Tohra, Tohra, Tohra

To face a crisis is not a new experience for the septuagenarian Akali leader, Gurcharan Singh Tohra, who has come to be known as the Po...

To face a crisis is not a new experience for the septuagenarian Akali leader, Gurcharan Singh Tohra, who has come to be known as the 8220;Pope of the Sikhs8221; over the years. But the current predicament that he finds himself in could well be the most serious one he has faced in his religio-political career spanning over more than 50 years. Last week, the salvo he fired at Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal boomeranged. Badal8217;s supporters are now gunning for him, demanding his removal from the presidentship of the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee SGPC.

It is a post that he had recently been elected to for a record 25th time. The SGPC is a statutory body entrusted with the management of Sikh shrines in Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh. Once he took over as president in 1973, he has never looked back, having presided over this mini-Parliament of the Sikhs ever since, barring a brief period when he found himself out in the cold. That happened because of a factional fight in the Akali Dal whenSurjit Singh Barnala headed the Akali government in Punjab. But Tohra bounced back to centrestage soon enough.

The crisis, this time, appears to be far more serious. Tohra8217;s basic problem is that he represents an alternate centre of power in the Akali Dal. Though he has dictated the course of Akali Dal politics all these years, Tohra has never headed the party, or the government. His opponents attribute the current power struggle to what they describe as his last wish 8212; to be the chief minister. But Tohra himself vehemently denies this.

He has a well-deserved reputation for being a master manipulator. Indeed he is considered the only true politicians among Akalis and is not known to have made a single ill-timed move. This is precisely what intrigues his supporters and opponents now. His reported statement asking Badal to step down as president of the Akali Dal couldn8217;t have come at a worse moment. Says Balwinder Singh Bhunder, MP and a close associate of Badal, 8220;Tohra seems to have got it wrong for thefirst time in his political career.8221;

What triggered this long-impending crisis in the Akali Dal is Tohra8217;s observations on the functioning of Badal as party president while making a 8220;suggestion8221; that he should appoint some leader as his acting president. He perhaps overestimated the disenchantment among the Akali rank and file against the Badal government.

Tohra had also not been inhibited about expressing his reservations over the manner the 300th anniversary celebrations of the birth of the Khalsa was being conducted. He perhaps felt that Badal had hijacked the event and that it should have been rightly conducted within the domain of the SGPC, since it was rooted in religion. In fact, it is for the first time that Badal has dabbled directly with religion. As chief minister, Badal has always been identified with the development agenda. The shift clearly irked Tohra, and was one of the factors that prompted him to act fast and confront Badal.

However, Tohra never gave the impression that he lustedfor power. He would always say,8220;Let Badal himself take over as president of the SGPC also and hold all the three offices, including that of the chief minister and the Akali Dal president.8221; But such words never helped to bring down the level of suspicion between the two leaders. For the last few months, every move of the SGPC chief was being viewed with suspicion by the political establishment in Chandigarh. This was all the more so after Badal went to the United States for medical treatment.

Story continues below this ad

Some view the present crisis as a war of succession in the Akali Dal. Says Mahesh Inder Singh Grewal, one of Tohra8217;s close associates, and one of the five ministers who resigned last week to protest against the tirade launched against his leader by Badal8217;s men: 8220;Tohra is the most towering personality in Punjab today, with total clarity of thought and no confusion whatsoever. He has been consistently anti-Congress. He has never let down a friend and is most dependable.8221;

Clearly then, Tohra is a person who inspiresboth deep reverence and an equally deep dislike. In fact, his relationship with Badal has also been marked by both affection and displeasure. It is not for the first time that the two centres of power in the Akali Dal have come into open confrontation with each other. Badal8217;s men recall the fall of the Akali Dal government in 1980 and hold the SGPC chief responsible for it.

But, according to people who have been closely monitoring Akali politics over the last 20 years and more, Tohra8217;s basic weakness is that he is not known to fight a decisive battle, fight till the bitter end. He can, at times, sail in two boats. As a former Akali MLA put it, 8220;Tohra is the leader who can make appropriate noises at the appropriate time.8221; Akali leaders refer to his role during pre-Bluestar period, when he was considered to be one of the leaders who encouraged Bhindranwale. At one stage, he appeared to sympathise with the terrorists, but in time became a target of their attacks. But being the great survivor that he is, heemerged from these reverses unscathed.

But this time it may be different. Tohra8217;s biggest problem is that time is not on his side. The 8220;Pope8221; of the Sikhs is under attack, not from outsiders but from his own colleagues. The question is: how will he get out of this seemingly hopeless situation, with Badal for the first time looking determined to fight to finish?