In a clear vi­o­la­tion of the spirit of ded­i­ca­tion to God and Guru, re­peated ad nau­seam, through Ar­das and pub­lic promises de­liv­ered door to door dur­ing elec­tion­eer­ing and ut­ter dis­re­spect of the man­date of the Sikh San­gat, DS­GMC newly-elected Shi­ro­mani Akali Dal Delhi mem­ber Sukhbir Singh Kalra switched sides to join the Shi­ro­mani Akali Dal Badal. He had de­feated Ravin­der Singh Khu­rana from the Swa­roop Na­gar ward by 121 votes. A rich con­struc­tion builder, the two-time DS­GMC mem­ber, who spewed venom on Face­book against DS­GMC pres­i­dent Man­jin­der Singh Sirsa and the Badal Dal, had no qualms in telling a sec­tion of the me­dia that he was be­com­ing a turn­coat, so that “he could do Sewa and not be a hur­dle to Sewa.” His body lan­guage, though, be­lied his stand and he ap­peared clearly rat­tled at his own stand. WSN ed­i­tor Jag­mo­han Singh analy­ses the painful de­vel­op­ment and pro­poses the tasks ahead.

Barely 5 days have passed since the elec­tion re­sults of the DS­GMC, the oath-tak­ing has not taken place and we have an elected mem­ber Sukhbir Singh Kalra of the Shi­ro­mani Akali Dal Delhi shift­ing stand to be­come a mem­ber of the win­ning side of Sirsa -Shi­ro­mani Akali Dal Badal, as there is no le­gal or moral au­thor­ity bar­ring him or any­one from do­ing so.

As po­lit­i­cal par­ties in Haryana, Ut­tar Pradesh, Bi­har, Ma­ha­rash­tra take away their elected MLAs to un­reach­able places to pro­tect them from be­ing poached by the op­po­si­tion, all 27 Badal Dal mem­bers of the DS­GMC are camp­ing in Hol­i­day Inn Ho­tel in Zi­rakpur, Chandi­garh. Paramjit Singh Sarna-led Shi­ro­mani Akali Dal Delhi, hav­ing faith in their win­ning can­di­dates, did not do so.

At the press con­fer­ence, DS­GMC de­feated mem­ber Man­jin­der Singh Sirsa, DS­GMC pres­i­den­tial can­di­date Harmeet Singh Kalka wel­comed Sukhbir Singh Kalra and shame­lessly raised vic­tory signs as if they had won a bat­tle. 

His­tor­i­cally speak­ing, sadly DS­GMC mem­bers have the du­bi­ous dis­tinc­tion of be­ing turn­coats and the par­ties in­dulging in horse-trad­ing to con­sol­i­date their po­si­tion and to show the op­po­si­tion in poor light. In that sense, this de­vel­op­ment is noth­ing new. 

Ac­cord­ing to in­for­ma­tion gath­ered by WSN, the de­ser­tion of Sukhbir Singh Kalara has pur­port­edly been en­gi­neered by for­mer DS­GMC mem­ber Bha­jan Singh Walia, who was also in Shi­ro­mani Akali Dal Delhi be­fore leav­ing the party.  Speak­ing to the me­dia, Sukhbir Singh Kalra unashamedly said, “More would join.” A few names are al­ready do­ing the rounds.  

His­tor­i­cally speak­ing, sadly DS­GMC mem­bers have the du­bi­ous dis­tinc­tion of be­ing turn­coats and the par­ties in­dulging in horse-trad­ing to con­sol­i­date their po­si­tion and to show the op­po­si­tion in poor light. In that sense, this de­vel­op­ment is noth­ing new. 

Un­der­stand­ably, the Sikh San­gat and the party who was re­spon­si­ble for Sukhbir Singh Kalra’s vic­tory at the polls feel cheated. Kalra is in­com­mu­ni­cado.

 Read also: In Delhi, Badal Dal’s 4 Mus­ke­teers face po­lice ac­tion for in­tim­i­da­tion

 Read also: Delhi San­gat fu­ri­ous at Badal Dal at­tack on Di­rec­tor Gur­d­wara Elec­tions, po­lice files case

Re­li­gious and po­lit­i­cal cir­cles in Delhi are be­wil­dered at the de­vel­op­ment as with a ma­jor­ity of 27 seats, there was no need for Badal Dal to be crafty in so do­ing. Was this to fur­ther con­sol­i­date their own po­si­tion and weaken the Paramjit Singh Sarna-led Shi­ro­mani Akali Dal Delhi? Was it to over­awe those within the Badal Dal, who may have been think­ing about de­sert­ing to the op­po­si­tion to bar­gain for more lever­age in the DS­GMC?

Un­der­stand­ably, the Sikh San­gat and the party who was re­spon­si­ble for Sukhbir Singh Kalra’s vic­tory at the polls feel cheated. Kalra is in­com­mu­ni­cado.

As a runup to the elec­tions, Sukhbir Singh Kalra spared no ef­fort to call Man­jin­der Singh Sirsa names, in one post af­ter an­other on Face­book. He called upon San­gat not to vote for “thieves.”  In his 19 Au­gust post, he said “Pres­i­dent Sirsa has looted San­gat, Gu­rughar and Das­vandh.” In a pic­to­r­ial at­tack, he de­clared Sirsa to be “Go­lak­chor Sirsa.”  

Who are the real thieves? 

The Delhi San­gat has to iden­tify the ‘thieves’ to whichever party or group they be­long to and con­sign them to the dust­bins of his­tory by con­stantly ex­pos­ing their deeds and un­re­lent­ingly pur­su­ing them for ac­count­abil­ity. 

It will be in­ter­est­ing to see how the ex-of­fi­cio mem­bers of DS­GMC -the Jathedars of four Takhts, when they are pre­sent at the co-op­tion meet, will deal with this de­vel­op­ment if at all they deal with it. 

 Read also: What do you know of the Co-op­tion Drama of DS­GMC elec­tions?

The Delhi San­gat has to iden­tify the ‘thieves’ to whichever party or group they be­long to and con­sign them to the dust­bins of his­tory by con­stantly ex­pos­ing their deeds and un­re­lent­ingly pur­su­ing them for ac­count­abil­ity. 

Till we have the elec­tions as the form of elect­ing rep­re­sen­ta­tives of his­toric Gur­d­wara Com­mit­tees, It is also time for vig­or­ously seek­ing change in the pro­vi­sions of the Delhi Sikh Gur­d­waras Man­age­ment Act, to avoid horse­trad­ing and pun­ish such can­di­dates by mak­ing them in­el­i­gi­ble for con­test­ing elec­tions for all times to come.