NEW DELHI: The dingdong battle for supremacy in the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (DSGMC, also known as DGPC) is raging again. Old adversaries in new alignments are busy clawing at each other to gain control of Delhi’s eight lakh Sikhs. But it is already clear who the winner is Home Minister Buta Singh the man, who looks after Sikh politics for the Congress I.
On May 16 six of the 11 surviving members of the DSGMC executive “elected” Gurcharan Singh Gill acting president and Kulmohan Singh secretary, replacing Jaswant Singh Kalkaji and Sucha Singh respectively. This is the third such coup effected “democratically” (though sometimes involving the clash of kirpans) in the last 20 months. The contending groups have remained the same. So has their vote bank (the executive). The seesaw battle is seemingly influenced mainly by who enjoys Buta Singh’s support.
Kalkaji elected senior vice president in September 1982, was elevated as acting president on March 29, 1984 following the shooting of then president Harbans Singh Manchanda. Gill and Kulmohan Singh replaced him and Sucha Singh on September 3, 1987; Kalkaji and Sucha Singh forced them out on July 8, 1988. And then came the present coup.
In retaliation the day after his ouster, Kalkaji announced a meeting of the 42 DSGMC members on June 12 to elect a new executive.
Some feel the election will be a welcome change, “It is an insult of the general house for the executive. to decide its president illegally, as has become the practice. We alone have the power to do so,” says DSGMC member Jaspal Singh.
The election of the five office bearers and 10 executive members, meant to be held annually according to the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Act, 1971, has not been held since September 1982. The excuse of “disturbed conditions” is often used.
Ironically SGPC elections are held in Amritsar every year as even Gill points out. Legal wrangles have also held up the process. In fact a court ordered election was held on November 7, 1987 under the supervision of former judge K.S. Sidhu but was later annulled at the behest of the powers that be.
The fight, on the face of it, is over benefits and status. The DSGMC controls Delhi’s gurdwaras five colleges, 15 schools hospitals and various other facilities. Its assets run into hundreds of crores of rupees and its monthly income is more than Rs 40 lakhs (the aggregate for the period April 1988 to January 1989 is Rs 4.19 crores, most of it in hard cash, But in reality it is a fight for control over Delhi’s Sikhs. The DSGMC touches in one way or another the life of almost all Sikhs and avenues of gaining allegiance are legion. Banks where the body’s huge deposits are housed ben over backwards to oblige office bearers and those they recommend. In fact the present coup was sparked off by Kalkaji and Sucha Singh shifting a bit over Rs one crore to Grindlays Bank and Rs 83.38 lakhs to the Punjab National Bank from the DSGMC’s traditional banker, Punjab and Sind Bank.
Kalkaji stayed in office for a long time only because of the backing of Buta Singh some of those who have now replaced him allege. The pointer they provide is that Kalkaji provided DSMGC funding for a sarbat khalsa in Delhi organized by the Congress I soon after Operation Bluestar. The details of at least one payment of a little over Rs 4.09 lakhs for the arrangements and langar at the event are available.
Moreover, in the last two coups effected at Sisganj a Buta Singh crony Talvinder Singh Marwaha who is also a Youth Congress I functionary has played a crucial role, He provided Kalkaji and Sucha Singh the muscle power to evict Gill and Kulmohan Singh from Sisganj in July 1988.
Article extracted from this publication >> June 9, 1989
