Talhan (Jalandhar), June 12
Police reinforcements were rushed to curfew-bound Talhan village this evening to secure control of the controversial gurdwara’ which was taken over today by activists of the Damdami Taksal.
Unconfirmed reports indicated that a group of Damdami Taksal activists were inside the shrine which had been locked from inside.
Earlier, the “peace formula” of the Punjab Government virtually crash-landed all of a sudden with an un-expected but “pre-planned” resolution being passed by the six-member gurdwara management committee and a group of devotees in favour of handing over control of the shrine to the Damdami Taksal and sudden arrest of 10 prominent residents of Talhan village, including the Dalit Action Committee chief Chanan Ram Pal.
The police had to deploy commandoes and strengthen its presence in and around Talhan village, which virtually remained out of bounds for mediapersons for the second day despite their being in possession of valid curfew passes issued by the district administration.
Interestingly, the management committee members and a group of about 50 devotees from the village, it is learnt, managed to assemble and perform “ardaas” inside the gurdwara premises despite imposition of curfew in the village.
Meanwhile, the police arrested 10 prominent residents of the village — five from each Dalit and Jat communities — allegedly from the Circuit House where they were invited by the administration to participate in a meeting. Interestingly, most of those arrested were members of a “Peace Committee” formed by the
administration yesterday. Those arrested included Mr Chanan Ram Pal, the Dalit Action Committee chief, Mr Sadhu Ram, Mr Manjit Bali, Mr Balwinderjit and
Mr Sadhu Ram — all belonging to dalit community and Mr Kewal Singh, Mr Bhupinder Singh, Mr Manjit Singh, Mr Yaadwinder Singh and Dalbir Singh — all belonging to the Jat community. While Jats were arrested in an old case under Sections 295-A, 148,149 of the IPC and Sections 3,4,14 and 10 of the SC\ST Prevention of Atrocities Act. 1989, dalits were arrested in a case registered on January 19
under Sections 307, 186, 332, 427, 506, 353, 148, 149 of the IPC. All were remanded in judicial custody for 14 days.
Though what led the committee members, led by Mr Kewal Singh Bhango, to take the step of passing a resolution in favour of Damdami Taksal all of a sudden was not known, but sources said it was effort on part of the Dalit community leaders to pre-empt any proposed government move to wrest control of the gurdwara from them in one or the other form or its move to extend representation to Dalits in the committee. Even as the government was striving hard to hammer out a “broadly acceptable Peace Formula”, through top police and administrative officials and though top political leaders and officials had been giving indication that both Dalits and Jats had almost agreed to the formula , according to which representation to two-three Daltis were to be given in the gurdwara management committee.
The draft of the resolution, favouring immediate handing over control of the contentious shrine to the Damdami Taksal, was said to have been prepared even before the visit of Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh and the Congress Working Committee member Dr Manmohan Singh, to the village yesterday.
Though mediapersons were not allowed to enter Talhan village by the police today despite almost all of them having valid curfew passes, the arrest of 10 residents of the village, sparked protests in Talhan village. A number of residents defied the curfew by coming out of their houses and shouting slogans against the authorities to lodge their protest against the arrest.
