Fremont, CA — The long brewing tussle between the Gurdwara Management and the Sikh Youth resulted in the ugly scene of physical violence between the youth and a Director on the management Board. The youth had on number of occasions expressed its unhappiness at the alleged unaccommodating attitude of the management. The management, however, had all along maintained that there was no discrimination against anyone, least of all against the youth. To sort out the differences and to satisfy the complaining youth, the Management decided to discuss and settle the festering issue and put it on the agenda of its last Friday meeting.

The youth were given the impression that they could attend the meeting as observers. But when they reached the venue of the meeting, they were told that they could not attend the meeting. However some Directors favored their attending the meeting as observers. It was decided to have vote on the issue. The voting resulted in a tie of 10 votes for and 10 votes against and the President used his casting vote to disallow the youth.

Members of the youth were concerned mainly with the issue of Shaheedi Fund which they said was not being released for the purpose it had been collected, but was allegedly channeled for other purposes. They were also demanding that the Gurdwara should become member of World Sikh Organization.

The Directors by a majority of 18 to 6 decided not to become the member of WSO. They also dismissed the grievance of the youth that they were not allowed to address the congregation as unfounded.

All these decisions had angered the youth who were waiting outside. The meeting continued till 1:30 am. When Mr. Gurdev Singh Bal, a director, came out, he got involved in heated argument with some young men leading to physical violence in which Mr. Bal was reportedly beaten up. The matter was reported to the police and is under investigation. Meanwhile the management has suspended three persons from attending the Gurdwara for six months.

Article extracted from this publication >>  September 20, 1985