Akal Takht committee members ‘stopped’ from holding meeting

A high drama was witnessed here on Saturday as members of an Akal Takht panel, constituted to conduct a membership drive for the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), were allegedly prevenetd from holding a meeting at a conference hall of the Gurdwara Fatehgarh Sahib complex.

Supporters of the panel members alleged that officials of the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) “locked the conference hall” and “parked a tractor” in front of it to block entry to the venue.

The manager of the Gurdwara Sri Fatehgarh Sahib, Gurdeep Singh Kang, rejected the charge, saying they never stopped anyone from holding a meeting at the conference hall of the shrine.

He said the conference hall was closed due to cleaning work, which had been going on for the past three days.

The panel members that had turned up for the meeting were dissident Akali leaders Iqbal Singh Jhundan and Santa Singh Umaidpuri. Several other rebel Akali leaders, including Prem Singh Chandumajra and Surjit Singh Rakhra, had also come for the meeting.

The panel that was constituted by the Akal Takht to carry out the drive was rejected by the party, which had initiated its own membership campaign. Sukhbir Badal was re-elected as the party president recently after the conclusion of the SAD drive.

The development resulted in the uncertainty over the fate of the Takht panel.

Chandumajra lashed out at the “high-handedness” of the gurudwara management and the SAD, saying nobody could be stopped from holding a meeting on the gurdwara complex.

Chandumajra, Panjoli and Talwandi termed the incident “a violation of the directive of the Akal Takht” as the panel was constituted by the temporal seat to conduct the drive.

Later, they held a meeting in a gurdwara sarai (inn).

It was decided to hold another meeting on May 10.

At the meeting, three resolutions were passed, asking the government to speed up the process for the SGPC elections, demanding immediate release of Sikhs languishing in jails for decades even after completing their sentences and condemning the attitude of SGPC staff.

Punjab