Will appear before Akal Takht if summoned: Sarna

Amritsar, Punjab: Akal Takht is likely to initiate action against former Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (DSGMC) chief Paramjit Singh Sarna for opposing the 1984 memorial in Delhi. He has already been summoned by the Takht to give a clarification on the issue on June 17.

Sources in the Akal Takht secretariat said a letter was sent to Sarna today, asking him to appear before the Sikh clergy on Monday.

Akal Takht Jathedar Giani Gurbachan Singh had announced last evening that he would summon Sarna asking why he had “opposed the memorial for the 1984 genocide victims and filed a petition against it in court.”

The Jathedar held a closed-door meeting with Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Badal here today. This is significant as the Sikh clergy is to meet on Monday.

Sarna had filed a petition in the Delhi High Court a few days before the stone-laying ceremony of the memorial on June 12, contending that raising a memorial inside Gurdwara Rakabganj Sahib was not correct and that it should be built outside the gurdwara premises.

Sarna, when contacted, said he would appear before the Sikh high priests, if summoned, and give a clarification. He, however, hastened to add that an individual was summoned to by Akal Takht only if he/she had violated the Sikh code of conduct.

“I haven’t done anything against Sikh tenets,” he said. He questioned as to why SAD leaders were not summoned to Akal Takht for “hampering” various projects undertaken during his tenure as DSGMC chief.

He claimed that it was during his tenure that the DSGMC first passed a resolution for a memorial to those killed in 1984 genocide.

“We had sought land from the Delhi Government for the memorial while expressing preference to a park opposite Gurdwara Majnu Ka Tilla.”

Incidentally, this is not the first time that Sarna has been summoned by Akal Takht. On August 7, 2010, Sarna and his brother Harvinder Singh had appeared before the Sikh high priests to submit a clarification on remarks made by them against advocate HS Phoolka.

Before that he was summoned on February 10, 2006, in connection with the postponement of the annual DSGMC elections.

Source: The Tribune