Chandigarh: Months after the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) noticed its worst ever efficiency in an meeting election, battle traces have been drawn inside the get together. Bibi Jagir Kaur, a senior Akali chief, is about to tackle its official candidate, Harjinder Singh Dhami, within the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee’s (SGPC) presidential election Wednesday.
On Monday, the SAD’s disciplinary committee introduced it had expelled Jagir Kaur — a three-time former president of the SGPC — for “anti-party actions”, together with “turning into get together to a conspiracy to interrupt the SGPC”. She was expelled after she failed to look in individual earlier than the disciplinary committee.
Addressing a press convention, SAD disciplinary committee chairman Sikander Singh Maluka mentioned it had taken disciplinary motion after exhausting all its choices.
“The SAD has all the time sought to current panthic unity by placing ahead a single candidate for the put up of president of the SGPC after the get together president takes the views of all members individually. We fail to grasp why Bibi Jagir Kaur wished to vary this norm and create confusion within the Sikh neighborhood because it solely helps forces inimical to the panth,” he mentioned.
The event comes days after Jagir Kaur introduced she was working as an impartial candidate. On its half, the get together had introduced Saturday that it could subject Dhami — the incumbent SGPC president — as soon as once more.
Jagir Kaur’s open rise up might add to the issues of the SAD, which was all however decimated within the Punjab meeting elections held earlier this yr.
The Akali Dal workouts vital management over the SGPC by way of its president. A defeat for its candidate might imply the get together dropping its grip over the Sikh physique, its final bastion.
Additionally referred to as the mini parliament of the Sikhs, the SGPC controls and runs 83 gurdwaras in Punjab and different states. Elections to the put up of president, to the 11-member govt committee, and for office-bearers are anticipated to be held Wednesday throughout the SGPC’s annual common physique assembly on the Teja Singh Samundri Corridor in Amritsar’s Golden Temple.
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Jagir Kaur’s open defiance
Jagir Kaur, who grew to become the SGPC’s first lady president within the yr 2000, was anticipating her identify to be introduced because the get together’s candidate However after it grew to become clear that the Akalis have been going to decide on Dhami over her, she introduced that she was contesting as an impartial candidate.
The SGPC is a 191-member physique that’s elected by way of a common poll amongst Sikhs throughout India. Elections to the physique are usually held each 5 years however presidential polls are held yearly.
Typically, the put up of the SGPC president is crammed by a consensus candidate — that’s, an individual largely seen as having the highest Akali Dal management’s stamp of approval.
When no consensus is reached, SGPC members vote for a president. Since most SGPC members owe their allegiance to the SAD, the get together’s candidate is often chosen.
As an illustration, when Jagir Kaur was elected president in 2020, she secured 122 of the 143 votes solid, changing Gobind Singh Longowal, who had been SGPC chief for 3 consecutive years.
Final yr, Dhami, Akali Dal’s official candidate, was challenged by one other member, Mithu Singh Kahneke. Dhami secured a landslide win, getting 122 of the full votes solid.
For the previous twenty years, the Akali Dal’s authority over the SGPC elections has remained unbroken. Earlier than that, the late Nineteen Nineties had seen turmoil hit this largely symbiotic relationship, when former Akali chief Gurcharan Singh Tohra, who had till that time been SGPC president for 25 years, challenged the SAD’s authority.
In 1999, Parkash Badal, then chief minister of the Punjab and president of the SAD, eliminated Tohra as SGPC chief and put in Jagir Kaur in his place.
Whereas Jagir Kaur hasn’t attained Tohra’s stature in panthic politics, her open defiance of the Akali Dal and her act of positioning herself as an impartial candidate might probably have an effect on a celebration already beset with issues.
Quickly after the SAD’s defeat within the 2017 Punjab meeting election, a number of members of the get together’s previous guard abandoned it. As they left, they blamed Sukhbir Singh Badal — son of Parkash Singh Badal and the SAD’s present working president — and his brother-in-law Bikram Singh Majithia for the get together’s electoral failure.
The meeting polls held earlier this yr noticed the SAD’s seat tally go down additional, to three from 15.
The get together can also be going through allegations of misusing the SGPC for political positive factors.
‘Final nail within the Akali coffin’
As soon as thought of near the Badals, Jagir Kaur, a former MLA from Bholath in Punjab’s Kapurthala, belongs to the influential Lobana neighborhood.
She joined the Akali Dal in 1995 and was elected an SGPC member a yr later. In 1997, she was given a celebration ticket for the meeting election and received from the Bholath constituency. Regardless of being a first-time MLA, she was taken in as a cupboard minister by Parkash Singh Badal.
The Badals’ assist of her remained unstinting all through the 18-year-long trial of a case involving the mysterious loss of life of her daughter, Harpreet.
The case hit nationwide headlines in April 2000 when Harpreet, alias Rosy, died whereas she was allegedly being shifted to a hospital in Ludhiana from the residence of a household buddy in Phagwara.
Jagir Kaur was accused of getting illegally confined Harpreet and forcing her to bear an abortion. She was acquitted of all fees in 2018.
At Sunday’s press convention, Jagir Kaur laid out her election manifesto, promising to make sure that the SGPC stays autonomous and isn’t managed by one political get together. She additionally criticised the Akali Dal for what she referred to as “lifafa (‘envelope’) tradition” — a time period generally utilized in Punjab to explain an act of subverting the election course of.
SGPC sources informed ThePrint that Jagir Kaur had the assist of members from Haryana and likewise of those that have been against the Akali Dal’s management over the SGPC. The overall physique assembly Wednesday will now show to be a litmus take a look at.
“The SGPC is the Akali Dal’s final bastion by way of which they’re holding on to some energy. In case their candidate loses as president, they’ll lose their authority over the SGPC and will probably be just like the final nail of their coffin,” an SGPC member informed ThePrint on situation of anonymity.
(Edited by Uttara Ramaswamy)
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