ANANDPURSAHIB: The three day Khalsa march, aimed at creating awareness among the Sikhs Concluded here on Oct.17 at Takht Kesgarh Sahib, with an appeal to the people to be ready for the Morcha to be launched by the Akalis from November 1, to pro test against the state repression in general and the desecration of gurdwara Gurusar at Gujjarwal village in Ludhiana district in particular.

On its last leg, the march started from gurdwara Bhatha Sahib and covered a distance of about 40 km in four hours.

According to the estimate of the Security agencies, about 300 cars, Jeeps and buses formed the convoy led by Panj Piaras and Akal Takht acting Jathedar, Manjit Singh. Deputy Inspector General S.S.Bhullar was in charge of the security arrangements,

In tow were Shiromani Gurdwara ‘Parbandhak Committee president Gurcharan Singh Tohra, chiefs of Badal, Mann, Babbar and Longowal factions Parkash Singh Badal, Simranjit Singh Mann, Kartan Singh Narang and Kabul Singh respectively along with senior Akali leader Jagdev Singh Talwandi_

Conspicuous by their absence were Manjit Singh and Amarinder Singh or Manjit and Panthic factions. Villagers had gathered all along the route to welcome the group, and arranged for langars at a number of places. The road taken by the marchers had been decorated throughout. It was kesan which dominated the scene,

The refrain, all the three days, was the sacrilege of Gurdware Gurusar by the police projecting it as an attempt to subjugate the Sikhs. The main demand was a public apology from Chief Minister Beant Singh.

It was Tohra who set the tone while addressing the congregation saying that they had taken to this course in the wake of the Government’s move to throttle every voice of dissent. He regret ted that the voice of the Akalis had remained muted all this time. Now it was the Akal Takht acting Jathedar who had taken the initiative to unite them.

In a veiled attack on the militants, Tohra said that about a dozen odd members of the SGPC were gunned down as a part of the conspiracy of the Government to attack this elected body of the Sikhs and force them to resign,

The SGPC chief said that the political goal of various Akali factions might be different and there might be other contradictions but now was the time for them to unite,

Tohra charged the State Government with committing a sin and demanded that Beant Singh must publicly apologize for the sacrilege of gurdwara Gujjarwal and punish the guilty policemen.

He called upon the people to prepare themselves for a peaceful agitation from November 1. He said that the Akali leaders would meet at Damdama Sahib on Oct.20 to give final touches to the program.

A similar call was repeated by Badal who contradicted Tohra saying that the Akalis had never kept mum but it was the Government which had thwarted their every attempt to stage rallies and demonstrations.

 

Article extracted from this publication >>  October 22, 1993