The Tribune – Young Sikh voters throng Sukhbir’s rallies

Jangveer Singh, Tribune News Service

New Delhi, January 25. The focus of SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal’s attack is Paramjit Singh Sarna. On the campaign trail with Sukhbir in his bullet-proof Montero with a vehicle with jammers in tow, it is all about discrediting Sarna.

Sukhbir talks of “defiance” of the Akal Takht by Sarna and the need to punish the “gaddar (traitor)” . He also accuses him of attempting to divide the Sikhs on caste lines. At his first halt in Shalimar Bagh, the SAD president is mobbed by youngsters. “I have been meeting local Sikhs every week-end for the past more than five years and the results of our endeavour are for all to see,” he says. Accompanied by SAD Delhi wing president Avtar Singh Hit, Sukhbir addresses six public meetings well into the night, his last meeting being in Sarna’s constituency of Punjabi Bagh.

Sukhbir confidant Parambans Romana says the large turnout against SAD Delhi Pitampura candidate Bhajan Singh Walia, a DSGMC member for 18 years, signals the winds of change sweeping Delhi. Young Sikh voters claim it is the first time that Walia’s supremacy is being challenged.

Sukhbir tells voters that Sarna had colluded with those “behind anti-Sikh riots”, Sajjan Kumar and Jagdish Tytler. Back in his Montero, Sukhbir proceeds towards Rohini but decides to visit supporters in the Dharam Kunj apartment building in Sector 9. He is welcomed with rose petals.

Sukhbir meets heads of seven gurdwaras at the apartment building. All promise to back the SAD. Moving on, Sukhbir is welcomed by state BJP president Vijendra Gupta who claims the SAD president is the real leader of the Sikhs. He asks the gathering: ” Should I tell Sukhbjir ji he will get your votes? “. Each one in the audience raises his hand in response.

For Sukhbir, the focus is again Sarna. He says: “Ek toofan chal reha hai. Quam da toofan.” He claims that Sarna will be swept aside and will even lose his security deposit.

Sukhbir ends his campaign at Punjabi Bagh. Addressing a mammoth gathering along with constituency in charge Bikram Majithia and SAD candidate Manjinder Singh Sirsa, he takes the anti-Sarna rhetoric further. ” For the Sikhs, the Akal Takht is supreme and by defying the august body, Sarna has lost his right to Sikh vote,” he says.

“Anyone voting for Sarna is not a Guru ka Sikh”, he declares as he lampoons the election symbol of the SAD (Delhi).

“Sarna’s car will remain in the parking lot but our “balti” (iron bucket) is an intrinsic part of Guru ghar’s langar,” he says.

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The Tribune – Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee poll -2013; Majithia’s men camp in Sarna citadel

Jangveer Singh, Tribune News Service

New Delhi, January 23. Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) Delhi president Paramjit Singh Sarna, who has had a easy run in Delhi for the past nine years, is now bottled in his own constituency of Punjabi Bagh by the Bikram brigade of Punjab Revenue Ministerand Youth Akali Dal (YAD) president Bikram Singh Majithia.

The Punjabi Bagh constituency is unique in so far as that it has two parts – one posh and the other a lower middle-class area inhabited by Sikhs mostly doing menial jobs. Sarna has till date ruled this constituency with the rich flocking to him because of his clout and the poor Sikhs seeking him out because of his power to dole out seats in various Sikh institutions run by the DSGMC.

The SAD has decided to take the battle for Delhi to Sarna’s constituency. The SAD leadership has posted its trouble shooter Bikram Majithia in this constituency and has chosen a multi-millionaire in Manjinder Singh Sirsa to take on Sarna. Sources say this strategy is aimed at giving the Sikhs of this constituency a leader as rich as Sarna. Sirsa, who has delved in the liquor and real estate business, has a palatial house in Punjabi Bagh.

With Majithia has come his brigade which includes Majha legislators loyal to him such as Virsa Singh Valtoha, Inderbir Bolaria and Baljit Singh Jalalusma.

Also, Bikram acolytes former Faridkot Improvement Trust Chairman Bunty Romana and Muktsar leader Rosy Barkandi are camping in the constituency with their supporters.

Voters of the constituency admit that Sarna has a tough fight on his hands with the Sirsa firmly entrenched in the area. The latter’s wife is a local councillor.

Dimpy Sodhi, an influential businessman whose father is a reputed homoeopath, said Sarna had realised that he was in a fight and was now concentrating on the constituency. He said Sarna was devoting most of his time to the constituency and had little time to campaign in other areas.

Sarna is relying on the Punjab Congress leadership to attract votes. Union Minister for External Affairs Preneet Kaur was in the constituency yesterday. Sarna denies that he is bogged down in Punjabi Bagh. “I campaigned in Kalkaji and Lajpat Nagar today and have come to Punjabi Bagh because Maharaj Sahib (Capt Amarinder) is in the constituency.”

He claimed that it was the SAD which had got bogged down in Delhi with the Chief Minister, the Deputy Chief Minister, ministers and SGPC members “licking the dust of the streets in Delhi. We will beat them into shape and send them packing back to Punjab,” he added.

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The Tribune – Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee poll 2013; Parties all out to woo 1984 riot victims

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, January 22. The people of Trilokpuri in East Delhi, who were once left to fend for themselves during the 1984 anti-Sikh riots, have recently become the focus of Delhi and Punjab Sikh leaders who are all out to woo them in the run up to the 46-member Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (DSGMC) elections.

Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal yesterday visited the ward and came out in full support of the SAD (B) leaders. He advised them to put their best efforts to yield positive results in the elections.

“Badal has told us that this is the time when we can fight to take away the authority from the hands of people who are anti-Sikh and involved in corrupt activities. They are against the Panth and they should be removed to bring reforms for the betterment of the community,” said Darshan Singh, a SAD (B) candidate.

Though life has moved on for people in this part of East Delhi, which had faced the maximum brunt of the riots, the victims here are still paying for the loss with lack of basic facilities like education and employment. The most strategic constituency of Preet Vihar with areas like Trilokpuri, Kalyanpuri, Mayur Vihar Phase-I, Phase-II, Mother Diary, Pandav Nagar and Shakarpur under its territory holds the key to the DSGMC elections.

A sense of anti-Congress wave is prevalent among the voters here as they say they strongly oppose the SAD (D). “We are in favour of Sarna’s candidate in our area as he has always helped us. But we do not want this party to return to power. It had spent Rs 3 crore on printing books for stating its achievements, which is a clear misuse of gurdwara funds,” said Sarabjit Singh, a businessman of the area.

Sarna’s contender from Preet Vihar Trilochan Singh assured the voters of better working of the committee. “If I win the elections, I will persuade the committee to work more for the Sikh community,” he said.

The area has 8,367 votes as per the list of Directorate of Gurdwara Elections. Riot victims here have alleged that 25 per cent names have been left out from the voter’s list as the ruling party feared of losing the seat. “My name is there in the voter list of the Delhi Government. But it is missing from the rolls of the gurdwara elections,” said Ravinder Singh, a resident of Trilokpuri. The voters are also baffled with their incorrect names in the voter’s list, which, according to them, is a clear indication of government’s aim of not letting them vote.

“We want change. The new members will be under pressure to perform. However, as far as the facilities are concerned, they are good in almost all the gurdwaras,” said 65-year-old Mohan Singh. However, some voters complained of poor upkeep even in the historic gurdwaras of Mehrauli and Nanakpur.

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The Tribune – DSGMC elections: Sukhbir accuses Sarnas of trying to divide Sikhs

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, January 21. SAD president and Punjab Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Badal today warned SAD (Delhi) president Paramjit Singh Sarna to “refrain from anti-Sikh activities” with an ulterior motive to divide the community in the name of states to control the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (DSGMC).

He said Sarnas (Paramjit Singh and his brother Harvinder Singh) could not befool the Sikhs anymore as the community members were wise enough to read between the lines.

Addressing a gathering during campaigning for the DSGMC elections at Mayapuri in West Delhi, Sukhbir said Sarnas were hand in glove with the Congress and were trying to deteriorate the Sikh unity across the world on the basis of geographical boundaries.

He said it was the Sikh unity that forced the “anti-Sikh” Congress government to constitute the DSGMC. He said more than 99 per cent of the Sikhs who fought for getting the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Act formed were from Punjab. “The Congress party’s nefarious designs to tarnish the image of Delhi Sikh institutions in particular and Sikhs in general in connivance with Sarnas are known to all”, he said. Referring to the plight of the Sikh victims even after 28 years of the 1984 anti-Sikh riots, he said they had neither been given justice nor the required support and compensation.

Reiterating the SAD’s commitment to bring transparency in the working of the DSGMC, Sukhbir said on getting elected, the party would set up a judicial commission for Sikh shrines and start the e-tendering system on priority.

He claimed the people would witness a big change in the educational, social welfare and medical facilities being provided by the committee if the SAD was elected to the DSGMC.

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The Tribune – Polls nearing, focus back on riot victims

Ajay Banerjee, Tribune News Service

New Delhi, January 19. Whenever the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (DSGMC) elections draw near, the focus of rival parties turns back on the 1984 anti-Sikh riots and the displaced community members.

While releasing the SAD (B) manifesto today, party chief Sukhbir Badal hit out at the the Sarna brothers — Paramjit Singh and Harvinder Singh — for allegedly ignoring the riot victims.

Over 2,700 Sikhs were killed in the riots that followed the assassination of the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi on October 31, 1984.

There have been two commissions of inquiry and eight committees to probe the riots. In more than 28 years, the government’s efforts to bring the guilty to book have just meandered through paper work and setting up of inquiry commissions.

For his part, DSGMC president Paramjit Sarna, had, in June last year, announced the setting up of a memorial for the victims. He claimed that the DSGMC had spent huge sums of money in getting the best lawyers to represent the Sikhs in the GT Nanavati Commission of inquiry while “Badals only used the victims”.

Sukbir said: “Sarnas, being close to Congress leaders, have always conspired and acted against the 1984 Sikh victims, witnesses and their lawyers on the directions of the Congress party since most of the accused are senior leaders of the party, including Sajjan Kumar and Jagdish Tytler.”

“We can never forget the dark episode,” a statement from the DSGMC had said last week. While compensation was distributed in Delhi, the Punjab Government, led by Parkash Singh Badal, had failed to distribute the relief amount, Sarna had claimed.

Jarnail Singh, author of “I Accuse… the Anti-Sikh Violence of 1984”, said: “Instead of making allegations against each other, the Badals and the Sarnas should unite and get justice for the riot victims.”

Ironically, in June 2004, the DSGMC had honoured Tytler with a siropa, which led to global protests from the community. A year later, the GT Nanavati Commission indicted Tytler, who had to resign as the Minister of State for Overseas Indian Affairs. The government had then asked the CBI to reinvestigate the cases.

Tyler along with Sajjan Kumar, HKL Bhagat, Lalit Maken and Arjun Das were blamed for the riots by the Sikh community. Maken and Das were shot dead by terrorists while Bhagat had died a natural death. The last time the 1984 riots dominated the political firmament was before the 2009 Lok Sabha polls. When Tytler and Sajjan were given the Congress ticket, Jarnail Singh, a journalist, had hurled a shoe at the Union Home Minister P Chidambaram.

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The Tribune – DSGMC poll: SAD (Badal) manifesto out, tall promises to community

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, January 19. The Shiromani Akali Dal (Badal) today released its manifesto for the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (DSGMC) elections.

Among the main promises are clean and transparent management, judicial commission for Sikh shrines, Guru Teg Bahadur University for professional education, free education for girls and books to boys securing over 75 per cent marks in Class X and Rs 51,000 as marriage allowance for the daughters of DSGMC employees.

Focusing mainly on the youth, the manifesto promises establishment of Guru Angad Dev sports institute, five academies for Sikh students to help them prepare for medical, engineering and administrative examinations and a placement cell.

The party has also assured of replacing books of private publishers with that of the NCERT in DSGMC-run schools and 50 per cent concession in fee for one child in cases where two or more siblings were studying in same school.

SAD (Badal) president Sukhbir Badal, accompanied by several senior leaders, released the 24-page election manifesto written in Punjabi language.

The manifesto also speaks about setting up a legal council for helping the victims of the 1984 anti-Sikh riots and the community members uprooted from Afghanistan and Pakistan. It promises similar councils in the fields of education, health and finance.

Sukhbir said the party would establish a ‘Sikh Heritage Centre’ (a multi-media museum) in Delhi and facilitate free bus service to the community members for visiting historic gurdwaras in Delhi. The manifesto promises celebration of gurpurbs and other historic days as per the Nanakshahi calendar.

The party also assured of canceling the “unlawful” agreement signed by the incumbent committee with a private group to run Guru Harkishan Hospital at Bala Sahib gurdwara. The party also promised a ‘Senior Sikh Citizen Card’ to the community members above 60 years of age to provide them free or on-concession health services and other facilities.

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The Tribune – Sarna, Badal groups target each other as poll campaign picks up

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, January 13. With the campaign for the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (DSGMC) elections picking momentum, the ruling SAD (Delhi) led by Paramjit Singh Sarna and the Parkash Singh Badal-led SAD are making all-out efforts to woo voters. The DSGMC is the second most important Sikh body after the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee(SGPC).

Sarna said they had been urging voters to draw a comparison between the working of the DSGMC and the SGPC. He claimed that the management of gurdwaras controlled by the DSGMC was far better than of those being run by the SGPC, with the exception of the Golden Temple.

He said educational institutions too were better managed by the DSGMC. “We have made concerted efforts to resolve Sikh issues at the national as well as the international level. The DSGMC has been propagating Sikhism in foreign lands by sending preachers abroad. On the contrary, under the SGPC, drug addiction and apostasy has been on the rise in Punjab,” Sarna claimed.

He alleged that the SAD had repeatedly violated the directions of the Akal Takht and he could quote several instances to prove his point.

On the other hand, the SAD’s Delhi unit chief, Manjit Singh GK, alleged that it was the DSGMC under Sarna that had been violating the directions of the Akal Takht, such as Gurpurb celebrations. Educational institutions run by the DSGMC were in a bad shape and correlectionsuption was rampant. Manjit Singh also alleged that the DSGMC had failed to get justice for the 1984 riot victims.

The SAD is also raking up the Gurdwara Bala Sahib controversy to target the Sarna brothers. The SAD alleges that gurdwara land was allotted to a private organisation for raising a hospital in violation of norms.

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The Tribune – Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee Poll; In all, 343 candidates file papers

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, January 8. A total of 343 candidates have filed nomination papers for 46 seats of the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (DSGMC) election to be held on January 27.

The Shiromani Akali Dal and the Shiromani Akali Dal (Delhi) are contesting from all wards. The Kendriya Guru Singh Sabha have fielded 21 candidates and the Dashmesh Sewa Society 33. As many as 160 Independents have filed their papers.

The SAD has fielded 24 dummy candidates from Vasant Vihar, Preet Vihar, Greater Kailash, Kalkaji, Shiv Nagar, Shakur Basti, Ashok Nagar, Vishnu Garden, Sahib Pura, Rajouri Garden, Moti Nagar, Punjabi Bagh, Wazirpur, Geeta Colony, Vivek Vihar, Kamla Nagar, Civil Lines, Paharganj, Rohini, Shakti Nagar, Karampura, Tibbia College, Patel Nagar and Vikaspuri.

The SAD (Delhi) has fielded 14 dummy candidates from Chandni Chowk, Defence Colony, Lajpat Nagar, Kalkaji, Malviya Nagar, Shiv Nagar, Janakpuri, Ashok Nagar, Gandhi Nagar, Tibbia College and Vikaspuri.

The Dashmesh Sewa Society’s 14 dummy candidates are from Shakur Basti, Janakpuri, Ashok Nagar, Tagore Garden, Vishnu Garden, Tilak Nagar, Ramesh Nagar, Moti Nagar, Tri Nagar, Wazirpur, Geeta Colony, Kamla Nagar, Rohini, Karampura. The society has a pact with the Shiromani Akali Dal (Delhi-UK).

The maximum number of Independents (9 each) are from Dev Nagar, Tilak Nagar, and Vishnu Garden followed by Karampura (8). The minimum number of candidates are from Rajinder Nagar.

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The Tribune – Sarna wants guards of SAD activists in Delhi withdrawn

Syed Ali Ahmed, Tribune News Service

New Delhi, January 7. Fearing manipulation of the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (DSGMC) elections scheduled for January 27, committee president Paramjit Singh Sarna today appealed to the Ministry of Home Affairs that security guards of the Punjab Government to SAD activists in the Capital be withdrawn forthwith.

In a letter to Home Minister Shushil Kumar Shinde, Sarna said approximately 900 security guards were deployed with various SAD leaders, including Manjit Singh (GK) and Kuldeep Singh Bhogal, in Delhi. He feared that they may be used to rig the DSGMC poll.

“Security guards of the Punjab Police will not be allowed to enter the gurdwara premises without permission,” the DSGMC president warned. He said he would take up the issue with the Delhi Chief Minister and, if need be, with the Prime Minister.

“Sikhs in Delhi are progressive. They want their business to flourish. And that is not possible under Parkash Singh Badal’s leadership,” Sarna claimed.

He alleged that the SAD’s Delhi unit chief had clashed with sevadars at Gurdwara Rakab Ganj Sahib on November 22, 2012, tarnishing the image of the Sikh community in the Capital.

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The Tribune – Sehajdhari Sikh Party to fight against SAD in DSGMC poll

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, January 5. With the Election Commission of India approving the change of name of the Sehajdhari Sikh Federation to the Sehajdhari Sikh Party, its president Dr P S Ranu has announced to oppose SAD candidates in the upcoming Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (DSGMC) elections.

The federation had been instrumental in getting the notification debarring “sehajdhari” sikhs from voting in the SGPC elections quashed by the Punjab and Haryana High Court. Ranu along with his supporters was here to pay obeisance at the Golden Temple after the ECI approved the change in the federation name.

Ranu said the Sehajdhari Sikh Party would also contest the next Lok Sabha elections. He claimed the party had supported Congress candidates in the state assembly elections held last year by withdrawing 21 candidates it had fielded from various constituencies. “The Congress had won 17 seats where we had supported them,” he said.

Ranu said the party would seek votes for its candidates having good moral values. Party workers from Haryana and Punjab would put up in Delhi during the elections, he added.

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