SGPC NEW LEADERSHIP: (L-R) President Harjinder Singh Dhami, Senior SVP Raghujit Singh Virk, Secretary General Karnail Singh Panjoli and Junior VP Surinder Singh
By Asia Samachar | India |
The Badal family continues to exert a firm grip on the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC), with Harjinder Singh Dhami being the latest to head the influential Sikh body upon receiving the family’s blessing.
Harjinder, the institution’s honorary chief secretary, was elected on Monday (29 Nov 2021) to succeed Bibi Jagir Kaur who is expected to contest in the next Punjab state polls as a Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) candidate.
In a press conference immediately after his election, Harjinder tried to shatter a commonly held belief that SGPC leaders are elected out of the ‘envelopes’ passed down from the Badals.
“The parampara (practice) until now is that presidents come out of an envelope. But you saw the contest today,” he said.
However, Harjinder conveniently ignored the fact that just prior to the elections, a majority of the SGPC elected members had given SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal the sole authority to name the candidate. The Badal ‘envelope’ paved the way for his victory.
In the past, his father Parkash Singh Badal used to wield that power. The five term Punjab chief minister is currently SAD’s patron. His son Sukhbir served as deputy CM from 2009 to 2017, with the senior Badal as CM.
The Badal family also owns a vast business empire, including several transport companies, a hospitality firm, and a media business.
Harjinder got 122 votes while his opponent Mithu Singh Kanekey only receiving 19 votes. A good majority of the 143 voting members present in the house owe their allegiance to Badal.
Other key leaders elected were Raghujit Singh Virk as senior vice president, Karnail Singh Panjoli as secretary general and Surinder Singh as junior vice president.
The 44th president of the SGPC is a law graduate and a SGPC member from Sham Chaurasi segment of Hoshiarpur district.
SGPC is a key Sikh institution. Among others, it oversees the management of Sikh historical gurdwaras in the states of Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh as well as Chandigarh, allowing it to receive huge contributions from Sikhs.
The elections are governed by the Gurdwara Act 1925, a legacy from the British rule. It requires the general house to meet annually to appoint unanimously or elect through voting the following posts: president, senior vice president, junior vice president, general secretary and 11-member executive body.
The general house comprises 191 members, including 170 elected through ballot papers. The 15 co-opted members, who do not have voting rights, include jathedars of the five takhts and the Darbar Sahib head granthi.
The new 11 executive members are Surjit Singh Kang, Sarwan Singh Klar, Surjit Singh Garhi, Jarnail Singh Dogranwala, Balwinder Singh Weipui, Harjap Singh Sultanwind, Gurdinderpal Singh Gora, Amarjit Singh Bandala, Bibi Gurpreet Kaur, Jodh Singh Samra and Gurpreet Singh. Ten of them are from the SAD team.
Harjinder follows in the footsteps of earlier Badal loyalists.
In 2017, former Punjab state assemblyman Gobind Singh Longowal was elected as SGPC’s 42nd president. He easily defeated Amrik Singh Shahpur from Dera Baba Nanak, who campaigned under the Panthic Front, when he managed to get 154 of the 169 votes casted.
Longowal, a three-time MLA and a minister in the Badal Cabinet, was among 40 leaders awarded ‘tankhah’ (religious punishment) by the Akal Takht for visiting Dera Sacha Sauda ahead of the previous assembly elections.
Longowal replaced Kirpal Singh Badungar who himself took over in 2016 from Avtar Singh Makkar.
On her part, Jagir Kaur was named SAD’s candidate for the Bholath Assembly seat in Kapurthala district for next year’s Punjab state elections.
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