Sacrilege, dera row weigh on voters’ mind

Syed Ali Ahmed

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, February 19

It will be a tough fight between the Badals’ Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) and the SAD (Delhi) led by the Sarna brothers in the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (DSGMC) elections to be held on February 26.

The Sikh electorate is busy comparing the performance of both parties (the present committee ruled by the Badals’ SAD and the earlier one which had the Sarnas at the helm).

The incidents of sacrilege of Guru Granth Sahib and the SAD’s “tie-up” with Dera Sacha Sauda for the Punjab Assembly elections are being seen in a negative light by the Sikh community in the national capital.

However, the ruling SAD’s initiatives, including organising functions in memory of Baba Baghel Singh and Baba Banda Singh Bahadur, the installation of the latter’s statue at Nabha House, the Wall of Truth memorial to the victims of the 1984 anti-Sikh riots and the museum at Bangla Sahib Gurdwara, are being lauded by the voters in Delhi.

Ranjit Singh, a resident of Tilak Nagar, said the DSGMC led by Manjit Singh GK, also the president of the SAD’s Delhi unit, had paid a befitting tribute to Sikh heroes such as Baba Baghel Singh and Baba Banda Singh Bahadur. The committee has done good work during its four-year tenure, he added.

Maninder Kaur of the same colony said before exercising their franchise, the people should compare the functioning of both committees. The DSGMC is a religious body. So, the people should support the committee that promotes Sikhism.

Harminder Singh of Vishnu Garden said development and maintenance work in gurdwaras was carried out under the leadership of Manjit Singh GK.

A young woman from Dwarka, without disclosing her name, said the museum constructed by the committee at Gurdwara Bangla Sahib had brought alive the 1984 riots and other important events in the community’s history for the young generation.

Rajinder Singh Mattu, vice-chairman at Gurdwara Bangla Sahib, criticised the SAD for failing to curb the incidents of sacrilege and the drug menace in Punjab, and seeking the Sirsa dera’s support. These factors will hurt the SAD’s prospects in the DSGMC poll, he added.