|
Akali Dal
factions give foundation day a miss
WSN Network
AMRITSAR: Akali
Dal is keeping up with at least one tradition. Like every year, it
preferred to let its own Foundation Day pass off without any
function this year too. There were no reports of any big celebration
organised by any of its factions to mark the day.
Akali Dal, an
offshoot of the Gurdwara Reform Movement, was formed on December 13,
1920, at Akal Takht, Amritsar. The then Akal Takht Jathedar Bhai
Teja Singh Bhuchar convened a Panthic gathering at the Takht and
launched the Akali Dal.
The first
organisational elections were held on January 24, 1921. Bhai Sarmukh
Singh was elected its first Jathedar (president).
In November
1920, representatives of various sections of the Sikh community
formed a 175-member committee called Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak
Committee (SGPC), a religious body dedicated to management of Sikh
shrines. The Akali Dal history is full of divisions and
factionalism.
In 2003,
Shiromani Akali Dal (Badal), then headed by Chief Minister Parkash
Singh Badal and now by Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal,
was the largest faction recognised as SAD (Badal) by the Election
Commission of India. When late SGPC president Gurcharan Singh Tohra
parted ways with Parkash Singh Badal, he formed Sarb Hind Shiromani
Akali Dal, but later his party merged with SAD (Badal). SAD (Panthic)
was formed by former chief minister Capt Amarinder Singh, who later
joined the Congress, while Kuldip Singh Wadala floated SAD
(Democratic) only to merge with SAD (Badal) later. Now, you also
have Akali Dal (1920) led by the likes of Ravi Inder Singh and
Jaswant Singh Mann beside the Akali Dal (Amritsar) of Simranjit
Singh Mann.
16
December 2009
|
Read Also