E-Paper
Hat-trick for SAD in DSGMC House; Sirsa loses, but to remain president
With an annual budget of at least ₹110 crore, management of nine historical gurdwaras and schools, colleges and hospitals with it, control over the gurdwara body also brings influence over global matters of the Sikh community
Chandigarh The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) will form the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (DSGMC) for the third time in a row, after securing 27 of 46 seats in elections held on August 22; the results were declared on Wednesday. In a shock outcome, however, the outgoing president of the gurdwara body, SAD’s war-horse Manjinder Singh Sirsa, lost to former president Harvinder Singh Sarna in a fierce contest on the Punjabi Bagh seat.
With an annual budget of at least ₹110 crore, management of nine historical gurdwaras and schools, colleges and hospitals with it, control over the gurdwara body also brings influence over global matters of the Sikh community, and a say in the government that runs the country. It takes around a month to form the new House.
The SAD top brass sees the result as a practice match for the upcoming assembly polls in Punjab scheduled in early 2022. SAD (Delhi) that the Sarnas lead won 14 seats; former DSGMC president Manjit Singh GK, who fielded candidates representing the newly formed Jago Party shrunk to three seats; on two seats Independents have won. GK won on his home seat of Greater Kailash.
Addressing a press conference in New Delhi, SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal felicitated Sikhs of the national capital for voting his party again to power and announced that Sirsa would continue to head the gurdwara body, in spite of his loss. “He (Sirsa) will be nominated from the quota of (Amritsar-headquartered) Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC),” Sukhbir told the media.
The head of the DSGMC becomes a leader of 8 lakh Sikhs of New Delhi and of Sikhs outside Punjab and the country. Under Sirsa, the DSGMC had caught the attention of the residents of the national capital, particularly the Sikhs, during the second Covid-19 wave; the gurdwara body had reached out to the victims with medical support, oxygen cylinders and concentrators.
The body also offered langar (community meal) during the lockdown, which earned it lots of goodwill, helping it rise over negative perception it had earned after series of sacrilege incidents under the BJP-SAD regime in Punjab in 2015.
“I know that both governments (Centre and the Delhi) worked against our party, particularly Sirsa. Despite this opposition, we won,” said Sukhbir, adding, “This victory is a prelude to my party’s comeback in Punjab polls. Those who played politics over sacrilege will lose.”
Under the DSGMC Act of 1971, a 51-member House runs the gurdwara body. Over and above 46 elected members, there is a provision to nominate one member (from the SGPC quota), two members come via co-option and two more come from the Singh Sabhas (local gurdwaras) in Delhi.
For SAD (Delhi) president Paramit Singh Sarna, the results came as a shock. “We hoped to do much better, but we accept that the voters have the final say.”
