FREMONT, CA: Private security guards are conducting nightly patrols at the strife tom Fremont Sikh temple where up to 60 people were involved in a bloody melee during the last Sunday services. With the next worship service just one day away, the new leadership is declaring the internal dispute finished. But the trouble—sparked by the dismissal of the popular head priest at the house of worship for 5,000 Bay Area Sikhs — appears far from over. Both of the factions, warring for control of one of the largest and most affluent temples in Northern California, have appealed to the Fremont Police Department to intervene on their behalf. Police Chief Craig Stickler has flatly refused both requests, “This is obviously a very emotionally charged issue,” Stickler said. “Both sides have asked me to go in and enforce their sides, and I’ve told them both I can’t do that,”

Last Sunday, a dozen officers in Tot gear lined up with face shields down and batons in hands to prevent any further violence at the Gurdwara Sahib set in the rolling foothills of North Fremont. Nine people were taken into custody Sunday after a clash between two factions following the dismissal of the temple priest Bhai Jagjit Singh, two days earlier. Fremont police said they were tipped about possible trouble by members bent on ousting the established leadership. About 500 worshipers were in the temple at the time. Up to 50 people became embroiled in the dispute, some emerging from the temple in blood-soaked shirts. Within minutes of the fighting, police summoned all available officers more than doubling the response from 12 to 27. The nine people detained were taken into custody with citizen’s arrests, brought by members of both factions, police said. Two of arrested had supported the priest’s firing. The remaining seven were from the dissident faction.

Gurmeet Singh Khalsa, 46 of Hayward, a member of the supreme council, was taken into custody for alleged battery and brandishing Kirpan, and Balbir Tut, 41 of San Jose, was arrested for brandishing a weapon. Menacingly near women and children, said Detective Dennis Madsen, the department’s intelligence officer. “I felt a serious threat to my safety,” said Madsen, who knows Khalsa, He reached for his service revolver, pulling it halfway out before Singh sheathed his Kirpan, Also arrested on suspicion of battery were temple president Sahib Singh, 32, of San Jose; Ram Singh, 52, of Milpitas; Baljit Marok, 30 of Milipitas; Kewal Takhar Singh, 41, of Union City; Narinder Singh Bains, 39 of Fremont; and Gurtej Dhaliwal, 36, of Fremont.

By Sunday afternoon, the group of dissident temple members held an election that installed a new council and 11member board of directors. They also reinstated the head priest. “Ninety-nine percent of the congregation approved of the whole preceding…The matter is all settled,” asserted newly elected President Avtar Dhami of Union City. Meanwhile, former executive members claim their ousting was done “illegally” and promise to continue their efforts to return to power. The dispute with the temple’s leadership began long before the priest was fired. Some members of the congregation had bitterly opposed a proposed $1 million land purchase in San Jose for a Sikh school; the plan was dropped last spring. Then in June came an incident in which the temple’s management abruptly threw out a group of visiting priests for allegedly criticizing another priest. Unhappy temple members filed a civil suit in August, charging mismanagement of the temple’s nearly half million in investments and asking the court to force the temple to act in accordance with state law governing nonprofit corporations, which included holding an election., On Monday, Alameda County Superior Court Judge John F. Kraetzer found cause to conduct a hearing. The case, whose files are already six inches thick, is expected to be decided on Nov. 14. “We will respect the decision of the court, whatever is handed down,” said Harjit Singh Grewal, a member of the ousted executive committee who claimed that the temple takeover was accomplished with 150 young outsiders. “But we will not accept what they have done to us.”

Article extracted from this publication >>  October 2, 1996