DS­GMC Pres­i­dent Man­jit Singh GK has tem­porar­ily put in his pa­pers and handed over the reins to se­nior vice-pres­i­dent Harmeet Singh Kalka cit­ing per­sonal rea­sons. This comes as an­other blow to the Badal Akali Dal.

Com­ing on the heels of the shake up within the Akali Dal Badal higher ech­e­lons as a re­sult of the mam­moth re­sponse of the peo­ple of Pun­jab to the is­sue of sac­ri­lege at the Bar­gari Mor­cha, the Delhi Sikh Gur­d­wara Man­age­ment Com­mit­tee Pres­i­dent Man­jit Singh GK has asked his Se­nior Vice Pres­i­dent Harmeet Singh Kalka to of­fi­ci­ate as Pres­i­dent. 

Though the news of his “res­ig­na­tion” has emerged to­day, he handed over the reins on 5 Oc­to­ber it­self.  Ap­par­ently, the se­nior lead­er­ship of the Shi­ro­mani Akali Dal Badal did not get time to do dam­age con­trol, is it a cal­cu­lated move for cake-walk for DS­GMC Gen­eral Sec­re­tary Man­jin­der Singh Sirsa to be made the Pres­i­dent, as the “truce” be­tween the two may have come to an end. 

“I am tak­ing time off for per­sonal rea­sons.”

Man­jit Singh GK, DS­GMC Pres­i­dent

Stir­ring the al­ready dis­turbed wa­ters of the Badal Dal, the DS­GMC chief could not stand scrutiny of in­ter­view­ers when ques­tioned about the rea­sons for his tem­po­rary hol­i­day, though, he said, “I am tak­ing time off for per­sonal rea­sons.”

His per­sonal ad­vi­sor, Par­min­der­pal Singh has said that he was very up­set over the man­ner in which his par­ent party Akal Dal Badal has han­dled the Guru Granth Sahib sac­ri­lege is­sues in the Pun­jab.

This un­prece­dented but un­ex­pected move has started the spec­u­la­tion game in the cor­ri­dors of power in the Delhi Sikh lead­er­ship cir­cles. Man­jit Singh GK’s bête noire Gurmeet Singh Shanty,  who is also a mem­ber of the DS­GMC, at a hur­riedly con­vened press meet at his res­i­dence has as­serted that, “The regime of Man­jit Singh GK at the DS­GMC has been the hotbed of cor­rup­tion and that he has chal­lenged him on many counts of cor­rup­tion.” At the press meet Gurmeet Singh Shanty has placed be­fore the me­dia a num­ber of doc­u­ments re­lat­ing to malfea­sance and mis­ap­pro­pri­a­tion of funds in a print­ing con­tract and has held Man­jit Singh re­spon­si­ble for this.

On the other hand, the Sarna broth­ers, es­pe­cially Harvin­der Singh Sarna has said, “This is a move to bar­gain with the Badal Dal lead­er­ship and their al­lies BJP to gar­ner sym­pa­thy and lobby for can­di­da­ture for the Lower House of In­dian Par­lia­ment, the Lok Sabha, from one of the Delhi con­stituen­cies.

“With Sikh ac­tivists very ac­tive on so­cial me­dia, it is now im­pos­si­ble to brush every­thing un­der the car­pet. With the Right to in­for­ma­tion ap­plic­a­ble on DS­GMC, many more skele­tons are likely to tum­ble out.”

Speak­ing to a sec­tion of the me­dia, which has man­aged to reach him, Man­jit Singh GK raised ques­tions about the par­don by the Jathedar Akal Takht Gi­ani Gur­bachan Singh to the Sauda Sirsa chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim. This is a com­plete 360 de­gree turn from his ear­lier stand wherein he was the one, who along with his DS­GMC team flew to Am­rit­sar to con­grat­u­late the Akal Takht Jathedar for the par­don.

Since the one-to-one clash with vol­un­teers of the Sikhs for Jus­tice in the United States, Man­jit Singh GK has not been his old self. Sig­nif­i­cantly, the gen­eral sec­re­tary of the DS­GMC, Man­jin­der Singh Sirsa, who is vo­cal even when not re­quired, is also un­usu­ally quiet.

The im­age of po­lice in­side the precincts of Gur­d­wara Rak­ab­ganj, or­dered by Man­jit Singh GK has grossly dam­aged his rep­u­ta­tion as a Sikh leader in Delhi. He did this as he wanted to start re­con­struc­tion of the his­toric Gur­d­wara with­out con­sul­ta­tion within the DS­GMC or with the San­gat -the Sikh con­gre­ga­tion. Con­cerned ac­tivists were able to stop it and the mat­ter is in abeyance, but for how long will it re­main so would de­pend upon the alert­ness of the ac­tivists.

The run­ning of in­sti­tu­tions which are part of the DS­GMC has al­ways re­mained a ques­tion­able fea­ture of the work­ing of the DS­GMC, who­ever has been in power. With the growth and im­pact of so­cial me­dia, it is now im­pos­si­ble to brush every­thing un­der the car­pet. With the Right to in­for­ma­tion ap­plic­a­ble on DS­GMC, many more old and new skele­tons are likely to tum­ble out in the fu­ture.

Given the pre­sent state of af­fairs of the Badal Akali Dal, is neme­sis catch­ing up with Man­jit Singh or is his con­science prick­ing very hard be­cause he has as­so­ci­ated with his party for all the wrong rea­sons?

 If you like our sto­ries, do fol­low WSN on Face­book.