Ambala, October 27
A former SGPC chief and chairman of the SAD Disciplinary Committee, Jathedar Talwandi, has supported the seven-member committee working for the unanimous election of the new SGPC chief on November 12.
Jathedar Talwandi, whom Mr Parkash Singh Badal visited twice in the recent days, deplored his party president’s remarks about the Sarb Hind Shiromani Akali Dal (SHSAD) chief, Mr Gurcharan Singh Tohra.
“As long as Mr Gurcharan Singh Tohra was speaking his language, Mr Parkash Singh Badal would escort him to his vehicle. And now, when he is opposing him on principles, Mr Tohra becomes an agent of the Congress or the state government,” Jathedar Talwandi said, adding that “unanimous election of the SGPC chief would be in the larger interest of the Panth”.
Jathedar Talwandi was here in connection with the handing over of the reconstructed and renovated building of Gurdwara Sisganj Sahib to the SGPC at the end of its kar seva by Baba Harbans Singh.
Mr Badal had been reportedly making efforts to win over Jathedar Talwandi, who was replaced by Prof Kirpal Singh Badungar in the annual election of the SGPC chief last year. Earlier, it was Mr Badal who brought Jathedar Talwandi after the previous chief, Bibi Jagir Kaur, was mired in a controversy after registration of a police case following the death of her daughter in mysterious circumstances.
Only yesterday, Mr Tohra, had supported the seven-member committee headed by Mr Mal Singh Ghumman for the unanimous election of the SGPC chief.
Though Mr Badal had described the seven-member committee as dead wood of the dal used by the Congress government against SAD, the ensuing SGPC chief election may witness a tough contest.
Meanwhile, the Haryana State Dharmik Committee has urged the SGPC chief, Prof Kirpal Singh Badungar, to bring before the general house of the committee the proposal of according Haryana an independent status in the new Gurdwara Act, the draft of which is under consideration.
Jathedar Kartar Singh Takkar, a member of the high-powered committee, and Mr Harpal Singh Palli, general secretary of the Haryana State Sikh Dharmik Committee, in a joint statement, said it would have been ideal if the executive committee of the SGPC, which met at Kurukshetra early this week, had taken up this issue regarding the Haryana Sikhs. They expressed hope that the general house of the SGPC would support this demand of the Haryana Sikhs and urge the Union Government to amend the draft bill accordingly.
