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Sikh History Research Board
Director Anurag Singh resigns
Remains Defiant, Says His Definition Was Right; Holds Entire
Executive Guilty
Sach Kanwal Singh
AMRITSAR: Following
a complete exposé of the sinister move by some vested interests
entrenched inside the SGPC to open the floodgates of Sikhism by
submitting a corrupted definition of Sehajdhari Sikh the Punjab and
Haryana High Court, Sikh History Research Board Director Anurag
Singh has resigned.
Anurag Singh, who was on the panel of seven-experts chosen by
the SGPC president Avtar Singh Makkar, had refused to sign the
formulation while all others had done so. It was he who had drafted
the problematic definition of Sehajdhari and ensured that it was
passed by the SGPC Executive Committee on December 3 even though the
experts’ committee on November 26 had unanimously decided a
definition acceptable to the panth and in keeping with the earlier
SGPC resolutions.
But even after his resignation, which came in the form of a
peeved letter of long leave – in the style of accept it as my
resignation if you do not agree with my definition – still
continues to be defiant. Known for his closeness to Makkar, Anurag
Singh wrote a four-page confidential note to the SGPC president
claiming the affidavit submitted in the High Court was in consonance
with the December 3 executive Resolution.
This claim of Anurag Singh does hold some water because it
was he and the Mattewals father and son duo which was prevailing
from behind the curtains to get the Executive Committee to pass this
formulation which allowed a Sehajdhari to keep cutting his hair all
his life. What Anurag Singh is not telling is that the November 26
meeting had recommended something different, and the experts were
called again for a meeting on December 4 when they raised objections
to the December 3 formulation. It was on December 4 that Anurag
Singh refused to sign a version signed by all others.
As a result, he and his pals, Mattewal father-and-son duo,
ensured that the controversial definition was submitted before the
High Court.
Anurag Singh has now held the entire SGPC Executive Committee
as being responsible for submitting this objectionable definition in
the High Court. At one stage, he tried to dispute that he has
actually resigned and claimed he had only gone on long leave but
since his leave application said it be accepted as his resignation
if the SGPC did not accept his version of the Sehajdhari definition,
SGPC president Makkar had little choice but to see the back of his
handpicked scholar.
“Anurag Singh is now trying to meet Sukhbir Singh Badal where
he will convince him that efforts to change the definition of
Sehajdhari Sikh were meant to moderate the orthodox elements, and
fitted in with the Akali Dal agenda of secularizing the Sikh shrine
management and opening the traditional Akali vote bank. Also, he is
finding support from the father-son duo of Mattewals. Surprisingly,
Parliamentary Secretary Harish Dhanda is also backing him though he
has no connection with SGPC,” top SGPC sources said.
WSN sources said Makkar had come under fire even at a secret
meeting at the Mata Gujri College in Fatehgarh Sahib on December 25
where many senior Akali Dal leaders and SGPC members wanted to know
from where has he found this “scholar”?
Anurag Singh has now claimed in his letter that since
Rajinder Singh Mehta was one of the people who attended the
Executive Committee meeting and even moved an amendment, he cannot
be part of a three-member panel which is probing the issue to fix
responsibility as to who messed up and submitted a wrong definition
to the High Court. Makkar however has made clear that the
embarrassment that Anurag Singh has brought to his office as well as
the SGPC and the Akali Dal was too much to digest and has asked him
sternly to “For God’s Sake, Go”.
In a bid to sound very righteous and hurt, Anurag Singh tried
to project himself as someone wedded to the high principles than all
other experts, SGPC members and broad spectrum Sikh organizations
like Sant Samaj, Damdami Taksal, DSGMC, Chief Khalsa Diwan, Nihang
bodies, Akali factions.
“I may state that if the SGPC would like to uphold the truth,
I will prove (all my contentions) and if the SGPC has opted to come
under political pressure, treat this letter as my resignation
because religious ethics defined by Sikh Gurus cannot be changed by
political pressures. Please convey your decision as I am proceeding
on leave,” he wrote in his letter, but by that time the panth had
seen through the game being directed by RSS-BJP-Radha Soami
interests in the Akali Dal and had sounded the alarm, leaving Anurag
Singh with little ground to stay on.
Epilogue
As the SGPC and the Sikh History Research Board said good
riddance to him, the probe committee of three experts has still to
start work. Till January 1, it had not even met once, by which time
SGPC secretary Harbeant Singh through whom the SGPC had submitted
the affidavit in the High Court had already retired after serving
his extension period.
At one stage there was an attempt to make Harbeant the
scapegoat but Anurag and the Mattewals proved too clever by half and
got exposed.
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Questions that Anurag Singh Owes Answers To:
1. Why did
he not sign the unanimously agreed formulation on Dec 4?
2. What
motivated him to circulate the two-para note on Nov 26 which had
seeds of the controversy inbuilt?
3. What
are his qualifications to head the Sikh History Research Board? |
Anurag, a day after being shown the door, said it was only
his letter for long leave and not a resignation though he admitted
that he wrote that if his version of Sehajdhari definition was
unacceptable, then it should be treated as resignation.
Further, Anurag, who was on deputation to the SGPC from the
Punjab and
Sindh Bank, has already gone back and joined it again.
However, real culprits behind the episode, Punjab AG Hardev
Singh Mattewal and his son Pavit Mattewal, himself a patit Sikh who
is a clean shaven and officially a Legal Advisor to Punjab CM
Parkash Singh Badal, are still being saved by Akali brass.
The World Sikh News, which led the coverage of the Sehajdhari
imbroglio from the front, had brought out how Anurag had distributed
an unsigned two paragraph note during the Nov 26 meeting of experts
panel suggesting that “there is no statutory requirement … for a
Sehajdhari Sikh to keep unshorn hair.”
Throughout the row, Anurag blatantly, and HS Mattewal behind
the scenes, pushed for the line that a Sehajdhari Sikh does not
necessarily have to be Keshadhari Sikh. Anurag’s stance was that a
Sehajdhari Sikh can take an indefinite time before becoming a
Keshadhari Sikh, and only when he becomes a Keshadhari, he should
not cut his hair.
Anurag had refused to sign the unanimously agreed upon
definition on December 4 and had later questioned the experts’
wisdom saying, “What do these experts know? They know nothing…As for
December 4 meeting, it was only called so that the experts can
understand things, but obviously they have not understood anything.”
Now, one is
still not very sure whether Anurag Singh himself has understood any
or whether he has resigned merely to sulk. On his part, Makkar said
the three member committee set up to probe and fix responsibility
for filing the wrong affidavit was still to submit its report and a
decision on the resignation will only be taken after that.
30 December
2008
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