44 netas who sought Sirsa Dera help get summons
IN A SPOT Leaders had ignored Akal Takht’s edict on Ram Rahim
The Akal Takht on Tuesday summoned 44 politicians who sought Sirsa-based Dera Sacha Sauda’s support in the recently held Punjab elections. They have been asked to appear before the supreme temporal seat of Sikhs on April 17.
Of the 44 politicians, 29 visited the Sirsa Dera and 15 participated in meetings outside the Dera.
On the basis of a report submitted by the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) panel, 29 politicians from the Akali Dal, 14 from the Congress and one Aam Aadmi Party leader violated the Akal Takht’s 2007 “hukumnama” (edict) which had excommunicated dera head Gurmeet Ram Rahim. The decision was announced by Akal Takht jathedar Gaini Gurbachan Singh after a four-hour meeting of the Sikh high priests. “They will face action as prescribed in the Sikh maryada,” said the jathedar.
The row erupted after the Dera Sacha Sauda decided to support the Akali Dal in the February 4 assembly elections. The move kicked up a storm when Akali candidates from nine constituencies of Bathinda and Mansa districts Sikander Singh Maluka Janmeja Singh Sekhon Jeet Mohinder Sidhu Parminder Singh Dhindsa Surjit Rakhra
attended a meeting organised by the dera’s religious wing at a banquet hall in Bathinda.
The Akali Dal went a step further and announced to facilitate dera “satsangs” in Punjab, in open defiance of the Akal Takht’s 2007 edict that Sikhs must boycott the dera chief.
Following directions of the Akal Takht jathedar, the SGPC on February 6 constituted a three-member probe committee comprising SGPC senior vicepresident Baldev Singh Kaimpur, general secretary Amarjit Singh Chawla and executive committee member Gurcharan Singh Garewal. The panel submitted its report on March 6. The dera head last held a congregation in Punjab in May 2007 at Salabtpura village Rajinder Kaur Bhattal Amrinder Singh Raja Warring Sadhu Singh Dharamsot Karan Kaur Brar
Ajit Inder Singh Mofar
Narinder Singh Sandha
in Bathinda, where he courted controversy by wearing attire allegedly similar to that of Guru Gobind Singh. Then, the Takht issued a “hukamnama” against the dera head and accused him of blasphemy, besides calling upon Sikhs for his social boycott. This led to violence in different parts of state between Sikhs and dera followers. In September 2015, the Takht had pardoned Ram Rahim for the May 2007 “blasphemy”. The decision had come in for widespread criticism from Sikh hardliners, who had alleged that it was “politically motivated” by the SAD to secure dera the support for the 2017 polls. Under pressure, the Takht had to reverse its decision.
Gwalior’s Jiwaji University suspended five students a day after one of them registered a case under the SC/ST law against two professors.
The trouble bagan last week when students were denied permission to hold a quiz competition on April 11 to mark BR Ambedkar’s birth anniversary on April 14.
Accusing the authorities of denying permission to them to mark Ambedkar Jayanti, several students of the university are staging a sit-in demonstration.
They also accused the head of the law department and some members of ABVP of misbehaving with them.
University officials, however, said they did not deny permission. “We never denied any permission. The head of the department just told the students that there were other programmes going on so he would confirm the date after discussing it with the staff council,” vice-chancellor Sangeeta Shukla said.
The authorities added that the students had been given a warning that if they continued to indulge in indiscipline, they could be rusticated.