CHANDIGARH: The Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee president, Gurcharan Singh Tohra, recently said that the Chief Minister, Beant Singh, might be held responsible by the Akalis for atrocities and repression but he would not be summoned at the Akal Takht.
He made this observation while replying to a question at a meet the Press program, at the Chandigarh Press Club here.
Tohra said that the Akal Takht could intervene in the matters related to the Sikh political affairs. Moreover, he said that this question could be addressed to the Akal Takht jathedar. At the same time, he maintained that none had approached the Akal Takht with any complaint against the Chief Minister, when asked why he could not take the lead in this regard; Tohra said that he was not inclined to do so.
He said that the institution of Akal Takht and its chief was synonymous as was the case of the Supreme Court and its Chief Justice. He reiterated that the Akali Dal (Badal) president, Parkash Singh Badal, had betrayed the Akal Takht at every step. He said that Badal was among those Akali leaders who had given in writing to the Akal Takht acting jathedar, Manjit Singh, on April 121ast, at Talwandi Sabo, to intervene and unite the Akalis. Later, he backtracked. ‘The SGPC president clarified that the Amritsar declaration adopted by the Akali Dal (Amritsar) was the expression of regional aspirations of the minorities. Those who ignored these aspirations were defeated in the recent Assembly elections. He made it clear that the declaration did not tantamount to Khalistan. The reference to Khalistan was only a warming. Tohra said that the election to the general house of this organization was being delayed to defame the present set up. Denying the charge that he had connived with Beant Singh to postpone the election, Tohra said it was he who sought the intervention of the Punjab and Haryana High Court to set a time frame for these elections. He said that the SGPC leadership came under criticism whenever the Akalis got divided. The reason was that the Akalis had always controlled the SGPC.
Article extracted from this publication >> January 6, 1995
