Bhai Ranjit8217;s actions harmful: Hamdard

Barjinder, who has become a key player in the ongoing religion political crisis in Punjab and is considered close to Chief Minster P.S. Badal also admitted that the overall performance of the state government had not been very satisfactory. He said the government had not been able to deliver the goods according to the aspirations of the people.

He also advocated a debate for revieweing the concept of miri8217; and piri,8217; saying the mixing of religion and politics, as relevant in earlier times, was not productive in the modern day Akali politics. 8220;It is rather counterproductive now,8221; he said. Questioning the locus standii of the Akal Takht jathedar to issue an edict summoning him and alleging that the action was 8220;autocratic8221;, Barjinder said he was against the actions and thinking of Bhai Ranjit Singh. 8220;I have great respect for the Akal Takht but I am against the actions of Bhai Ranjit Singh,8221; he said.

Barjinder alleged that Bhai Ranjit Singh and Tohra had engineered many threats to harm him personallly and his Punjabi daily in the recent past. 8220;They just want to harass me and portray me as a bad Sikh,8221; he added.

Claiming that neither the Akal Takht jathedar nor those of any other takht had been given any powers to issue edicts of their own under the Gurdwara Act of 1925, Barjinder said in the previous centuries, no edict was issued by the Akal Takht to excommunicate any Sikh from the community. 8220;The jathedars have been unnecessarily interfering in the day-to-day Akali politics,8221; he said.

Squarely blaming SGPC president G.S. Tohra for the 8220;present mess8221; in Punjab, Barjinder alleged that Tohra had 8220;used8221; Bbhai Ranjit Singh for his 8220;personal uplift.8221; He alleged that Tohra had been aspiring to become Chief Minister.

Barjinder said it was time for a celar demarcation of the role of jathedars, the SGPC and the Akali Dal. 8220;The Sikh community needs to know the clearly defined roles and area of jurisdiction of these three institutions,8221; he said.

He said whenever the Akal Tkaht jathedars had tried to interfere in politics in the recent past, they had been utter failures. He mentioned in this context the summoning of Chief Minister S.S. Barnala by Darshan Singh, the then takht jathedar and the abortive attempt to forge unity among the Akali Dal by Manjit Singh in 1994 when as Akal Tkaht jathedar he issued an edict to various factions to unite. 8220;But as many Akali leaders defied that edict, he could not succeed in forming a joint party,8221; he added.

Similarly, he said, Bhai Ranjit Singh had tried to interfere in the political domain and had taken the side of Tohra. 8220;Bhai Ranjit Singh8217;s actions are very harmful for the Sikh community,8221; he said. He said as a journalist he had opposed the interventions of the Akal Tkaht jathedar in Akali politics. However, he did not agree that the current situation would lead to revival of terrorism in Punjab.

Barjinder, who had resigned as chairperson of the Anandpur Sahib Foundaiton formed for the tercentenary celebrations, did not find anything wrong with parallel celebrations. He said all the organisaitons could hold separate functions to celebrate the occasion.