The author delineates the genesis of the Global Sikh Council and its determination to resolve Panthic issues through dialogue, discussion and debate.

Locally, countrywide and globally, forums are being formed to rediscover the sheen and glory of Sikhism, appearing to be lost or losing to pressures of time, inept Sikh leadership, interference of Brahmanism, a materialist hold on an otherwise socially aware community and of course the after effects of losing the Sikh kingdom more than a century ago.

The Global Sikh Council formed in the early years of the new century aims to enjoin socially committed, politically aware and religiously devout Sikhs across the continents in a sincere effort to resolve the internal conflicts and external challenges facing the community worldwide.

Instead of getting agitated over the various concerns and starting a tug of war between organisations, the Global Sikh Council is committed to follow the path of Guru Nanak in resolving disputes through discussion, dialogue and debate in search of truth and truth alone.

“The Global Sikh Council (GSC) was formed in 2014 as a result of concerns felt by diaspora Sikhs over the mushrooming of various deras run by sants and babas, who mislead gullible Sikhs to follow distorted versions of our Gurus’ teachings.”

Punjab is no different from the rest of India when it comes to corruption, nepotism and gross financial mismanagement by politicians and political parties. From India’s growth engine to a lagging state with ever mounting debts, Punjab’s is a sad story. Smaller states like Haryana carved out of Punjab in 1966 have done better and are maintaining a stable growth rate. Most people believe that the plight of Punjab is entirely due to the misgovernance in the last 25 years. The Congress has ruled this state for 19 and the Shiromani Akali Dal for 22 years after independence.

The widespread corruption and misgovernance did not limit itself to the administration of the state; it also affected the socio-religious structure of this thinly Sikh majority state. The SGPC also termed as the Sikh Parliament was constituted in 1925 for the management of Gurdwaras in Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh. However owing to massive funds at its disposal, the SGPC became a tool in the hands of Akali Dal whose monetary power comes through the control of SGPC and its vast resources. Factionalism and feudal power plays have reduced the SGPC to a citadel of corruption and  it even played out in public like in 1999 during the 300 year celebrations of the Khalsa Panth.

Few among the Sikh intelligentsia within the country and abroad raised their voice against this blatant violation of all norms. Frankly, most Sikhs do not care much for the SGPC elections or who governs it. They visit the Gurdwara because of their faith, and are not politically aware as they should be and as Guru Sahib asked them to. They rather want to believe that the SGPC uses their dasvandh – contribution of one-tenth of their earnings as per Sikh tradition – for the cause of the community. Yet Sikhs across the world sensed that SGPC was being remote-controlled by forces working against the ethos of Sikhism. While the voices grew louder, the Sikh diaspora started to get organized against this mismanagement only to be met with challenges from forces within Punjab and back home that started infiltrating any effort to question the SGPC or its style of functioning.

“Instead of getting agitated over the various concerns and starting a tug of war between organisations, the Global Sikh Council is committed to follow the path of Guru Nanak in resolving disputes through discussion, dialogue and debate in search of truth and truth alone.”

The collapse of World Sikh Council in 2005 at the hands of powers that be in New Delhi and Punjab is one such example. The World Sikh Council operated as a parent organization to multiple regional branches covering various parts of the world. With collapse of the parent organization, all other regional branches wound up except for the American Region, which continued its functioning beyond 2005. They initiated serious efforts in 2008, to organize a worldwide Sikh organization, a replacement body to World Sikh Council. Kuldip Singh of Toledo, Ohio was requested to head this operation. In 2012 Gulbarg Singh Basi of Atlanta, US got involved in this effort and with his persistent efforts and support from Bawa Singh Jagdev of Australia, the first meeting of National level Sikh Organizations from different countries was hosted by National Sikh Council of Australia in Sydney on Feb 28 – March 2, 2014. Representatives from Australia, Thailand, UK and US attended the meeting and initiated the establishment of Global Sikh Council with basic understanding of the structure and Vision, Mission, goals, and objectives.

The next meeting was held on July 31 – August 2, 2015 in London UK. By this time the Global Sikh Council had six national level Sikh organizations, one each, from Australia, Canada, Malaysia, Pakistan, UK, and US as the founding members. The representatives from current and potential member organizations formally approved the GSC Constitution and selected an ad-hoc committee consisting of Gulbarg Singh Basi of US as President, Lady Kanwaljit Kaur of UK as Vice President, Gurdeep Singh Kundan of Switzerland as Secretary, Harcharan Singh of Malaysia as Treasurer and Jatinder Singh Uppal of Thailand as Incharge Media and Public Relations.

The first official meeting of the GSC was held in Paris, France on March 18-20, 2016.  By this time national level Sikh organizations from India and Dubai had already joined GSC. Then, GSC started to discuss the issues facing the worldwide Sikh community. Gurdial Singh of France had invited a large number of active Sikh community members from various other countries. Many an important resolutions were passed keeping in line with the motto of “One Granth, One Panth” and stressing the universal implementation of the Nanakshahi Calendar of 2003 in addition to initiating efforts on projects like developing bilingual Sikh Parcharaks. National level Sikh organizations from France, Germany, Italy, Kenya, Portugal, Spain, and Switzerland joined the GSC. The Global Sikh Council had a good ground by the end of this meeting.

The Global Sikh Council (GSC) was formed in 2014 as a result of concerns felt by diaspora Sikhs over the mushrooming of various deras run by sants and babas, who mislead gullible Sikhs to follow distorted versions of our Gurus’ teachings.

GSC is a worldwide Sikh organisation with membership of national level Sikh organisations from around the world. No self appointed leaders or an agent of any political party, religious clergy or governmental agency can be a member of GSC. It’s representatives are selected by the member organisations to form the General Body of the Global Sikh Council. The member representatives in turn select the Board, and the Executive Committee.

The Constitution of the GSC requires members to be true to the Gurus’ teachings, contained in the Guru Granth Sahib, and promote the very unifying final order of Guru Gobind Singh, ‘Sabh Sikhan ko hukam hai, Guru Manio Granth’. GSC believes that Guru Granth Sahib is the only Guru of the Sikhs and strictly no other scriptures should be placed parallel to the Guru Granth Sahib in any gurdwaras or any Sikh events wherever or whenever these might happen in any part of the world. Rehat Maryada states, ‘No other book should be afforded the same reverence as the Guru Granth Sahib.’

The Global Sikh Council also believes that the Sikh Rehat Maryada published in 1945 by the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee is the code of conduct to be followed by Sikhs in their daily life. GSC promotes the general guidance of the 1945 Rehat Maryada in bringing the Sikh teachings contained in the Guru Granth Sahib into our daily life.

The 2017 Conference and AGM of Global Sikh Council was held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on March 24-26, 2017. The Malaysia Gurdwara Council under the leadership of Jagir Singh organized and hosted this three-day meet. The conference addressed issues such as Continued Distortion of Sikhi message, The SGPC its actual and assumed role, history, authority and subjugation of Jathedars, Sikhi going forward, streamlining Gurmat education, Sikhism and its propagation as a future world religion.

Presently the following members serve on the 2017 Executive Committee: Lady Kanwaljit Kaur of UK as President, Ajmer Singh of Australia as Vice President,  Gurdeep Singh Kundan of Switzerland as Secretary, Harcharan Singh of Malaysia as Asst. Secretary/Treasurer and Gurpreet Singh of India as Media and Public Relations Incharge.

Undoubtedly, GSC has a long way to go. As a whole gamut of religious, social, economic and political issues confront the community and the task seems a daunting one as forces inimical to the community are far too strong, yet the struggle must go on and the results will follow. “Nischay Kar Apni Jeet Karo”.