Akali Dal suspends Bibi Jagir Kaur over SGPC poll row

The Shiromani Akali Dal on Wednesday suspended senior leader and former Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee chief Bibi Jagir Kaur from the party after she refused to back down from contesting the November 9 poll for the president post of the apex gurdwara body.

The Shiromani Akali Dal also issued a two-day ultimatum to her to stop “anti-party” activities, failing which, it said, strict disciplinary action would be taken against her.

The action came after Bibi Jagir Kaur dug her heels in for contesting the poll independently for the post of president of Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee. 

She has been pressing to be the party's nominee for the SGPC presidential poll. The SAD is yet to name its candidate.

The party had even deputed two senior leaders Surjit Singh Rakhra and Daljit Singh Cheema to persuade her to change her stand but to no avail.

Kaur, a former MLA, had remained SGPC chief in 1999, 2004 and 2020.

At present, Harjinder Singh Dhami is the SGPC chief.

Addressing the media in Chandigarh, SAD disciplinary committee chairman Sikander Singh Maluka said it was mandatory for Bibi Jagir Kaur to clarify that she would not contest the forthcoming elections to the SGPC.

“If she does not do this, the party is bound to act against her as no one is above party discipline”, he said.

Maluka alleged that Kaur had been indulging in anti-party activities for the last few months and had been working in conjunction with forces inimical to the SAD.

He said the party had tried its best to counsel Kaur with senior leaders –Cheema and Rakhra holding a three-hour meeting with her recently.

“Earlier party president Sukhbir Singh Badal also met her but she remained adamant on contesting the SGPC elections”, he said.

The disciplinary committee chairman said the party had also received complaints from SGPC members that Kaur was pressuring them to support her as the candidate for the post of president of the SGPC.

He said the leader's statements in the media also indicated that she was adamant about contesting the elections against the wishes of the party.

Meanwhile, the party also requested the president to dismiss National Commission for Minorities chairman Iqbal Singh Lalpura from his post immediately, alleging he was interfering in the religious affairs of the Sikh community by trying to break the SGPC.

Party leaders Daljit Singh Cheema and Maheshinder Singh Grewal said Lalpura held a constitutional post and was supposed to protect the interest of minorities.

“However it seems Lalpura is only working to protect the interests of the BJP in his dual role as a member of its parliamentary board as well as national executive," they alleged.

"The president should sack him immediately as this is a clear case of conflict of interest and he is working against the interests of minorities, particularly the Sikh community”, they alleged in a statement.

The SAD leaders claimed that Lalpura was directly ringing up the SGPC members and asking them to support the candidature of Jagir Kaur in the forthcoming elections to the post of president.

There was no immediate reaction from Lalpura.

“The Sikh community will never tolerate the handing over of the management of its gurdwaras to the BJP and the RSS,” the statement by SAD leaders said.

They said the management of Takht Sri Hazur Sahib was taken into government hands by nominating government nominees, the Delhi Gurdwara Management Committee was taken over by the BJP and a separate gurdwara management committee was formed for Haryana.