Badal ignores Tohra's attempt for unity
From Sarbjit Singh
Tribune News Service

FATEHGARH SAHIB, Dec 26 — A strong bid by the Tohra faction for unity in the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) at a political conference organised here at the Shaheedi Jor Mela today ended in a fiasco as the Badal camp completely coldshouldered the move.

The conference, was addressed among others, by the Punjab Chief Minister, Mr Parkash Singh Badal, and the SGPC chief, Mr G.S. Tohra, who have been in the news because of the ongoing political feud between them.

In fact, the conference witnessed political climaxes and anti-climaxes as Mr Tohra and his supporters directly or indirectly mentioned the issue of unity and Mr Badal and his supporters completely skipped it. The brief speech made by Mr Jagdev Singh Talwandi, Chairman of the Disciplinary Action Committee of the SAD, created a flutter in the conference.

He took both Mr Badal and Mr Tohra to task by making a dig on them. His sarcastic comments were laced with wit and satire. Asking both the leaders to unite, Mr Talwandi warned them that they would face bad times if they did not patch up. Advising them to keep backbiters and sycophants at bay, he said that he had issued the show cause notice to Mr Tohra just to give him a mild jolt with an aim of restoring unity in the party.

Making no secret of his feelings, Mr Talwandi said that while Mr Badal was Chief Minister and Mr Tohra was virtually running the government, persons like him were ignored. "What has happened to them now ?," he questioned both Mr Badal and Mr Tohra by turning to them during his speech. He assured the people that he would bring about a unity in the party.

Only a limited number of speakers — Mr Prem Singh Chandumajra and Mr Mr GS Tohra from the Tohra faction and Mr Balwinder Singh Bhunder, Capt Kanwaljit Singh and Mr PS Badal from the Badal camp — addressed the conference as had been decided beforehand.

The stage was managed by Mr Mahesh Inder Singh Grewal, a staunch supporter of Mr Tohra, who recently quit the Council of Ministers. While pro-Badal leaders claimed that Mr Grewal was managing the stage as per the decision taken earlier, the supporters of Tohra claimed that they had maintained the control of the stage as this area was their stronghold.

Though there was a bit of tension in the air at the beginning of the conference, it evaporated soon as the political speeches started in a disciplined manner. The issue of unity was first touched by Mr Prem Singh Chandumajra. He said that people of the state had given a strong mandate to the team of Mr Badal and Mr Tohra as they felt that both these leaders could take the sinking boat of Punjab to a safer destination. When the well-wishers of the Panth see any rift between the two, their sentiments get hurt, he said.

He said that all top leaders in the country, including Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, former Prime Ministers I.K. Gujral, Mr Chander Shekhar; and the Home Minister, Mr L.K. Advani, were worried about developments in the SAD. If the SAD was weakened, the Punjab Government would turn weak, he added.

Mr Tohra, before starting his speech, welcomed Mr Badal and other Akali leaders to the mela and the conference and also raised slogans "Shiromani Akali Dal zindabad" after presenting a siropa to Mr PS Badal. Coming to the political developments, Mr Tohra categorically stated that the SAD Government would continue for five years.

"We made this promise to the people of the State on the eve of the Punjab Assembly elections," he said, reminding the Dal leadership."I would be prepared to suffer all the pains but would neither create nor allow any rift in the party." He called upon the congregation that they should return to their homes free from any worries as the SAD would continue to move forward as a single entity.

Mr Tohra's speech generated a lot of excitement in the gathering and was punctuated by slogan shouting supporting unity in the "Panth".

Mr Badal, who spoke immediately after Mr Tohra, totally avoided the points raised by his predecessor and Mr Prem Singh Chandumajra about the political developments in the party. The Chief Minister either preferred to attack the Congress or to mention about the developments made by the state during the past 22 months' rule of the SAD-BJP alliance in the State.

There was an almost pin drop silence when Mr Badal spoke as people were expecting that he would touch the issue of the ongoing tussle in the SAD. But nothing of that sort came out. He did not even make a remote mention of the infighting in the Akali ranks. He also made it clear that the Congress would not be forgiven over Operation Blue Star and anti-Sikh riots in the country. He also attacked Mrs Sonia Gandhi.

Talking to TNS after his speech, Mr Badal said that there was no disunity in the party.When asked about the developments at conference with regard to the unity issue, Mr Badal said that it was different matter and he would talk about it in Chandigarh.

Earlier, addressing the conference, Capt Kanwaljit Singh, Finance Minister, said that the Congress was "the mother of all evils" and it destroyed the country by making it bankrupt. Mr Bhunder said, that Punjabis should never forget the destructive politics played by the Congress in Punjab.

The common thing at the conference was that all the speakers made a full-blooded attack on the Congress. It appeared from their speeches that they were addressing an election rally rather than a political conference. Earlier, attempts were made by the Tohra camp to appease Mr Badal.

A Sikh calendar prepared by Mr Harvinder Singh Khalsa was presented by Mr Tohra to Mr Badal. The impression was given at the conference that there was nothing wrong in the Akali ranks.

Even while the conference was in progress and other speakers were addressing the congregation, both Mr Badal and Mr Tohra engaged each other in brief conversations to give an impression that nothing was lost between them.

Pressure on CM to checkmate Tohra
By Gobind Thukral
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Dec 26 — There is apprehension among supporters of the Akali Dal President Mr Parkash Singh Badal that the Akal Takht chief, Bhai Ranjit Singh, may intervene to settle the ongoing power tussle between the Chief Minister and the SGPC President, Mr Gurcharan Singh Tohra. "This will happen sooner than later. Bhai Ranjit Singh is under tremendous pressure from the Tohra camp and others to intervene and prevail upon Mr Badal to restore the situation prevailing before Mr Tohra issued a statement asking Mr Badal to quit the Akali Dal presidentship. "This will be to the advantage of Mr Tohra", a senior minister who did not wish to be quoted, said.

The Badal faction which has a dominant position in all wings that matter in Akali politics — Akali Legislature Party, SGPC general house and its executive and the Political Affairs Committee and the Working Committee of the Akali Dal — wants Mr Badal to checkmate any such move by Akal Takht. The leaders in this faction want Mr Badal to strike when the iron is hot and not allow Mr Tohra to escape. Mr Badal, according to well informed sources, is aware of this kind of move. That is why he met the Akal Takht chief.

This kind of assessment flows from the fact that Bhai Ranjit Singh has already asked the two leaders and other Akalis for a ceasefire till the celebrations for the tercentenary of the Khalsa in April next year. At one stage, he had said he would not intervene until the two leaders made such a request and at another level, he sent enough indications that he could intervene if he chose to do so. Some supporters of Mr Tohra and in fact, the SGPC office itself has told the Jathedar that as per tradition he can exercise his authority and intervene.

In fact, this issue was also raised by a Congress leader and a long-time political foe of Mr Badal, Mr Jagmeet Singh Brar. This Punjab Congress vice-president who had gone to invite the Akal Takht head to participate in the Congress march for the celebrations, made a strong case against Mr Badal. It is another matter that he is now facing the flak from his partymen on the question of inviting the Akal Takht chief. His role in the Congress-sponsored march, too, has been reduced by the Pradesh Congress president, Mr Amarinder Singh.

Mr Badal has been consulting his colleagues on the issue. It was pointed out that when Bhai Manjit Singh as the Akal Takht chief wanted to rope in Mr Badal in the formation of Akali Dal with Mr Tohra in a dominant role. Mr Badal escaped. He proved that he was a mass leader during the Ajnala bypoll later. Since then he has not looked back.

Mr Tohra, who is now avoiding a direct comment on the situation after been served a show-cause notice, does feel that he made a mistake. But he is neither down nor out. During his long political career, he has faced several political battles and single-handedly outwitted his opponents.

To be president of the SGPC for a quarter of a century is an achievement for a leader whose base is not very large among the Sikh masses. How he faces this time vis-a-vis Mr Badal is being watched with interest.

Mr Badal today clarified the remarks he recently made at Jalandhar in respect of the relationship between the Shiromani Akali Dal and the SGPC. He said "the relation between the two bodies is intimate and inextricable. Although the jurisdiction and areas of activity of either body are separate, the Sikh Panth has in all the elections held to the SGPC helped the nominees of the SAD to get a majority in this body (SGPC) Therefore, there is no scope for harbouring a doubt about the primacy of the party in the affairs of the SGPC. In the existing general house, too, primacy has been entrusted by the Panth to the SAD. The final authority on all decisions of the SGPC vests in its general body."

Mr Badal said: "my statement needs to be understood in this political and historic context."

Mr Badal had said the SGPC was a wing of the Akali Dal. Since SGPC is a statutory body created under a specific law, how could one political party claim it be its part.

Jathedar tussle too put off till April 13
From Varinder Walia
Tribune News Service

AMRITSAR, Dec 26 — Even though Bhai Ranjit Singh, Jathedar of Akal Takht, has decided to put off the tussle with his colleagues — Prof Manjit Singh and Giani Kewal Singh, Jathedars of Kesgarh Sahib and Damdama Sahib, respectively — till April 13, 1999, yet they won't be allowed to attend meetings at Akal Takht till certain vital Panthic issues are amicably settled. Both Prof Manjit Singh and Giani Kewal Singh have been barred from attending the meetings of Akal Takht by Bhai Ranjit Singh.

Bhai Ranjit Singh has decided in principle not to issue any controversial statement regarding his ongoing feud with the two Jathedars till the completion of the tercentenary celebrations of the Khalsa Panth (April 13, 1999). He had to announce the 'ceasefire' in view of his appeal made to Mr Parkash Singh Badal, Chief Minister, and Mr Gurcharan Singh Tohra, SGPC President, to put off their tussle till April 13, 1999.

Some organisations including the Dal Khalsa International, had urged Bhai Ranjit Singh to apply the same 'formula' of putting off the feud on himself too.

However, sources close to Bhai Ranjit Singh have said that though he (Jathedar, Akal Takht) has decided to avoid any confrontation with Prof Manjit Singh and Giani Kewal Singh, yet he had made up his mind not to allow them to attend the meetings at Akal Takht till Prof Manjit Singh submitted the accounts to World Sikh Council. Prof Manjit Singh has maintained that he has already submitted the accounts to the council officials concerned.

As a part of this significant decision, Bhai Ranjit Singh agreed to lead the religious procession to be taken out from Gurdwara (Fatehgarh Sahib) to Gurdwara Jyoti Swarup (Fatehgarh Sahib) tomorrow. Earlier, Bhai Ranjit Singh had threatened to stay away from the religious procession if Prof Manjit Singh and Giani Kewal Singh were invited by the SGPC. Prof Manjit Singh has already announced that he won't indulge in confrontation with Bhai Ranjit Singh as he held Akal Takht in high esteem. He had also urged the SGPC and Gurdwara Management of Fatehgarh Sahib not to send him special invitation as he wanted to attend the procession as a humble Sikh to avoid any confrontation.

Meanwhile, a spokesman of the SGPC has clarified that the committee did not approach Akal Takht for mediation between Mr Badal and Mr Tohra. The spokesman said that the press note issued by the SGPC had only highlighted the appeals of representatives of Panthic organisations of the country and abroad to Akal Takht chief for resolving the ongoing tussle between the two Akali stalwarts.

Meanwhile, the Human Rights Wing (Shiromani Akali Dal), led by Mr Surinder Singh Ghariala, has urged Bhai Ranjit Singh not to lead the religious procession proposed to be taken out from January 14 as part of the tercentenary celebrations of the Khalsa Panth. Mr Ghariala said the Congress was number one 'enemy' of the Sikhs and wanted to take political mileage by organising such 'marches'.

LUDHIANA (FOC): In an open letter to Bhai Ranjit Singh, the Indian Ex-services League, Punjab and Chandigarh, has requested him to remain steadfast and independent in the current infighting among the Akalis.

Lt-Col C.S. Dhillon, Working President of the league, has said that those Akali leaders who had remained passive during the 1984 anti-Sikh riots, were trying to involve the Takht to hoodwink the Sikhs for their petty interests, which should not be allowed.