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RED RAG: A Non-Sikh Is Gurdwara
Election Commissioner, SGPC angry
Mansukh Kaur
 AMRITSAR:
In keeping with its persistent anti-Sikh stance, the Indian
government has appointed a non-Sikh officer as Chief Gurdwara
Election Commissioner, raising the hackles of the community and once
again underlining that an agenda is underway to keep Sikh community
leadership embroiled in struggles and agitations that sap its
energies and keep it marginalized.
J.C. Verma, as
Chief Gurdwara Election Commissioner, will exercise powers under
Section 47-A of the Sikh Gurdwara Act, 1925 for superintendence,
direction and control of elections of members of the SGPC.
Governments are
always careful in selection of a people to manage any forum or
commission entrusted with the administration of religious affairs of
Sikhs. In Jammu and Kashmir, there is a special clause that says if
the governor happens to be a non-Hindu, then he will not be heading
the Amarnath Yatra committee. It beats any sensible person why the
Government would chose a high caste Hindu official to manage the
affairs related to SGPC and gurdwara elections, irrespective of any
debate on the merits or otherwise of the chosen official.
Traditionally,
the post has always been held not just by a Sikh but one who is
conversant with Sikh maryada, tenets, issues and concerns that come
up from time to time like those pertaining to “patit” and
“non-Patit” Sikhs and their voting rights, etc.
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The govt
was to chose from a panel of seven names recommended by the
Chief Justice of the Punjab and Haryana High Court. Of the five
Sikhs and two non-Sikhs, it chose a Verma. |
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Now, the
Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC), has rightly told the
Centre to buzz off and change the decision. It has written to the
Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, Union Home Minister P.
Chidambaram and National Commission for Minorities Chairman Mohammad
Shafi Qureshi, seeking immediate removal of Commissioner J.C. Verma.
On his part,
Verma too should have been more circumspect about his position and
tenability of it. Instead, he seems to be part of the problem rather
than an inadvertent and unintended victim of the controversy since
he lost no time in going ahead and assuming charge of his position
in
Chandigarh
on Friday. The post had been lying vacant for nearly the past four
years after Justice J.S. Sekhon (retd) relinquished charge.
The elections to
SGPC are due now and any appointment can be significance to the
situation. Clearly, many Sikh bodies, including the SGPC, will find
it difficult to cooperate with Verma. A non-Sikh has never been
appointed to the post in the past.
The controversy
has all the makings of being blown into a full scale row between
Akali Dal, SGPC, and other panthic bodies at one end and the Central
government and Congress on the other. Some sections of the community
see the move as a crude attempt by the Congress to establish a
foothold in the SGPC.
While SGPC
President Avtar Singh Makkar has announced that the Sikhs will not
accept a non-Sikh as head of the commission, Dalmegh Singh,
Secretary of the SGPC has written to the Prime Minister pointing out
the unacceptability of Justice Verma as it was not only against the
past “precedence”, but was also unabashed towards the sentiments of
the Sikhs.
The SGPC has
pointed out that out of a panel of seven names recommended by the
Chief Justice of the Punjab and Haryana High Court five were Sikhs
and two non-Sikhs, but without caring for the Sikh sentiment, all
Sikh judges were ignored.
A letter from
the SGPC to the Prime Minister said, “While the government can
appoint any of those included in the panel as the Chief Commissioner
(by the Chief Justice) and there is no question as to the competence
and ability of any one included in the panel, yet considering the
nature of the work and responsibilities, by convention only a Sikh
has been appointed to this office”.
The seven member
panel included Justices Harphool Singh Brar, K.S Grewal, Iqbal
Singh, S.S Grewal, Nirmal Singh, K.C Gupta and JC Verma.
7
October 2009
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