Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) on Wednesday suspended senior leader Jagir Kaur from the party and issued a two day ultimatum to her to “stop anti-party activities failing which strict disciplinary action would be taken against her”.
Announcing this here in a press conference, SAD disciplinary committee chairman Sikander Singh Maluka said it was “mandatory for Jagir Kaur to clarify that she would not contest the forthcoming elections to the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC). If she does not do this, the party is bound to act against her as no one is above party discipline.”
Maluka said “Jagir Kaur was indulging in anti-party activities since the last few months and was working in conjunction with forces inimical towards the SAD”.
He said “the party had tried its best to counsel Jagir Kaur with senior leaders – Daljit Singh Cheema and Surjit Singh Rakhra holding a three hour long meeting with her recently. Earlier party president Sukhbir Singh Badal also met her but she remained adamant on contesting the SGPC elections”.
The disciplinary committee chairman said “the party had also received complaints from SGPC members that Jagir Kaur was pressuring them to support her as the candidate for the post of SGPC president”. He said “the leader’s statements in the media also indicated that she was adamant on contesting the elections even against the wishes of the party”.
Jagir Kaur, who is a former SGPC president and who has the distinction to head the apex representative body of the Sikhs as first woman president, had recently declared that she would contest as independent for the top post in the SGPC if SAD did not announce her as party candidate. She has also been vocal about “envelope” (lifaafa) culture in SAD to choose SGPC president where final call is said to be taken by the SAD president, even as SAD maintains that the voting by general house of the SGPC determines the outcome as to who will head the Sikh body.
Kaur, the three-time former SAD MLA from Bholath of Kapurthala district, winning the election in 1997, 2002 and 2012 and known as Badal family loyalist was fielded by the SAD from Khadoor Sahib in 2019 parliamentary elections, which she lost. In February 20 Punjab elections this year, she lost to Sukhpal Singh Khaira of Congress.
Kaur was not available for comment.
In a related development, SAD on Wednesday requested the President of India to dismiss National Commission for Minorities Chairman Iqbal Singh Lalpura from his post immediately for “interfering in the religious affairs of the Sikh community by trying to break the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC)”.
Addressing newsmen here, senior leaders Daljit Singh Cheema and Maheshinder Singh Grewal said “Lalpura was directly ringing up SGPC members and asking them to support the candidature of Jagir Kaur in the forthcoming elections to the post of President of the august body said “the Sikh community will never tolerate the handing over of the management of its gurdwaras to the BJP and the RSS”.
The Akali leaders 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 Member of its Parliamentary Board as well as National Executive. 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”.
Lalpura was not available for comment. A man who answered his phone said Lalpura was in a meeting.
The Akali leaders also requested the central government “not to interfere in the religious affairs of the Sikh community saying efforts were afoot to break the SGPC and run it with the help of stooges”.
“The recent activities of the Minorities Commission Chairman were in line with steps taken by the centre and BJP State governments to subvert Sikh institutions,” said the Akali leaders, adding that “the management of Takth 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.
Now an effort is being made to break the SGPC in its present form and the first step towards this task is to divide the community for facilitating the election of a stooge to the top post”.
Meanwhile Maluka said “the disciplinary committee, which met here today, had also considered the reply submitted by senior leader Jagmeet Singh Brar to the show cause notice issued to him and found it unsatisfactory”.
He added, “We will give him another opportunity to explain his utterances and actions before proceeding in the matter,” he added.
Brar was last month issued show cause notice for anti-party activities.
The over hundred year old party SAD is struggling to keep its house in order and check rebellions with Sukhbir Singh Badal’s functioning as incumbent party chief coming under scanner with back to back defeats – in 2017 when it could win only 15 seats in 117-member Punjab Vidhan Sabha and in February 20 elections this year when it plunged to all time low by winning just three seats.
