CHANDIGAR: The Akali Dal Mann secretary and official spokesman Mr Gurtej Singh and member working committee, Mr Sukhinder Singh have been suspended from the party on the charges of anti-activities.
The action was taken on the findings of an inquiry into the charges against him by two other general secretaries of the party. Mr Sucha Singh Chhotepur and Mr Charanjit Singh a former Akai Dal MP, Mann office secretary Capt CSS. Sidhu said here. A show cause notice had been served on them, he said. This is the first major confrontation between the Akali Dal (Mann) president and his opponents who have been complaining about the style of his functioning.
Capt Sidhu said that inquiry committed had verified charges against the junior leaders levelled by various members of the organisation, Mr Gurtej Singh had written an article on April 3 which went against the party’s stand on the Kirpan. He also been moving in Muktsar and Faridkot district and had made a parallel Akali Dal.
They had also been meeting the Punjab Governor and other Govt officials leading delegations without the approval of the party and giving out views different from the party stand. Apart from absenting themselves from the meetings of party’s executive and protest march, staying away from bhog ceremonies of party leaders and they had been in close contact with the revivalists of assembly. Mr Gurtej Singh had also made statement against Mr Mann in an interview to a magazine Capt Sidhu said, quoting the findings of the inquiry committee.
Mr Gurtej Singh who was the main party spokesman after Mann was released from jail was instrumental in drafting the Anandpur resolution. A disciple of late Sirdar Kapur Singh, he had incorporated in the draft the original views of the former latter in the Anandpur Sahib Resolution of 1973. Most of the working committee members pledged allegiance to the ideology of Sant Bhindranwale and being traditional jathedars did not relish the subtleties of Sirdar Kapur Singh.
The parting of the ways was reached when a resolution of the working committee at Ludhiana four months ago enjoined upon its members to sport flowing beard and a kirpan slung across the shoulder like an Amritdhari Sikh. Three members, including Mr Gurtej Singh and Mr Sukhinder Singh, did not satisfy these conditions. They did not attend any working committee meeting after that.
The Akali Dal (Mann) also suspected that the two leaders were secretly in contact with the Akali Dal Badal leaders. Mr Parkash Singh Badal and Mr Amrinder Singh.
Article extracted from this publication >> September 14, 1990
