AMRITSAR: The kar -seva of the incomplete Akal Takht, the highest temporal seat of the in the Golden Temple complex here, is likely to start on October 29 despite strong opposition from the powerful militant outfit, Babbar Khalsa International, the Babbar Akali Dal and the Babbar Sikh Vidyarthi Jathebandhi (BSVJ).

The Shiromani Gurdwara Prabandak Committee (SGPC) Chief, Baldev Singh Sibia, has said that he would convince a meeting of the executive before October 20 which would formally take a decision to hand over the kar seva to the Damdami Taksal. However, sources close to the Damdami Taksal say that the decision to resume kar seva, disrupted during “Operation Black Thunder in 1988, is final and the SGPC decision to the contrary will not change the kar seva schedule.

The decision to assign the kar seva of the Aka) Takht to the Damdami Taksal was taken after the govt constructed Akal Takht was pulled down in 1986. The decision was ratified subsequently by the SGPC. The Damdami Taksal, the sources maintain, does not require a fresh mandate from the SGPC for resumption of the kar seva. However, Sibia is anxious to start the kar seva before the coming SGPC elections, scheduled before November 30, as it would enhance his electoral Prospects.

Most militant outfits drawing inspiration from the Damdami Taksal have welcomed its recent suo moto decision to resume the kar seva but the powerful combine of the Babbar Khalsa International, the Babbar Akali Dal and its students wing have opposed it on the ground that the Taksal had taken an “arbitrary decision without consulting all concerned.

Taking strong exception to the Damdami Taksals decision, the Babbar Khalsa International observed that the Taksal had forgotten its basic responsibilities while performing kar seva during the pre-operation Black Thunders period and got well entrenched in the Golden Temple complex on the pretext of carrying out kar seva and had damaged the image of the community. Moreover, the kar seva is an issue concerning the whole community and different religious and Panthic bodies should rise above their partisan interests to accomplish the risk of reconstruction of the Akal Takht, it contended.

PUBLICLY OPPOSED: The top brass of the Babbar Khalsa international, including its chief Sukhdev Singh Babbar have publicly opposed the unilateral decision of the Damdami Taksal.

The BSV) general secretary, Virsa Singh Valtoha, said that he had no objection to assigning the kar seva to the Damdami Taksal but the whole Sikh community should have been taken into confidence before taking such a decision as was done five years ago in the Sarbat Khalsa. The exclusive clam of the Damdami Taksal to kar seva would further accentuate the differences in the already splintered panth (Sikh community), he said. He proposed that the kar seva should be performed under the supervision of a high-powered kar seva committee which should furnish detailed accounts of the money collected and spent on it.

However, sources in the Taksal pointed out that this time, there was no scope for the entry of unwanted elements in the complex as was being apprehended by the Taksals detractors. The construction of the Aka] Takht now required the services of technical and skilled hands who would be employed by the Taksal. There would be no volunteers. Thus, the fear of a repetition of the happenings of the pre“ operation Black Thunder” days was unfounded, they maintained, Even the government should  not apprehend that the kar seva would be utilized to again to convert the Golden Temple complex into a sanctuary for the militants.

In fact, differences between the Babars and other militant outfit are not limited to the resumption of kar seva. The Babbar Khalsa International had jumped ahead of other outfits when it successfully launched the anti-repression campaign by bringing a number of panthic bodies under its fold. Thus, the Babbars had established their supremacy to the chagrin other militant outfits.

This move has further estranged the Babbar Khalsa International and it sallies from the Sohan Singh panel. Dr. Sohan Singhs Panthic committee and its allies have welcomed the move to resume the kar seva while the Babbars have opposed it.

The resumption of the kar seva would once again put the Taksal, once the nerve center of the militancy, on the cent restage of Sikh politics and upset the applecart of de Babbar Khalsa, supporters of the Taksal point out. The common Sikh masses want the Akal Takht to be completed at the earliest and any opposition to it would prove counterproductive. The Babbars arc aware of it and hence their opposition is quite guarded. (From Indian newspaper reports)

Article extracted from this publication >> October 25, 1991