With the Delhi As­sem­bly elec­tions just two days away, it can eas­ily be said that the es­tab­lished Sikh lead­er­ship has, this time around, let down the Sikh masses in Delhi, fail­ing to field can­di­dates and build their say in the cap­i­tal city of In­dia with the Sikh par­tic­i­pa­tion in the Delhi As­sem­bly elec­tions at its low­est ebb.

THE AKALI LEAD­ER­SHIP, WHICH MAN­AGES THE DS­GMC -Delhi Sikh Gur­d­wara Man­age­ment Com­mit­tee has failed to give any di­rec­tion to the Sikh masses, es­pe­cially in ar­eas where Sikhs are in large num­bers where Sikhs look up to Sikh lead­ers.

Af­ter his brash out­burst of not con­test­ing elec­tions on the ground of op­po­si­tion to CAA, mav­er­ick leg­is­la­tor and DS­GMC Pres­i­dent Man­jin­der Singh Sirsa did a dras­tic turn­around on the dik­tat of his party and is now seen cam­paign­ing for BJP can­di­dates all across the city-state of Delhi.

The lies of the Akali Dal are out of the bag. They held a pub­lic pos­ture that they are not con­test­ing be­cause they want Mus­lims to be in­cluded as ben­e­fi­cia­ries in the CAA.  The truth is far from this.

All along the Akali Dal has been har­bour­ing the de­sire of con­test­ing elec­tions in Delhi and Haryana on its own sym­bol and cre­ate a foothold among Sikhs in these states. How­ever, this time around, know­ing that pub­lic sen­ti­ment is against them, over three days, they bar­gained with the BJP lead­er­ship that they would con­test on the BJP sym­bol so that they would get non-Sikh votes and the Sikh vote, even if small in num­ber, would get mar­gin­alised. Ob­vi­ously, this pro­posal bar­gained by Prem Singh Chan­du­ma­jra and oth­ers of the sec­ond-rung from Pun­jab was turned down by the BJP lead­er­ship.  So much for Sikh in­ter­ests!

The Shi­ro­mani Akali Dal has toed the BJP line. The Jago Dal went to sleep be­fore it could arise. The Tak­sali Akali Dal is on a swing, not know­ing what to do. The Delhi Akali Dal is silent.”

The Jaago Dal of Man­jit Singh GK went to sleep be­fore it could arise.  Though he put up a brave face in the wake of his in­glo­ri­ous ouster from the Shi­ro­mani Akali Dal in a man­i­cured ma­noeu­vre by Sukhbir Singh Badal and Man­jin­der Singh Sirsa, he has now de­cided to join them in sup­port­ing the Bharatiya Janata Party in the Delhi As­sem­bly elec­tions along with them.  He will again start his anti-Badal rhetoric soon af­ter the elec­tions with an eye on the Sikh vote for the DS­GMC elec­tions in the near fu­ture.

The Tak­sali Akali Dal led by Ran­jit Singh Brahm­pura is on a swing, not know­ing what to do. They see a non-Tak­sali Navjot Singh Sidhu as their next leader of Pun­jab. Through their si­lence, they have ac­knowl­edged their lack of pres­ence in Delhi and also their im­po­tence in ral­ly­ing Sikhs around them.

Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa lost an op­por­tu­nity to emerge as an al­ter­na­tive leader by hold­ing the sphere in the Delhi As­sem­bly elec­tions. He just man­aged to save his skin as he came too close to sup­port­ing the BJP, but at the last-minute bet­ter sense pre­vailed.

The Delhi Akali Dal leader Paramjit Singh Sarna has been wooed by the BJP and AAP dur­ing the Delhi polls. Known for his Pan­thic stance, de­spite his close affin­ity to the non-BJP po­lit­i­cal par­ties in Delhi, this time around, he has de­cided to give the Delhi As­sem­bly elec­tions a miss.

Even those well-in­ten­tioned Sikhs, who at­tempted to emerge as al­ter­na­tive lead­er­ship at the Gur­d­wara and Sikh in­sti­tu­tions man­age­ment lev­els have not made any noise dur­ing the Delhi As­sem­bly elec­tions.

Un­doubt­edly, new lead­er­ship will emerge in this vac­uum. How­ever, when the DS­GMC elec­tions come, Sikhs in Delhi will have to buckle up and stand up to the lead­ers who have now left them in the lurch -lead­er­less and clue­less.