features

SGPC, Falstaff as the King
Gobind Thukral

IN the annals of the Sikh gurdwaras’ history, Akali Dal President, Parkash Singh Badal would be a modern day Misldar, a feudalist. He not only presides over the affairs of the Akali politics, but has under his grip the cash rich Shiromani Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee.

On November 23, he sent one name of a nondescript SGPC member Avtar Singh Makkar to this ‘mini Sikh Parliament of the Sikhs’ to be its President. None among 170 odd members opposed this proposal that had come from the almighty Badal. Names of presidents and other office bearers have routinely in the past tumbled from the envelops sent by Badal  who mostly chooses to stay away from the venue of the meeting, Teja Singh Samundri Hall ,  yards away from the Golden Temple, the  sanctum sanctorum of the Sikhs. Makkar was declared president along with other office bearers and the executive committee as ordained by Badal and with shouts of “Bole so Nihal, Sat Sri Akal”, democracy la Akali style. 

A foxy Badal has established a vice like grip over the affairs of the SGPC which has a huge budget of   Rs 200 crore. He ousted the legendry Gurcharan Singh Tohra and brought in his protégé Bibi Jagir Kaur to be replaced now by Makkar. Control over SGPC means access to the Akali politics and its vast resources, its free kitchens; its dozens of gurdwaras provide the Akalis manage not only the affairs of the religious shrines, but of the state as their fiefdom. It is another matter that chicanery and   misconduct have nearly ruined both.  “Badal has belittled the glory of that august body of the SGPC by proposing a no body to the top. He is leading the party to the burial ground. He should remember he himself would also not survive. Makkar is not equipped to meet the challenges which SGPC faces”, Manjit Singh Calcutta, former General Secretary of the SGPC and longtime Tohra loyalist blasted Badal and dared him to take any action. 

Badal has planned major strokes to strengthen the position of his son. Sukhbir Singh Badal and also take his party to the winning podium. It was cool politics devoted to power that got Makkar that coveted post. What could have been his simple disentitlement became his major qualification. Makkar is no more than a small time Akali leader from Ludhiana city only and had lost to the Congress in 2002 Punjab assembly elections. He is no threat to the Badals, Parkash Singh and his ambitious son Sukhbir.  Badal has been badly outwitted by Punjab chief minister Capt. Amarinder singh and Paramjit Singh Sarna as they established their control over Delhi Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee. This scared Badal who thought that they would lord over the urban Sikhs. Here is an urban non Jat Sikh to play out Sarna and be helpful in the urban areas during assembly elections scheduled in 2007. This way for the second time in the long 75 year history of SGPC, an urban Sikh achieved a rare distinction to head the religious body.  Master Tara Singh, the Panth Rattan and what not of the Akali politics had earlier occupied that position. 

Jagir Kaur had to be cast aside as she was a major embarrassment for the Badals. She is being tried by session’s court at Patiala for the murder of her daughter, Harpreet who died under mysterious circumstances in 2000. But this gritty woman survived in male dominated world by cultivating Sukhbir, the heir apparent of the Badal clan and became the first woman to head the SGPC since its inception in 1920.  Judgement is expected anytime next year.  Close to elections, she would have been mortification for the Badals and the Akalis who think they are as close to the seat of power in Chandigarh as possibly can be.

Jagir Kaur on her own had done enough to queer her pitch. She faced the charge of squandering Gurdwara funds and favouring medical college admonitions and misusing her position, besides living in an ostentatious manner. Her case is before the Sikh Gurdwara Tribunal. Also much to the chagrin of the Akalis, she wanted women not only perform kirtan [recitation of Gurbani] at the Golden Temple, but also be high priests. In terms precepts, Sikhism treats women at par, but in practice, there is altogether a different story. Hence there was loud protest and her detractors in the Akali Dal sought her removal. Intriguingly the woman who replaced a giant like Tohra, the brain trust of the Akali politics for decades, fell to a leader whose best achievement was to be labeled as district president.

Badal thinks he has removed a clear target available to the Congress. An urban face also projects a different image as Akalis are largely perceived and rightly as a Jat party. All its chief ministers, presidents and senior leaders are mostly jats. The party has small following among Hindus, Dalits and other poor sections. It is largely the middle peasantry and the rich landlords that direct the Akali Dal.

Today Sikhism is ritualistic as Hinduism and caste ridden too. The leaders, embroiled in power and money games have routinely betrayed the glorious traditions set by its founders from Guru Nanak Dev in the 15th century onwards as a modern progressive religion or be a fighting force against imperialism, state manipulation in the last century. Sikh Gurdwara Reform Movement in the first quarter of the last century was hailed as a glorious chapter in the freedom struggle by no less than a leader than Mahatma Gandhi. This militant peaceful movement forced the British to handover the control of the gurdwaras to the Sikhs and law was enacted that officially brought SGPC into existence in 1925.  Initially, it had control over Akal Takht and Keshgarh Sahib [Anandpur Sahib] and later amendments from 1945 to 1956 and 1987; a large number of gurdwaras were handed over to the SGPC. The number is now over 500 and in addition colleges and schools to manage. Reorganisation of Punjab in November 1966 made it an inter-state body and necessitating an amendment. This delayed the routine of elections every five years and no elections could   be held till 1979. Haryana is now threatening to establish its own SGPC and later Himachal would follow suit. Takht at Patna Sahib is already under the control of a different committee. Congress has often played truant with the Sikh affairs and paid a heavy price, besides causing untold suffering to the country. It is more an arena for power play and influence peddling than religious reform. Everyone understands the hold of one family over this mini parliament from which often power flows and wants to his or her share.