Once upon a time, there was no Sikh face in the BJP, ex­cept a hand­ful who could be counted on fin­gers out­side Pun­jab. In fact, there was no Sikh face in the Jana Sangh -the pre­cur­sor of the pre­sent-day BJP.  Even the RSS -Rashtriya Swayam­se­wak Sangh had to in­vent Rashtriya Sikh San­gat to pre­fer some Sikhs who could be seen as pro-Sikh, even though they con­tin­ued to en­force RSS agenda. To­day, we have toad­ies like Man­jin­der Singh Sirsa who are go­ing the whole hog to un­der­mine Sikhs, Sikhism, Sikh in­sti­tu­tions at the al­tar of the BJP’s ma­jori­tar­i­an­ism. WSN ed­i­tor Jag­mo­han Singh, while dis­cussing the de­tails of to­day’s meet­ing of Sikh so­cial, re­li­gious and po­lit­i­cal lead­ers with PM Naren­dra Modi warns of the no­to­ri­ety of the meet­ing and its likely sin­is­ter fall­out.

Former DS­GMC Pres­i­dent and now BJP Sikh face -Man­jin­der Singh Sirsa, much to the an­noy­ance of the Sikhs is work­ing over­time to hog the lime­light by be­lit­tling Sikh bod­ies, Sikh re­li­gious, so­cial and po­lit­i­cal lead­er­ship. The dam­age that he has done ear­lier is still haunt­ing the Sikhs.

In the ini­tial stage of his be­com­ing a full-time leader of the BJP, af­ter hav­ing failed to willy-nilly take over the reins of the DS­GMC, Man­jin­der Singh Sirsa was work­ing be­hind the scenes to in­duct as many Sikh faces as pos­si­ble into the BJP. Voic­ing con­cern and then leav­ing them in the lurch, Sirsa wants to be seen as the mes­siah of the Sikhs liv­ing out­side Pun­jab. WSN is aware of how is push­ing Sikhs in var­i­ous states to toe the BJP line. 

His first ma­jor tar­get was the Act­ing Jathedar of Akal Takht -Gi­ani Harpreet Singh, who hosted the Home Min­is­ter of In­dia -Amit Shah at Am­rit­sar at his in­stance. Dur­ing the meet­ing, the Jathedar was seen with­out his tra­di­tional Kir­pan in his hand. The Act­ing Jathedar of the Sikhs held a closed-door meet­ing with the In­dian Home Min­is­ter, pre­sented him with a Siropa. The de­tails of the meet­ing were re­layed to the me­dia by the Per­sonal As­sis­tant of the Jathedar Jas­pal Singh, who said that “the meet­ing was in a cor­dial at­mos­phere and var­i­ous Pun­jab-re­lated and Sikh-re­lated de­mands were made.”  Sub­se­quently, through a tweet, the SGPC jus­ti­fied the hold­ing of the meet­ing say­ing, “any­body who comes vis­it­ing can hold a meet­ing.” 

Now we have a flock of so­cial, re­li­gious and po­lit­i­cal lead­ers, who os­ten­si­bly claim to be apo­lit­i­cal, but have gone with Sirsa to meet the Prime Min­is­ter of In­dia at his res­i­dence “to con­grat­u­late the PM for var­i­ous works done for the Sikh com­mu­nity.”

It is dis­gust­ing and de­bil­i­tat­ing to note that amongst the lead­er­ship who gladly pho­tographed them­selves with the In­dian PM was Gi­ani Ran­jit Singh, Jathedar Takht Sri Patna Sahib. He did not have any qualms about go­ing to the house of a po­lit­i­cal leader where his sta­tus and stature was se­verely com­pro­mised. He trav­elled from Patna to Delhi and back with Takht Patna Sahib San­gat funds only to gar­land the PM with a Siropa! Do we not need to ask him as to why Takht Patna Sahib Jathedars toe the gov­ern­ment line? The role of the Takht Patna Sahib Com­mit­tee Pres­i­dent Av­tar Singh Hit in this en­tire game also war­rants look­ing into it. 

Un­ques­tion­ably, the pre­sent house of the DS­GMC could not have been con­sti­tuted with­out the be­hind-the-scenes in­ter­fer­ence of Man­jin­der Singh Sirsa dur­ing the day of the elec­tion of the Ex­ec­u­tive Com­mit­tee. An oblig­ing Harmeet Singh Kalka now uses the DS­GMC to sing praises of Naren­dra Modi.

His mem­o­ran­dum wants a Sikh Uni­ver­sity in Delhi while he and his hench­men are un­able to man­age and con­trol the 14 Guru Harkr­is­han Sahib Pub­lic Schools in Delhi and the DS­GMC has filed a case in the Delhi High Court want­ing to wash off their hands of their li­a­bil­ity to pay salaries to teach­ers as per the Sev­enth Pay Com­mis­sion, as re­quired un­der the law.  The pe­ti­tion says that “DS­GMC has noth­ing to do with the Sikh schools,” notwith­stand­ing that the DS­GMC has spent mil­lions of San­gat funds on the schools over the past decades. 

Of course, no one amongst “the galaxy of lead­ers” pre­sent at the lawns of the of­fi­cial res­i­dence of PM Modi did not tell him that Pun­jabi is not taught in Delhi and Pun­jabi has been re­moved from the op­tional list of lan­guages by the CBSE.

The DS­GMC let­ter to the Prime Min­is­ter says that “The Na­tional Ed­u­ca­tion Pol­icy 2020 (NEP¬2020) of­fers one such op­por­tu­nity to us” to build a Mi­nor­ity Uni­ver­sity.” We are con­vinced that none of them has stud­ied how the NEP is de­priv­ing mi­nor­ity in­sti­tu­tions of their rights, with Kar­nataka be­ing the first ex­am­ple. It does not tell us as to how Army schools have stopped teach­ing Pun­jabi and hence stopped hir­ing Pun­jabi teach­ers. 

The mem­o­ran­dum to the PM says “Na­tional Coun­cil of Ed­u­ca­tional Re­search and Train­ing (NCERT) has not given ad­e­quate space and place to the his­tory of Sikhs in the syl­labus.” They have not shared with the gov­ern­ment what ef­forts did DS­GMC do when this very gov­ern­ment in­vited views about the in­clu­sion of Sikh his­tory in var­i­ous syl­labi.

Harmeet Singh Kalka adds that “jus­tice for the per­pe­tra­tors for No­vem­ber 1984 car­nage was pos­si­ble be­cause of BJP.” He failed to add that the ju­di­ciary is man­aged by the BJP and hence they were able to de­liver jus­tice. 

DS­GMC or shall we say that Sirsa has sought “a med­ical and nurs­ing col­lege at Gur­d­wara Bala Sahib”, af­ter hav­ing done noth­ing for the Hos­pi­tal over the years when they were gov­ern­ing and man­ag­ing DS­GMC af­fairs. They have mis­er­ably failed to tell the Sikhs, es­pe­cially Delhi Sikhs why they have failed to build a Par­ti­tion Memo­r­ial and a Baba Baghel Singh memo­r­ial in Delhi and why they need the sup­port and as­sis­tance of the gov­ern­ment of In­dia or its Prime Min­is­ter.

Harmeet Singh Kalka adds that “jus­tice for the per­pe­tra­tors for No­vem­ber 1984 car­nage was pos­si­ble be­cause of BJP.” He failed to add that the ju­di­ciary is man­aged by the BJP and hence they were able to de­liver jus­tice. 

An­other emerg­ing star on the hori­zon of Sikh lead­er­ship is the DS­GMC gen­eral sec­re­tary Jagdip Singh Kahlon who says that the “open­ing of Kar­tarpur cor­ri­dor, the re­lease of Sikh pris­on­ers and even cel­e­bra­tion of birth an­niver­saries of Gu­rus on a grand scale is a gift of the BJP to the Sikhs.” He did not tell us how many pris­on­ers are still lan­guish­ing in jail, in­clud­ing Prof. Devin­der Pal Singh Bhullar and where and how were the monies for Gu­rus’ birth an­niver­sary cel­e­bra­tions spent.

The hero of the meet­ing Man­jin­der Singh Sirsa, for­mer Pres­i­dent, DS­GMC claimed that “Modi is a well-wisher of the Sikhs and that is why he re­pealed the farm laws.” He did not tell us whether he de­manded ex­em­plary com­pen­sa­tion for the 750 plus farm­ers who lost their lives in the year-long ag­i­ta­tion on the bor­ders of Delhi and nor did he tell us as to why dur­ing that pe­riod, the BJP lead­er­ship -from the bot­tom to the top, in­dulged in mud­sling­ing and sham­ing Sikh ac­tivists and even Sikh pro­tes­tors in gen­eral. He has also not ap­prised us as to what has hap­pened in the cases that he had filed against BJP-sup­porter Sikh-baiter Bol­ly­wood star Kangna Ra­naut. Is he now with her or still against her?

Tar­lochan Singh, who has al­ways been on the right side of any gov­ern­ment de­manded “a two-minute si­lence –Moun Vrat in the In­dian Par­lia­ment for the No­vem­ber 1984 Sikh geno­cide.” He did not tell us as to why he con­tin­ues to main­tain a “Maun vart -com­plete si­lence” among other things, on his role pre-June 1984 as the se­nior-most con­fi­dante of then In­dian Pres­i­dent Gi­ani Zail Singh and his sin­is­ter in­volve­ment in the re­build­ing of the Sarkari -gov­ern­ment-spon­sored Akal Takht by pseudo-saint Santa Singh and Skip­per Builders of Delhi.

Tar­lochan Singh did not tell us as to why he con­tin­ues to main­tain a “Maun vart -com­plete si­lence” among other things, on his role pre-June 1984 as the se­nior-most con­fi­dante of then In­dian Pres­i­dent Gi­ani Zail Singh and his sin­is­ter in­volve­ment in the re­build­ing of the Sarkari -gov­ern­ment-spon­sored Akal Takht by pseudo-saint Santa Singh and Skip­per Builders of Delhi.

As per re­ports, PM Modi as­sured con­sid­er­a­tion of de­mands and talked about his love for the Sikh com­mu­nity. He failed to tell the com­mu­nity lead­ers at the bon­homie as to why RSS med­dles in Sikh af­fairs, why does RSS call Sikhs as Hin­dus, and why has no one taken up the case of amend­ment of Ar­ti­cle 25 as de­sired by the Sikhs. Of course, there is much more. 

As per the list pro­vided by the DS­GMC, “38 Sikh per­son­al­i­ties” met the Prime Min­is­ter. WSN will shortly pro­vide a peep into the sta­tus and role of each of these per­son­al­i­ties for the ben­e­fit of Sikh read­ers, en­abling them to make their own de­ci­sion.

The “stal­warts of the com­mu­nity” are Singh Sahib Gi­ani Ran­jit Singh, Jathedar, Takhat Sri Patna Sahib, S.Man­jin­der Singh Sirsa, For­mer Pres­i­dent, DS­GMC, S. Tar­lochan Singh For­mer Chair­man, NCM, S. Harmeet Singh Kalka, Pes­i­dent, DS­GMC, S. Jagdip Singh Kahlon, Gen­eral Sec­re­tary, DS­GMC Padma Shri Baba Bal­bir Singh Ji Sichewal (Sul­tan­pur Lodhi), Ma­hant Karamjit Singh, Pres­i­dent Se­wa­pan­thi, Ya­muna Na­gar, Baba Joga Singh, Dera Baba Jang Singh (Nanaksar) Kar­nal, S. SP Singh Oberoi, Pres­i­dent, Sar­bat Da Bhalla Trust, Chandi­garh, Sant Baba Av­tar Singh Ji Dhurkot, Mo­hali, Chandi­garh, Sant Baba Pree­tam Singh Ra­jpura, Pun­jab, Sant Baba Mejor Singh Waa, Mukhi, Dera  Baba Tara Singh Waa, Am­rit­sar, Jathedar Baba Sahib Singh Ji, Kar Sewa Anand­pur Sahib, Gi­ani Ran­jit Singh, Head Granthi, Gur­d­wara Bangla Sahib, New Delhi, Gi­ani Har­nam Singh, Head Granthi, Gur­d­wara Sis Ganj Sahib, Delhi, S. Surinder Singh, Namd­hari Dar­bar (Bheni Sahib), Baba Jassa Singh, Shi­ro­mani Akali Budha Dal, Pan­jwa Takhat, Dr. Harb­ha­jan Singh, Damdami Tak­sal, Chowk Mehta, Sant Baba Re­sham Singh, Gur­d­wara Nanak Ni­rankar Chak­pakhi, Sant Baba Sun­der Singh, Sewa Pan­thi, Tikana Bhai Ram Kis­han Pa­tiala,  Baba Ma­jor Singh Dashmesh Tarna Dal, S.Baldev Singh, Pres­i­dent, Kash­mir Gur­d­waras Com­mit­tee, Sri­na­gar, Baba Beant Singh Ji, Gur­d­wara Lan­gar Damdama Sahib, Rudra Prayag, S. R.S. Ahuja, Pres­i­dent, Sikh Fo­rum, New Delhi, S. In­der­jit Singh, Gen. Sec­re­tary, Takhat Sri Patna Sahib, S. Prabh­leen Singh, Pres­i­dent, Young Pro­gres­sive Fo­rum, Pa­tiala, S. Amar­jit Singh, Vice Pres­i­dent, Chief Khalsa Di­wan, Am­rit­sar, Sant Baba Sukhdev Singh, Nir­mal Dera, Ber Kalan, Lud­hi­ana, S. Man­jeet Singh Bha­tia, Pres­i­dent, Singh Sabha Gur­d­wara Sahib, In­dore, MP, S. Amandip Singh, Kalgid­har Trust (Baru Sahib), S. Kash­mir Singh, Sikh In­ter­na­tional, Pa­tiala, Prof. Sarc­hand Singh Khiala Spokesper­son Damdami Tak­sal, Chowk Mehta, S. Harpal Singh, Pres­i­dent, Cen­tral Com­mit­tee, West Ben­gal, S. Shailen­der Singh, Pres­i­dent Jhark­hand Pradesh Gur­d­wara Pra­band­hak Com­mit­tee, Ranchi, S. Harpal Singh Bha­tia, Pres­i­dent, Mad­hya Pradesh & Chhat­tis­garh Gur­d­wara Board, Bhopal S. Har­jit Singh Dua, Pres­i­dent Gur­d­wara Gyan Go­dri, Harid­war,

Ex­press­ing grat­i­tude to the In­dian Prime Min­is­ter, the DS­GMC let­ter says, “We fur­ther ap­pre­ci­ate your ges­ture of rec­og­niz­ing the un­par­al­leled sac­ri­fice of Chaar Sahibza­ade (revered four sons of Sri Guru Gob­ind Singh Ji) and in com­mem­o­ra­tion de­clar­ing 26. De­cem­ber every year as ‘Veer Bal Di­vas.” The let­ter does not tell the Prime Min­is­ter that a large sec­tion of the Sikh com­mu­nity does not wel­come this move and that it will be re­sisted at all costs. 

Let it be said loudly and clearly. None of the lead­ers who are part of Sir­sa’s or shall we say BJP’s games­man­ship are apo­lit­i­cal. They have now plunged into muddy wa­ters. Each one of them is an­swer­able to the Sikh com­mu­nity and the role of each of these lead­ers will al­ways be taken with a pinch of salt.