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Vedanti ousted in
Badalshahi style; Will the
saga ever end?
Community must think through the institution’s role, privileges and
prestige
Kalam Nishan Singh
AMRITSAR: In
typical Badalshahi style of politics, Akal Takht Jathedar Joginder
Singh Vedanti on Monday night was forced to resign from his post,
his resignation collected in person by two Badal loyalists from his
residence in Amritsar who landed up with the Shahi Farman: Quit
citing health grounds or we sack you tomorrow. The head of the
highest temporal seat of the Sikhs, Jugo Jug Atal Sri Akal Takht
Sahib, buckled within minutes, scribbled his resignation, and
expressed helplessness.
Tuesday morning
in Kurukshetra, SGPC president Avtar Singh Makkar read out the
resignation with a straight face at a meeting of the executive
members of the SGPC, and anointed Darbar Sahib head granthi Giani
Gurbachan Singh as the acting Jathedar of the Akal Takht.
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With Vedanti’s
ouster, the sad tradition of Akal Takht jathedars being eased out in
sorry circumstances continues, thus underlining the prevalent
feeling in the community that the political leadership is adamant on
using, abusing and then discarding religious domain and clergy to
further its own interests and hold on polity and panth. |
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Speculation
abounded as to what triggered the avalanche for Vedanti. His mild
praise of Manmohan Singh? His participation in a radicals’ function
in Canada?
His refusal to tow the soft line on Dera Sacha Sauda? The edict
against the RSS?
“Sukhdev Singh
Bhaur (SGPC general secretary) and Rajinder Singh Mehta (executive
member) came to my place on Monday night and asked me to resign.
They said they had orders from above. What could I have done?”
Vedanti told reporters. Even at this stage, he chose not to open up
the debate on sackings and appointments of jathedars.
Punjab CM and
Akali supremo Parkash Singh Badal was a figure of innocence
personified. “It is an SGPC matter, I do not interfere in this,” he
said. Sukhbir Singh Badal, whose party has a brute majority in the
185-member SGPC general house (elections are fought on party symbol)
said he has nothing to do with it. “May be you can ask Makkar. He is
the SGPC president,” Sukhbir said by way of being helpful.
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Giani Gurbachan
Singh, Acting Jathedar
(Acting on whose behalf?) |
The
community however continues to feel helpless. Akali Dal leaders
privately said in case of any refusal of Vedanti to resign, he would
have been sacked on Tuesday. It was this fate that Vedanti wanted to
avoid. Questions about Vedanti’s fate repeatedly became the staple
diet for media but the jathedar proved to be a resilient character,
hanging on in the face of charges as serious as bribery when he let
go of a rapist baba lightly who was later sent to 10 years
imprisonment by a court.
On the issue of
Dera Sirsa sadh Gurmeet Ram Rahim, Vedanti’s has been a rather soft
approach, notwithstanding his occasional strong words.
Vedanti’s tenure
at the Akal Takht Sahib began in a tumultuous matrix of panthic
polity and remained as such throughout. He took over in March 2000
when the then SGPC president Bibi Jagir Kaur threw out Giani Puran
Singh from jathedarship overnight. Puran Singh had ex-communicated
fellow jathedars through an edict that Vedanti later nullified.
With Vedanti’s
ouster, the sad tradition of Akal Takht jathedars being eased out in
sorry circumstances continues, thus underlining the prevalent
feeling in the community that the political leadership is adamant on
using, abusing and then discarding religious domain and clergy to
further its own interests and hold on polity and panth. Earlier,
Prof Manjit Singh was sacked citing charges of moral turpitude, Bhai
Ranjit Singh was kicked out as part of the Badal-Tohra turf war,
Puran Singh shunted after tiff with Bibi Jagir Kaur and now Vedanti
asked to resign with a “right-now-or-we-sack-you” spouting men at
his door step.
 It is surprising
that Vedanti did not say why he did not resist the two men, Bhaur
and Mehta, and why he did not rather prefer to be sacked and open up
the entire debate before the Sikh community on the issue of role and
privileges of jathedars. After all, history is witness to great men
choosing to be sacked rather than meekly write out resignations, and
vedanti would be well aware of the great example set bu Lord Wavell,
predecessor of Lord Mountbatten, who did not succumb to holding on
to false prestige by resigning and forced the Crown to sack him,
leaving it to history to judge him.
Sackings and
removals of Akal Takht jathedars have been leading to divides
between various strains of Sikh community and demands for
codification of the Jathedars’ powers, privileges and role have been
made repeatedly in the recent past. The Sikh community often recalls
the glorious stories from the era of Nawab Kapur Singh, Jassa Singh,
Akali Phula Singh with nostalgia but has little hopes of such
greatness from among the new crop of clerics.
There was much
speculation in the run up to the vote of confidence for the Manmohan
Singh government and many sections claimed that Vedanti wanted to
issue an appeal in favour of the Sikh premier but was talked out of
it. Vedanti had nevertheless said that he and all Sikhs were proud
of Dr Manmohan Singh but a hukamnama cannot be issued on a political
issue.
While the truth
about what proved to be the last straw is now likely to remain in
doubt, the Akal Takht jathedar’s tenure will have a mixed
assessment.
Fever-pitched
demands for Vedanti’s removal continued throughout his tenure. His
skirmishes with the Spokesman newspaper editor also kept him in the
news. Recently, he got into an ugly turf war with fellow Jathedar of
Takht Patna Sahib Giani Iqbal Singh on the issue of supremacy and
Nanakshahi calendar. The issue of Vedanti’s de facto private
assistant Pritpal Singh, who is his close relative, marred his
tenure throughout.
Vedanti’s
relationship with the influential Sant Samaj also remained less than
smooth.
More often than
not, pliability and notions of political loyalty to dominant
political denomination have been seen as key criteria for the job.
Akal Takht jathedars are appointed by the SGPC executive committee
and qualifications and privileges exist in the realm of the grey.
On the positive
side, Vedanti had issued an open appeal asking the Akali leadership
and the Sikh sangat to work for the release of death row convict
Devinderpal Singh Bhullar, had issued a hard hitting hukumnama
against the RSS and advocated against summoning serving and former
jathedars before the Akal Takht.
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Jathedar-designate Giani Gurbachan Singh
Newly anointed acting Jathedar of Akal Takht, Giani
Gurbachan Singh, will be installed formally at a coronation
ceremony on August 7 at 10 am India time at the top temporal
seat. Giani Gurbachan Singh, currently on a year-long
extension after his retirement, joined as an employee of the
SGPC in 1972, rising to become a Granthi at Sri Darbar Sahib
in 1996 and head granthi in 2002. The 1948-born cleric hails
from Muktsar and has two sons and two daughters. One of his
sons, Manjinder Singh Bittu is a circle president of Akali
Dal (Muktsar). He is a product of the seminary of Giani
Gurbachan Singh Khalsa Bindranwale's disciple Bhai Ram Singh
Khalsa. |
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6 August, 2008
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