JALANDHAR: Jasbir Singh Rode, a former jathedar of Akal Takht and a close relative of Sant Jamail Singh Bhindrawala has predicted that ‘Gurcharan Singh Tohra would not be reelected SGPC chief in the forthcoming elections as the Sikh Panth was fully aware of his gimmicks. Jasbir Singh Rode, last week alleged that Tohra was conniving with the government only to remain the SGPC Chief for the last 20 years. This was last 20 years.
Rode alleged that after the constitution of the SGPC nothing has been done for the empowering of the gurdwaras. He further said that Tohra has always misused the SGPC for political purposes. He maintained that the Sikhs had to bear heavy losses due to the pro-government policies of Tohra.
Rode dubbed the Vishav Sikh sammelan a “Tohra show” to convince Badal that he was also the leader of the Sikh Panth, He claimed that the Sikhs did not gain much from this sammelan and said that only 136 people got the “amrit” whereas a sum of Rs 100 crore was spent on the sammelan. This amount should have been spent for the welfare of the Sikh community instead, he quipped. He said that a lot of money was spent on seminars during this sammelan which were held in expensive hotels.
While commenting on the controversial issue of the appointment of jathedar of the Akal Takht, Rode advised that all religious and political bodies should unanimously solve the issue after detailed discussions on the subject.
Rode further alleged that the Amrit Abilakhi March undertaken by Damdami Taksal was stopped from proceeding towards Sarhali, at the behest of Tohra.
Article extracted from this publication >> November 3, 1995
