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Badal Akali Dal's
two Constitutions may land it in serious trouble
WSN Network
 HOSHIARPUR/AMRITSAR:
Punjab's ruling Shiromani Akali Dal led by its patron and CM Prakash
Singh Badal and his party president son Sukhbir Singh Badal is in
caught in a cleft stick of its own making: it contrived two
Constitutions of the party to suit its two faces but was caught by
an alert social activist Balwant Singh Khera of Malta Boat Tragedy
justice seeker fame.
The Akali Dal
always presented itself as a religious party but when it saw the
Indian Election Commission guidelines as a hurdle for a panthic
party to fight elections, it surreptitiously changed its
Constitution and submitted a copy to the EC.
But as far as
the gurdwara elections were concerned, the clever by half spin
doctors of Badal messed up and tried to muddle their way through by
sticking to the old Constitution.
Now, Khera has
taken them to the cleaners, and the much chagrined Akali Dal
apologists are looking for a way out of the legal wrangle that has
landed them in courts.
This past week
saw more support coming Khera's way with the SGPC member and former
minister in the Badal government Manjit Singh Calcutta alleging that
the ruling party has indeed submitted separate constitutions to the
Gurdwara Election Commission and the Election Commission of India.
In a letter to
the Chief Gurdwara Election Commissioner,
Calcutta
has stated that SGPC elections are contested by the Badal group on
their party symbol. He has pointed out that the Constitution does
not allow any religious party to contest for political posts and
vice-versa. In order to circumvent this, during the last gurdwara
elections Akali Dal (B) put forward two constitutions of their
party.
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The Akali Dal always posed as a religious party but when it saw
the Indian Election Commission guidelines as a hurdle for a
panthic party to fight elections, it surreptitiously changed its
Constitution and submitted a copy to the EC. For the sake of
SGPC polls, it retained the older statute. |
“The original
constitution as a ‘panthic’ party was given to the Gurdwara Election
Commission and another amended version (which has never been
publicised), to prove their party as non-religious and secular, to
the Election Commission of India. In this context, a petition has
been filed by Balwant Singh Khera and a notice been served for
clarification,” Calcutta has written.
“It must be
cleared now whether Akali Dal (B) is a religious/panthic party or a
secular party because the latter, which includes people of different
denominations, cannot be allowed to contest election of a particular
religious group,” he has added. Calcutta has further stated that no
official of the Punjab Government should be assigned the duty of
conducting the gurdwara elections
The Dal Khalsa
too has turned the heat on the Shiromani Akali Dal and has
submitted a written complaint to the Gurdwara Commission. Dal Khalsa
president H.S. Dhami said the Commission would be requested to bar
SAD from contesting SGPC elections if it was found to have claimed
itself to be a secular party in the Constitution submitted to the
Chief Election Commission, in contrast to what it had submitted to
the Sikh Gurdwara Commission.
He alleged that
SAD had been deceiving both the Commissions all these years.
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Panthic Assembly on December 3
Dal Khalsa
has convened a "Panthic Assembly" at Jalandhar on December 3 to
evaluate the performance of SGPC and discuss issues like framing
of norms for appointment and removal of Akal Takht Jathedars,
raising a memorial for 1984 martyrs and Vatican like status for
Amritsar. Dal Khalsa also wanted an amendment to the Sikh
Gurdwara Act 1925 to make elections mandatory every five years.
Party
presifdnet H S Dhami said during the course of last five years,
the SGPC has passed many resolutions and taken many decisions on
vital issues. “We will discuss and debate how much have been
implemented and how much have been put in the cold storage under
pressure or for some other reasons”. |
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25
November 2009
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