Tohra re-elected SGPC chief
Tribune News Service

AMRITSAR, Oct 23 — Amidst a walkout by members of the Akali Dal (Amritsar) Mr Gurcharan Singh Tohra was re-elected President of the SGPC for the 25th time.

Led by Mr Simranjit Singh Mann, the Akali Dal (Amritsar) members staged a walkout when they were not allowed by Mr Tohra to raise certain issues at the general house meeting which re-elected all office-bearers of the previous committee.

Mr Puran Singh Josh who was wearing black clothes also staged a walkout when he was not allowed to speak. He was shouted down by Mr Tohra when he repeatedly tried to level serious corruption charges against the SGPC chief. Earlier, booklets containing charges of corruption and misappropriation of funds against Mr Tohra were snatched by the task force of the SGPC.

Bhai Ranjit Singh, Jathedar, Akal Takht, and Prof Manjit Singh, Jathedar, Sri Keshgarh Sahib, did not attend the meeting. Bhai Ranjit Singh had returned here from Kaithal in Haryana late last evening. However, Bhai Kewal Singh, Jathedar, Damdama Sahib, was present. The five head priests are non-voting members of the SGPC.

One hundred and sixty of the total 185 members of the committee attended the meeting. Those who walked out along with Mr Mann were Mr Jaswant Singh Rajindergarh, Mr Jagbir Singh Katro and Mr Baldev Singh Sehjarh.

Mr Mann said that instead of being Parliament of the Sikhs, the SGPC had become the "private property" of Mr Tohra. He said that he would go to cities and villages to "expose" Mr Tohra.

Before the election, Mr Tohra said that Mr Parkash Singh Badal, president of the SAD who met the SGPC members in the morning was of the view that the entire House should be re-elected. However, when the name of Mr Tohra was proposed by Mr J.S. Thekedar, senior vice-president, a member of the Akali Dal (Amritsar) opposed the move. He was "snubbed" by the SGPC chief who said that he could not be allowed to speak as it was not part of the agenda.

Mr Tohra said that he was "forced" to accept the post for another year. However, he might resign after the tercentenary celebrations of the Khalsa on April 13, 1999, the SGPC chief said.

Mr Tohra said it was unfortunate that Mr Josh had walked out after raising non-issues at the meeting. Instead of indulging in indiscipline, Mr Josh should have approached the Judicial Commission under the Gurdwara Act, if he wanted to level charges of corruption. He said the SGPC had taken a serious view of reports of corruption and had dismissed some of its employees.

However, most of the employees and members of the committee were honest, he said. Commenting on the pamphlet distributed by Mr Josh against him, Mr Tohra said nobody could bring "revolution" by writing such articles.

Apart from Mr Tohra, Mr Sukhdev Singh Bhour, Mr Kewal Singh and Mr Balbir Singh Pannu were re-elected senior vice-president, junior vice-president and general secretary respectively of the committee for the second term. The entire Executive was also retained.

SGPC for Sikh personal law
Tribune News Service

AMRITSAR, Oct 23 — The general house of the Shiromani Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee (SGPC) has passed a resolution to demand personal law for the Sikhs.

The resolution which was read out by the SGPC President, Mr Gurcharan Singh Tohra, today urged the central government to make personal law for the Sikhs as in the case of Muslims and other minorities.

The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), led by Mr Parkash Singh Badal, reiterated its stand on Sikh personal law. The SAD enjoys absolute majority in the general house of the committee.

The other resolutions passed by the house include an appeal to the government to make necessary amendments in the Gurdwara Act of 1925 for giving legal sanction to Damdama Sahib, the fourth takht of the Sikhs. In yet another resolution, house urged the central government to hand over the library record which was taken away by the Army during Operation Bluestar and the setting up of a new commission to book culprits of the 1984 anti-Sikh riots.

The house of the SGPC strongly condemned the attempt of the central government to "saffronise" education in the country. It condemned the agenda and annexures of the state Education Ministers' conference being organised by the Human Resources Ministry at Delhi which attempted to impose a particular religion on the minorities under the pretext of "Indianisation and spiritualisation". The SGPC house was in favour of teaching religion in educational institutes but it said that the teaching of a particular religion was against the secularism enshrined in the Constitution.

In yet another significant resolution, the SGPC asked the Centre to take steps to ensure dual citizenship for non-resident Indians. It also asked the government to protect the properties of the NRIs in the country.

The house also passed a resolution to give Punjabi a second language status in the adjoining states and urged the Centre to allow the Sikhs to travel in international flights with their swords. It also demanded holy status for all cities and towns blessed by Sikh gurus.

It said the Government of India should approach countries like Pakistan and Bangladesh to renovate historical gurdwaras.

It also demanded the handing over of Panjab University to Punjab.