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Mann, Wadala seek SGPC's intervention to bring about Panthic unity

Radical Akali leaders Simranjeet Singh Mann and Kuldip Singh Wadala today appealed to Akal Takht jathedar Ranjit Singh to involve ''Panthic organisations'' in finding ways and means for collectively celebrating the tercentenary of the birth of the Khalsa.

In a joint statement released at a press conference in Jalandhar, both leaders appealed to the jathedar to direct the Shiromani Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee to set up a common stage at Fatehgarh Sahib on the occasion of 'Jor Mela' on December 26 so that all Panthic organisations, including the ruling Shiromani Akali Dal-Badal, the Sant Samaj and SGPC, could deliberate on the issue.

Wadala, while expressing concern over the Badal-Tohra feud, advocated the jathedar's intervention to prevent it from harming the ''Sikh cause''.

Announcing that Akali Dal-Amritsar headed by Mann would set up its own stage at Fatehgarh Sahib to pay homage to the two sons of tenth Guru Gobind Singh who were walled alive, Wadala, however, added that if the jathedar directed them (Mann and Wadala) not to do so, they would abide by his order.

Dubbing the state government as ''not only corrupt but also the mother of all corruption'', Wadala criticised the Badal government for having allegedly abandoned the ''Panthic agenda'' and failing to provide good governance to the people .

Both the Akali leaders thanked the Akal Takht jathedar, Sant Samaj and SGPC chief Gurcharan Singh Tohra for ''boosting the morale of the Sikh community by collectively organising the Khalsa Chetna march on December 5-6.At the same time, they criticised the government for ''creating a wedge in the community by separately organising the Khalsa heritage celebrations on November 22''.

Apprehending that the ongoing feud between Badal and Tohra might lead to split in the SAD, they said they hoped that the tercentenary, if celebrated collectively by the Sikh community, would not only help forge unity in the Panth but also give a new direction to Akali politics in Punjab. ''This could be useful in the Lok Sabha elections which seemed imminent,'' they said.

''The Badal-Tohra strife has, however, dashed our hopes'', they added.

Mann and Wadala, whose Amritsar and Democratic Akali Dal factions had fielded a common candidate in the recently held Adampur assembly by-election, said they would try to prevent the ''dilution of the Panthic cause and endeavour to leash the egos of both Badal and Tohra in the larger interests of the Panth and Punjab''.

Wadala, who fielded questions in Mann's absence at the press conference, was evasive when asked if they would appeal to the jathedar to once again intervene to forge unity among various Akali factions.

In May 1994,after the then Akal Takht acting jathedar Manjit Singh's efforts, six Akali factions had merged to form the Akali Dal-Amritsar and had adopted the ''Amritsar declaration'' advocating confederation of states in the Indian subcontinent. But Badal, assisted by Wadala, had then managed to keep away from the merger by pleading with the jathedar that their Akali Dal's merger under the religio-temporal authority of the Akal Takht could lead to its disqualification as a political party by the Election Commission.

Criticising the SAD's ''silence'' on the proposed amendment in the Explosives Act, envisaging death sentence, they alleged that the amendment smacked of '' fascist tendencies'' of the BJP-led coalition of which the Badal Dal was a partner.

They also charged the SAD with abandoning their demands for the scrapping of Article 356, a federal polity and internal autonomy to the states, besides maintaining silence on all demands for which the Akalis had collectively launched 'Dharmyudh Morcha' in the early 'eighties under the leadership of Sant Harcharan Singh Longowal.

UNI

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