War of words ahead of SGPB elections

Dinesh Manhotra

Tribune News Service

Jammu, July 28

After the completion of District Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (DGPC) elections, focus has now shifted to the State Gurdwara Parbandhak Board (SGPB) poll, for which notification is likely to be issued next week.

As the countdown for the elections has started, war of words between former SGPB president TS Wazir-led group and rival factions has also intensified.

After Wazir’s opponents had condemned his felicitation by Legislative Speaker and BJP MLA Kavinder Gupta, the former today hit back saying it was an attempt to “politicise” a non-political issue.

“Speaker Kavinder Gupta had come to felicitate newly elected members of the DGPC so what was wrong in it. It was not a political event,” said Wazir.

“Giving respect to a guest is our tradition and we followed that tradition when Speaker of the Assembly visited the Gurdwara,” he said.

The rival faction had earlier claimed that Kavinder Gupta felicitating Wazir was an attempt to “push the Sikh community into the RSS fold”.

In a veiled attack on his rivals, Wazir today said: “It is known to everyone who is associated with political parties. We are not associated with any political group and the DGPC is purely a religious body.”

Wazir’s opponents had taken serious note of, what they called, extending invitation to BJP MLA and Speaker of the Legislative Assembly, to attend the office of the DGPC, Jammu, without taking other committee members into confidence. “We will not allow saffronisation of the DGPC, Jammu, at any cost,” a member of the rival group had said last week.

Sources said notification for electing SGPB members was likely to be issued next week.

They said 110 DGPC members of Jammu province would elect eight members of the SGPB while an equal number of their counterparts from the Kashmir Valley would elect seven members of the state body.

The 15 members elected as such would then choose chairman and other office bearers of the board.

As per the Sikh Gurdwaras and Religious Endowment Act, 1973, the SGPB, which manages the Sikh religious institutions across the state, would be constituted through the DGPCs, which are elected by a polling process by respective Deputy Commissioners.

The last SGPB elections in J&K were held in 2003.

Prestige of both the groups is at stake and TS Wazir-led faction, which had captured the DGPC, Jammu, is hopeful of winning the SGPB elections also. “It is too early to say anything. We will try our best,” Wazir said.