Former President of the DSGMC, former Delhi MLA of the BJP-SAD, newly-accepted member of the BJP, covert friend of the Indian Home Minister and all things BJP, the new confidence-trickster and fraudster of the Sikhs and scamster of DSGMC funds, as many cases of misappropriation pending in courts –Manjinder Singh Sirsa has thrown another challenge to the Sikhs in Delhi and the community at large by reinducting himself as the President of the DSGMC through sheer force of his newly-found powers. WSN editor Jagmohan Singh argues that Sikhs must accept the challenge head-on and defeat his nefarious designs and send him packing -lock, stock and barrel.

ON THE FIRST DAY OF TWENTY-TWENTY-TWO, India’s ruling right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party took the first step towards embroiling the apex Sikh body in Delhi -the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee into a legal imbroglio courtesy of the pernicious machinations of Manjinder Singh Sirsa -the self-styled Sikh patriarch -the newly self-anointed messiah of Sikhs in the Indian Diaspora and a new direct entrant to the BJP, albeit his earlier ties are too well-known.

Defeated as a member of the DSGMC in the recently-concluded elections, disqualified to be a nominee of the SGPC after failing a basic Punjabi and Gurbani test, abused the Gurdwara Election Commissioner in public, vowed to foist himself as the President of the DSGMC by hook or by crook, Manjinder Singh Sirsa, a one-time Delhi MLA of the BJP has taken the Sikhs for a royal ride on an ostensibly firm and unassailable saddle provided by the Bharatiya Janata Party. The lesser avatar of the BJP -the Aam Aadmi Party in Delhi is playing the classic spoilsport through its hold over the office of the Gurdwara Election Commission. 

In one stroke of withdrawing his resignation submitted a month ago and storming the offices of the DSGMC at Gurdwara Rakabganj Sahib, through the might of the Z-security cover, recently showered on him by his friend Amit Shah -the Indian Home Minister, Manjinder Singh Sirsa has put the status of DSGMC into jeopardy, put Gurdwara management on the mat and made a laughing stock of the Sikhs in Delhi with his Aaya Ram-Gaya Ram tactics. 

The Badal Dal, who misunderstood Sirsa all this while, or perhaps Sirsa went up the ladder upstaging them, could not have done worse. It resurrected another member who had resigned from the DSGMC -Kulwant Singh Baath, who was Vice-President of the Sirsa-led DSGMC cabinet, resigned and contested elections as the Sarna-led Delhi Akali Dal.  He also “took back his own resignation given to Sirsa” and is now the officiating President of the DSGMC.  For one month, Harmeet Singh Kalka did not accept the resignation of Sirsa, nor did he do anything to ensure acceptance as there seemed to be unclarity in the rules and regulations that govern such situations under the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Act 1971.

A 24 x 7 x 365 active Panthic Watchdog Board monitoring the work of these institutions from a Panthic angle is the need of the hour.

Government authorities of whichever party have made inroads into the working of all Takht Committees and higher institutions of the Sikhs. At the Takht Abchalnagar Hazur Sahib Committee in Nanded, Maharashtra, the Takht Harmandir Ji Patna Sahib Committee in Bihar and now the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee right in the heart of India’s capital Delhi, one can easily see how flagrantly they transgress law, decorum, dignity and Sikh interest.  The working of the Gurdwara regime under the Jammu and Kashmir Gurdwaras and Religious Endowment Act is also under a cloud. As regards the prime apex body -the ubiquitously known Parliament of the Sikhs -Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee -its entire working lacks transparency, direction and resoluteness and reeks of governmental and political party direct and indirect interference at all levels.

In the midst of all this, especially in Delhi, the Sikh Sangat, the Gurdwara Committees, the Sikh non-governmental bodies, the missionary societies, the Kirtan groups, the only bad-mouthing social media warriors, the well-meaning and easily gullible scholars, former bureaucrats and experts who get easily domesticated by the SGPC and DSGMC, et al, are guilty of willy-nilly accepting the present impasse. 

In the midst of all this, especially in Delhi, the Sikh Sangat, the Gurdwara Committees, the Sikh non-governmental bodies, the missionary societies, the Kirtan groups, the only bad-mouthing social media warriors, the well-meaning and easily gullible scholars, former bureaucrats and experts who get easily domesticated by the SGPC and DSGMC, et al, are guilty of willy-nilly accepting the present impasse. 

So, where do we go from here? All forms of democratic and civil protests must be taken up against Manjinder Singh Sirsa and his ilk.  His image must be smashed and the Sikh Sangat of Delhi must not allow him to enter the domain of the DSGMC or any Sikh affairs. It is a litmus test for Sikhs in Delhi and they must pass it and set in motion a new trend of clearing the rut from the Gurdwara Management system. 

So, where do we go from here? All forms of democratic and civil protests must be taken up against Manjinder Singh Sirsa and his ilk.  His image must be smashed and the Sikh Sangat of Delhi must not allow him to enter the domain of the DSGMC or any Sikh affairs. It is a litmus test for Sikhs in Delhi and they must pass it and set in motion a new trend of clearing the rut from the Gurdwara Management system. 

Last but not the least, it is our considered opinion that the working of these institutions can become better if the provisions of their respective Acts and Rules are streamlined according to present times and needs and the anomalies in the Acts are fully redressed.  

A 24 x 7 x 365 active Panthic Watchdog Board monitoring the work of these institutions from a Panthic angle is the need of the hour. WSN is willing to take on the battle -head-on! Any takers?