota Singh in a press release through the party’s media office here. They also declared that the designs of these puppets to vitiate not only the sancitity of the Sikh shrines but also peace and communal harmony in the state would be forcibly confronted and they would never be allowed to succeed in their nefarious designs. However, the issues involved are not emotional. The role of the sikh institutions would have to be re-defined in the global context berfor launching the Gurdwara reform movement. The same can be said about the political objective

< Prev		Next >