The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

Thursday, December 27, 2001, Chandigarh, India

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Poor SAD show at Jor Mela
Jangveer Singh
Tribune News Service

Fatehgarh Sahib, December 26
Today same slogans, which were raised five years, ago, echoed at the historic Jor Mela here. However unlike the Shiromani Akali Dal under the leadership of Mr Parkash Singh Badal which raised slogans of “takth badal do taj badal do bemanan da raj badal do” during Congress rule, now it was the turn of the Panthic Morcha and his friend-turned-foe Gurcharan Singh Tohra to raise the same slogans.

Capt Kanwaljit Singh is all smiles as he shares a joke with the Vice-President of BJP, Mr Madan Lal Khurana, at the Shiromani Akali Dal’s political conference during Shaheedi Jor Mela at Fatehgarh Sahib on Wednesday. Also in the picture are the SGPC chief, Mr Kirpal Singh Badungar, and Mr Balwinder Singh Bhunder.
— Tribune photo Pankaj Sharma

Mr G.S.Tohra is all ears as he attends to a youth leader during the Panthic Morcha’s political conference

(Left) Mr G.S.Tohra is all ears as he attends to a youth leader during the Panthic Morcha’s political conference at Fatehgarh Sahib during the Shaheedi Jor Mela on Wednesday and (right) Mr Simranjit Singh Mann and Mr Prem Singh Chandumajra share the dais at the Panthic Morcha’s rally.
— Tribune photographs

Surprisingly the slogans found favour with the large crowd which had gathered at the conference site of the Panthic Morcha. Participants enthusiastically responded to slogans raised by senior leader Prem Singh Chandumajra who was the same person who had egged on the crowd to raise same slogans five years ago. The crowd listened to Sarb Hind Shiromani Akali Dal chief Gurcharan Singh Tohra in rapt attention.

The SAD show, which suffered due to the absence of Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, however could not elicit the same seriousness from the audience The only response the various slogans was from a few persons standing close to the mike on the stage itself. Even the appearance of Haryana Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala and BJP leader Madan Lal Khurana could not make the audience enthusiastic.

Both Akali factions also differed on the question of “unity”. SAD General Secretary Balwinder Singh Bhunder while alleging that the Panthic Dal would only help the Congress by fighting on its own, said instead of doing that it could rejoin the SAD. Former SGPC president Jagdev Singh Talwandi was more explicit saying “main te kahanda han kathe ho jaiya, kitte bichara na mar jaiya’’. However Mr Tohra and Panthic Morcha leader Simranjit Singh Mann ruled out any unity amongst the different Akali factions. Mr Tohra said: “We will see about new alliances after the poll’’, adding he had explained how the state Chief Minister had ‘run away’ from ‘hukamnamas’ to non resident Sikh leader Didar Singh Bains who had tried to affect unity.

Besides this while all SAD leaders warned people not to vote for the Congress which they accused had ushered in militancy in the state besides carrying out planned murder of Sikhs in Delhi after the assassination of Indira Gandhi, the Panthic Morcha also tried to distance itself from the Congress with Mr Tohra calling it a party of thieves. The Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee president, Mr Avtar Singh Hit was most vocal on this account even claiming that Sikhs outside Punjab might have to face further atrocities if the Badal government was not returned to power.

The SAD leaders, with Union Minister Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa leading the chorus followed by Haryana Chief Minister O.P. Chautala, also warned people that their foodgrains might not be procured if the Badal government was ousted. Mr Dhindsa said it was only because of the special relationship between Mr Badal and Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee that procurement had been conducted in an efficient manner during the Akali rule.

The SAD conference, which saw slogans of only the SAD and BJP being raised with Food Minister Madan Mohan Mittal being the only BJP nominee, was held under Finance Minister Capt Kanwaljit Singh. So strong was the stranglehold that Patiala District rural jathedar Kashmir Singh Mavi took on the responsibility of the stage secretary even though this would normally be the responsibility of the Fatehgarh Sahib jathedar. Capt Kanwaljit was also the last to speak even though there were other candidates for this slot, including SGPC president Kirpal Singh Badungar and Mr Dhindsa.

The Bahujan Samaj Party and the Lok Bhalai Party organised their conferences which were addressed by former MP Satnam Singh Kainth and Mr Balwant Singh Ramoowalia respectively.

SAD suffers setback as AISSF (U) splits
Our Correspondent

Amritsar, December 26
The ruling SAD suffered a major setback when a breakaway group of the All India Sikh Students Federation (AISSF) (United) floated a new federation (Gorenangal) with Mr Paramjit Singh Gorenangal as president.

The AISSF (United), a conglomeration of warring groups of the federation, was formed at the behest of Mr Parkash Singh Badal, Chief Minister, about four months ago. Mr Avtar Singh Bopari, Dr Bhoma and Mr Karnail Singh Pirmohammad who headed different factions of the federation had disbanded their units to form the AISSF (United). However, they parted and said they would work separately, causing embarrassment to the SAD.

The leaders of the breakaway group of the federation, talking to the Press here today, alleged that the AISSF (U) had already split into many groups due to the vested interests of office-bearers. They claimed that they had to float a separate federation as the AISSF (U) leaders wanted to get political mileage at the cost of the Sikhs cause. They alleged that the chiefs of some of the AISSF’s had direct links with the Congress.