CHANDIGARH: Dissociating himself from the withdrawal of the Akali Morcha, the SGPC president, G,S.Tohra, said this week that the issue of desecration of the Gujwal shrine was still open and he SGPC would continue its agitation if the sanctity of the shrine was restored. He was obviously stated at the withdrawal of the morcha without consulting him, reiterating his resolve to continue the struggle, Tohra said that he would soon convene a meeting of all associated Panthic bodies to chalk out strategy and the modalities of the future agitation. Tohra had rushed here to consult the Akali leaders on learning of the withdrawal of the morcha. Since Tohira, as the SGPC chief, had spearheaded the agitation and the other Akali factions and panthic bodies, too, had joined it he Akali Dal (B) leader, Kuldip Singh Wadala, had no locus stand to withdraw the morcha, many Akali activists felt.
A senior Akali Dal (L) leader insisted that Wadala must have consulted his party leader, P.S.Badal, before announcing the decision. But Badal and the general secretary of the Akali Dal (B), Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa, said that they were not consulted by Wadala. However, defending the decision, Badal said: “What had been decided was the protest march on November | and not any morcha. Since the protest March was not allowed. Wadala had been sending daily jathas and now in his wisdom has withdrawn it” Badal said that they were well-equipped for a morcha as the government had arrested all the leaders on their way to Takht Damdama Sahib (Bhatinda) where they were slated to meet to chalk out details of the agitation. Mort over, the morcha had become redundant as the police had refused to arrest it he Panthic volunteers.
However, the Akali Dal (L) general secretary, Capt. Kanwaljit Singh, said that the morcha received a poor response from the masses because of lack of credibility of the Akali leadership.
Article extracted from this publication >> November 19, 1993
