Tags:
Journalism of Courage
CHANDIGARH, JAN 21: In the continuing offensive against the Tohra faction in the ruling Akali Dal by the supporters of Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee acting president Sukhdev Singh Bhaur was today suspended from the Akali Dal.
Bhaur is considered close to the SGPC chief Gurcharan Singh Tohra. He was appointed acting president by Tohra in his capacity as the senior vice-president of the SGPC. Akali Dal Secretary General Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa said the party had taken a serious note of the statement of Bhaur against Badal which amounted to gross indiscipline and anti-party activity.
In a sharply-worded statement, Bhaur had charged Badal, who also heads the Akali Dal, with denigrating Akal Takht, the supreme temporal seat of the Sikhs. He had also accused him of encouraging a section ofthe party to question the hukamnama (edict) issued from Akal Takht ordering truce between the Badal and Tohra factions till April 15 in view of the Khalsa tercentenary celebrations. Badal was also held responsible for the atmosphere of confrontation being created by his supporters.
He is the second leader from the Tohra faction to have been suspended from the party after Col Jasmer Singh Bala, who was a member of the working committee.
The statement of Bhaur was the first major reaction from the Tohra faction after the religio-political crisis surfaced in the ruling party in Punjab. As Tohra became the target of attack, the Akal Takht issued the Hukamnama ordering status quo. The hukamnama itself was challenged by 10 out of 15 members of the SGPC executive owing allegiance to Badal. Later, 131 SGPC members also submitted a memorandum to Akal Takht Jathedar Bhai Ranjit Singh for the review of the hukamnama.
These appeals are likely to come up at a meeting of the clergy at Amritsar onJanuary 25, apart from some other issues. Sources close to the Akal Takht chief maintain that there is no instance of hukamnama having been withdrawn and the one about Baba Gurmukh Singh being referred to was issued when Akal Takht was under mahants during the British rule.
Meanwhile, the Akali Dal has decided to organise a massive conference at Patiala on February 12 as part of the Khalsa tercentenary celebrations which would be addressed by Badal.
Finance Minister Capt Kanwaljit Singh said a meeting of the MLAs, SGPC members and district office bearers of the party would be held at Patiala on January 23 to make preparations for this meeting.
Having been marginalised by the state government in the Khalsa celebration programmes, the Akal Takht Jathedar has convened a meeting of various Sikh organisations at Amritsar on February 2. The meeting would finalise parallel programmes. Badal seems to be going to the masses after having gained the upper hand in the feud with Tohra.
