Elect members on merit: Dal Khalsa

The Dal Khalsa president said,“The people are disgusted with the present system of governance,under which,Panthic interests are subjugated to vested political interests.” Urging the voters to elect morally upright individuals as the Gurdwara management has been ruined by a corrupted lot,he said the Sikhs must handover the reins of the SGPC to “clean hands”.

Blaming Badals for turning the SGPC as an extension counter of the SAD,party spokesperson Kanwar Pal Singh said that earlier,it was the SGPC that guided Sikh affairs. However,over the years,there has been a reversal of roles,especially after the office of the president of the SGPC became subservient to the dictates of the political bosses having their own electoral compulsions,he added.

Clearly,the SGPC has failed to achieve the basic purpose of religious propagation which had resulted in the rise of apostasy and the mushrooming of self-styled gurus in the recent past,said the leaders. Contrary to popular belief that SGPC is the “Parliament of the Sikhs”,it has never functioned as such,said Singh.

The leaders crticised the Shiormani Akali Dal leadership for inducting former DGP Izhar Alam in the SAD. Instead of prosecuting police officers who took law in their hands and committed gross human rights violations during militancy,the Badals were “honoring” them by accommodating them in the party hierarchy with a promise to allot ticket in the ensuing Assembly elections,they alleged. The leaders also blamed Badals for playing a dual game in the case of Professor Devinder Pal Singh Bhullar,who is on death row.