Akali Dal gains little support in Panthic domain against Haryana Gurdwara panel

 

Akali Dal gains little support in Panthic domain against Haryana Gurdwara panel

Ground Zero

Jagtar Singh

 

The struggle against the separate Haryana gurdwara panel launched by the Shiromani Akali Dal and the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee seems to have failed to stir the Sikh religio-political domain unlike the earlier historic and glorious struggles, the last one being the Dharamyudh Morcha launched on August 4, 1982.

This despite the fact that SGPC chief Harjinder Singh Dhami dubbed the Supreme Court verdict validating the Haryana Gurdwara Management Act, 2014 as an attack on the Sikhs worse than even Operation Bluestar, the code-name for army attack on the Darbar Sahib (Golden Temple) complex in June 1984.

 The Supreme Court verdict did not have any shock effect so far as the common Sikhs are concerned, especially in Punjab as this was only the culmination of a long legal process and political discourse.

There is a more important dimension to the situation.

This act would not have been needed in case the leadership of the Shiromani Akali Dal had not dumped the issue of all-India gurdwara legislation, several drafts of which have been in circulation over the years including the ones dated 1979, 1986 and 1999. There was also a move initiated in 1999 to amend the Sikh Gurdwara Act, 1925 for which recommendations had been forwarded to the governments concerned and the SGPC.

The seeds of the all India gurdwara legislation can be traced to the very first meeting of the general house of the first Shiromani Committee elected under the Sikh Gurdwara Act in 1926.

The enactment of this all-India legislation was part of the Punjab Accord signed on July 24, 1985 between prime minister Rajiv Gandhi and Akali Dal chief Sant Harchand Singh Longowal. The 1986 draft of All India Gurdwara Bill was product of the Punjab Accord.

First the recommendations made in the drafts of 1986 and 1999 proposed legislation needs to be looked into.

Both these drafts recommended constituting the central gurdwara board at the national level with the state and regional boards functioning under this authority.

It may be mentioned that the name of the authority under the Sikh Gurdwara Act 1925 was the central gurdwara board but the first general house after the election opted to retain the earlier name of SGPC.

Here is from the 1999 draft:

“18. (1) The central board shall consist of the following members, namely;

(a)   Seventy one members as specified in the First Schedule to be nominated by the state boards and the regional boards out of their elected members;

(b)   The Head Granth of Sri Darbar Sahib, Amritsar, Punjab;

(c)   The Jathedars of each of the following Takhats, namely:-

(i)               Sri Akal Takht Sahib, Amritsar, Punjab

(ii)             Sri Takhat Keshgarh Sahib, Anandpur Sahib, Punjab;

(iii)            Sri Takhat Harimandir Ji Patna Sahib, Patna, Bihar;

(iv)            Sri Takhat Hazur Sahib, Nanded, Maharashtra;

(v)             Sri Takhat Damdama Sahib, Talwandi Sabo, Punjab

(d)   Twelve members to be coopeted by the members specified in the clause (a) from amongst the intelligentsia of the Sikhs;

Provided that out of the members so co-opted, four shall be the residents of the states other than the constituent states of Punjab Board and one shall be a Sikh saint of  established repute and respect belonging to any “Sampardai” of the Sikhs;

Provided further that a member co-opted, other than the Sikh saint, shall preferably be a graduate of an Indian university or has an equivalent educational qualification.”

The central board was to have 46 members from Punjab board (that included Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Union Territory of Chandigarh) and the rest from other boards in the country as specified under the act.

The state boards were to be elected through adult franchise by the Sikhs.

The central board was to manage Sri Darbar Sahib and the five Takhts.

Section 75 of this draft proposed the setting up of a central religious authority under the Akal Takht Jathedar on issues of Panthic importance.

Here are the details from the 1986 draft:

 18. The Central Board shall consist of the following, namely:-

(a) one hundred and eleven elected members as specified in the First Schedule;

(b) the Head Granthi of Sri Darbar sahib (Golden Temple) Amritsar, Punjab;

(c) the Jathedars of each of the following Takhats, namely:-

(i) Sri Akal Takhat Sahib, Amritsar, Punjab.

(ii) Sri Takhat Keshgarh Sahib, Anandpur Sahib, Punjab.

(iii) Sri Takhat Harimandir Ji Patna Sahib, Patna, Bihar.

(iv) Sri Takhat Hazur Sahib, Nanded, Maharashtra.

(vi)            Sri Takhat Damdama Saib, Talwandi Sabo, Punjab.

(e)   Twenty-four members to be co-opted by the members specified in clause (a) by single transferable vote from amongst the Sikh scholars, ex-commissioners Sikh officers of the defence services, educationalists, doctors, lawyers, retired gazetted government employees, retired High Court judges or persons representing the Panthic interest which are not otherwise represented on the central board.

Here is a clause relating to the cooption that is important.

-Out of the members so co-opted, not less than two and not more than three shall be Sehajdhari Sikhs including one belonging to the Sindhi community, and one such member shall be out of well known Sikh saints of established repute and respect belonging to any Sampardaye of Sikh origin.

-At least five shall be out of scheduled castes.

It is the Appendix of the 1986 draft that is important as it documents the details of the proceedings leading to this documents that included the review of the 1979 draft prepared by Justice Harbans Singh referred to the Punjab government by the Central government. The Surjit Singh Barnala government set up a committee headed by Information and Public Relations Minister Natha Singh Dalam that held two meetings.  A new drafting committee was accordingly constituted with Dr. Jasbir Singh Ahluwalia as the member-convener. The SGPC too set up a sub-committee for this purpose.

Significantly, the 1986 draft was sent by the Punjab government to SGPC chief Kabul Singh, former SGPC chief Gurcharan Singh Tohra, Parkash Singh Badal, Maharaja Amarinder Singh and Sukhjinder Singh..

As per this appendix, “No views were received from any of the above mentioned leaders”.

Then there are amendments that too were circulated for final decision.

The issue suddenly entered the “silence zone”.

The Haryana move was initiated only after this draft phased out of the agenda of SGPC, the Shiromani Akali Dal and the Punjab government.

The present situation would not have arisen in case this issue had been taken to logical conclusion.

It is not without reason that the Supreme Court verdict has failed to provoke the Sikhs at large.

Opposition to Haryana panel would amount to confronting the Haryana Sikhs by the Punjab Sikhs.

Punjab can now move to restore jurisdiction of the Sikh Gurdwara Act, 1925 back to the state government.