M A I N   N E W S

Talwandi meets Badal
Crisis may be resolved by Hola Mohalla
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, March 16 — The present stand-off between the Akal Takht Jathedar, Giani Puran Singh, and the political leadership is likely to be resolved before Hola Mohalla. At least this is what the Shiromani Akali Dal’s disciplinary committee chairman, Mr Jagdev Singh Talwandi , is hopeful of.

Mr Talwandi met the Jathedar in Amritsar on Wednesday. In fact the Jathedar had written a letter to him to intervene and have the edicts issued by him implemented. Later, the letter was followed by a telephone message to him.

Having discussed the issue threadbare with Giani Puran Singh, the senior Akali leader met the Chief Minister and SAD President, Mr Parkash Singh Badal. In a guarded way, Mr Talwandi told newsmen today that it would be inappropriate to discuss the ‘sensitive’ issue publicly. However, he did say that God willing a solution would be found before Hola Mohalla, since one of the excommunicated Takht Jathedars, Prof Manjit Singh is at Anandpur Sahib’s Takht Kesgarh Sahib.

Personally as well as otherwise, Mr Talwandi gave enough hint to say that dignity and “maryada” of Akal Takht and respect of its Jathedar had to be upheld.

From the tone and manner in which Mr Talwandi talked it was apparent that seeds of such unwarranted confrontation were sown by Mr Gurcharan Singh Tohra, who had his own parameters of appointing Jathedars and the way he had been making use of their position. A point in question was the manner in which Mr Tohra wriggled out of the controversial Nirankari issue when Bhai Ranjit Singh was the Jathedar at Akal Takht.

Mr Talwandi when asked if a meeting of the party’s political affairs committee would also be convened, said Mr Badal had had consultations with most of the members.

It seems the ‘rift’ between Giani Puran Singh and Bibi Jagir Kaur had its roots in the behaviour pattern of the latter, which had often been found to be offensive smacking of arrogance and ego. That much was conveyed by Mr Talwandi in so many words but without casting aspersions on her. Resolving the present crisis at this critical juncture was the collective responsibility of the entire Sikh panth. Mr Talwandi, however, maintained that edicts could not be and should not be ignored. To avoid further precipitating issues involved he would not comment on the merit and methodology of issuing of the edicts.

Mr Talwandi, who attended the budget session sitting in the Governor’s gallery, later went to the chamber of the Chief Minister and had a closed door meeting with some senior Akali leaders, including Mr Ranjit Singh Brahmpura, Minister of Cooperation, and Mr Gurdev Singh Badal, Minister of Agriculture.

The earlier attempts to diffuse the crisis when the January 25 edict excommunicating Bibi Jagir Kaur was passed aborted just when it was perceived that crisis would be resolved once Giani Puran Singh wrote to her asking her to appear at Akal Takht on March 12. The unexpected turn of events caught the Sikhs’ religio-political leadership totally off guard. The rest is all recent history. The crisis seemingly has snowballed.

Of immediate concern is how the forthcoming Hola Mohalla functions will be held at Anandpur Sahib without raising any hackles or giving the opponents an opportunity to attack the present leadership of the Akali Dal.There are as many voices and opinions as there are Akalis. Nevertheless the overall feedback is that the speed with which Giani Puran Singh has acted was not justified. However, opinion on what role or whether the SAD President should play any role at all, as ordained by Giani Puran Singh, is also now a debatable point.