AMRITSAR, Punjab, India: The Five Member Panthic Committee declared that it no longer recognizes Prof. Darshan Singh as the Acting Jathedar of Akal Takht and also submitted a charge sheet against him to the four Head Priests. It demanded from them that a Sarbat Khalsa Convention should be held on Diwali and a new Jathedar of Akal Takht should be appointed in place of Prof. Darshan Singh who has forfeited the confidence of the Sikhs by his pro government and ant freedom fighters’ stance. The allegation against Darshan Singh ran into six handwritten pages in the form of fifteen questions. He has been accused of bartering away the interests of the Panth and challenging the sovereignty of the Akal Takht. The strong indictment of Darshan Singh is well timed. It comes in the wake of the reports that efforts are on to persuade him to return to Akal Takht.

Both the S.G.P.C. and the Unified Akali Dal have jointly appealed to him to resume his duties but the contradictory stands taken by a UAD youth wing President, Sher Singh Dhumsheri and the UAD Member of Parliament, Charanjit Singh Walia, speak for themselves. The Committee’s most serious allegation against Darshan Singh is his going back on Khalistan resolution endorsed at the Sarbat Khalsa Convention of January 26, 1986 when he along with the other four Priests was formally installed. A Committee’s spokesman told newsmen inside the Golden Temple Complex that if Darshan Singh had any differences of opinion on the issue he should have then walked out of the Sarbat Khalsa Convention as Baba Joginder Singh had done on that occasion. Other issue that annoyed the Committee was Darshan Singh’s refusal to accept the previous Sarbat Khalsa and submit to the supremacy of the Committee. In his view there was no such concept as Panthic Committee which could give orders to the Singh Sahibs. Prof. Darshan Singh has reservations on returning to Amritsar despite appeals made to him. He insists that a congenial atmosphere must prevail inside the Golden Temple before he returns. The Committee maintained that unity among various militant groups has been achieved as desired by the four Head Priests. A new Panthic programme will be announced before October 8 which might to prevent the S.G.P.C. and two Akali Dals from joining hands against them, a Committee spokesman observed. The Committee took strong exception to the manner in which Darshan Singh opened dialogue with Centre’s agents like Congress (1) MP Sunil Dutt, and Achrya Sushil Muni and others. Darshan Singh changed his stand at the instance of Centre even though he was present throughout the convention on January 26, 1986. He was also accused of hobnobbing with Sunjit Singh Barnala and Balwant Singh who along with 43 other MLAs had been excommunicated by the Sarbat KhaJsa on Diwali of 1985. Since they were all traitors of the Panth, Darshan Singh, the spokesman said, had also been charged with lowering the prestige of the Akal Takht by including the Panth’s traitors in the so-called Unified Akali Dal. Even after his excommunication, Sujit Singh Barnala went about visiting the Gurdwaras where the Committees honored him. Why did Darshan Singh not take action against such managements?, the Committee spokesman asked. Notwithstanding the incidents of humiliation of Sikhs in everyday life and the manner in which Sikh religious places were being desecrated, Darshan Singh had kept quiet. His only aim was to somehow put life in the Unified Akali Dal. Did he ever visit the houses of the youths killed? or perform kirtan. Instead he has been commercializing his kirtan, according to other allegation. Darshan Singh was also accused of first talking to the Centre’s agents and later sending Sunil Dutt and Acharya Sushil Muni abroad to impress upon foreign governments not to support freedom fighters in their struggle. The Committee alleged that four other Head Priests were never consulted before taking important policy decisions. It had a dig at UAD Secretary Manjit Singh Calcutta, who the Committee said was a DIG of the RAW. By advocating “shapt” instead of “shastar” at the Sikh convention on August 4, Darshan Singh had distorted facts. The statement was signed by Gurbachan Singh, Wassan Singh, Gurdev Singh, Dalvinder Singh and Dal bir Singh.

Article extracted from this publication >>  October 9, 1987