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Guru Granth Sahib
Composition, Arrangement & Layout
ਜਪੁ | Jup
ਸੋ ਦਰੁ | So Dar
ਸੋਹਿਲਾ | Sohilaa
ਰਾਗੁ ਸਿਰੀਰਾਗੁ | Raag Siree-Raag
Gurbani (14-53)
Ashtpadiyan (53-71)
Gurbani (71-74)
Pahre (74-78)
Chhant (78-81)
Vanjara (81-82)
Vaar Siri Raag (83-91)
Bhagat Bani (91-93)
ਰਾਗੁ ਮਾਝ | Raag Maajh
Gurbani (94-109)
Ashtpadi (109)
Ashtpadiyan (110-129)
Ashtpadi (129-130)
Ashtpadiyan (130-133)
Bara Maha (133-136)
Din Raen (136-137)
Vaar Maajh Ki (137-150)
ਰਾਗੁ ਗਉੜੀ | Raag Gauree
Gurbani (151-185)
Quartets/Couplets (185-220)
Ashtpadiyan (220-234)
Karhalei (234-235)
Ashtpadiyan (235-242)
Chhant (242-249)
Baavan Akhari (250-262)
Sukhmani (262-296)
Thittee (296-300)
Gauree kii Vaar (300-323)
Gurbani (323-330)
Ashtpadiyan (330-340)
Baavan Akhari (340-343)
Thintteen (343-344)
Vaar Kabir (344-345)
Bhagat Bani (345-346)
ਰਾਗੁ ਆਸਾ | Raag Aasaa
Gurbani (347-348)
Chaupaday (348-364)
Panchpadde (364-365)
Kaafee (365-409)
Aasaavaree (409-411)
Ashtpadiyan (411-432)
Patee (432-435)
Chhant (435-462)
Vaar Aasaa (462-475)
Bhagat Bani (475-488)
ਰਾਗੁ ਗੂਜਰੀ | Raag Goojaree
Gurbani (489-503)
Ashtpadiyan (503-508)
Vaar Gujari (508-517)
Vaar Gujari (517-526)
ਰਾਗੁ ਦੇਵਗੰਧਾਰੀ | Raag Dayv-Gandhaaree
Gurbani (527-536)
ਰਾਗੁ ਬਿਹਾਗੜਾ | Raag Bihaagraa
Gurbani (537-556)
Chhant (538-548)
Vaar Bihaagraa (548-556)
ਰਾਗੁ ਵਡਹੰਸ | Raag Wadhans
Gurbani (557-564)
Ashtpadiyan (564-565)
Chhant (565-575)
Ghoriaan (575-578)
Alaahaniiaa (578-582)
Vaar Wadhans (582-594)
ਰਾਗੁ ਸੋਰਠਿ | Raag Sorath
Gurbani (595-634)
Asatpadhiya (634-642)
Vaar Sorath (642-659)
ਰਾਗੁ ਧਨਾਸਰੀ | Raag Dhanasaree
Gurbani (660-685)
Astpadhiya (685-687)
Chhant (687-691)
Bhagat Bani (691-695)
ਰਾਗੁ ਜੈਤਸਰੀ | Raag Jaitsree
Gurbani (696-703)
Chhant (703-705)
Vaar Jaitsaree (705-710)
Bhagat Bani (710)
ਰਾਗੁ ਟੋਡੀ | Raag Todee
ਰਾਗੁ ਬੈਰਾੜੀ | Raag Bairaaree
ਰਾਗੁ ਤਿਲੰਗ | Raag Tilang
Gurbani (721-727)
Bhagat Bani (727)
ਰਾਗੁ ਸੂਹੀ | Raag Suhi
Gurbani (728-750)
Ashtpadiyan (750-761)
Kaafee (761-762)
Suchajee (762)
Gunvantee (763)
Chhant (763-785)
Vaar Soohee (785-792)
Bhagat Bani (792-794)
ਰਾਗੁ ਬਿਲਾਵਲੁ | Raag Bilaaval
Gurbani (795-831)
Ashtpadiyan (831-838)
Thitteen (838-840)
Vaar Sat (841-843)
Chhant (843-848)
Vaar Bilaaval (849-855)
Bhagat Bani (855-858)
ਰਾਗੁ ਗੋਂਡ | Raag Gond
Gurbani (859-869)
Ashtpadiyan (869)
Bhagat Bani (870-875)
ਰਾਗੁ ਰਾਮਕਲੀ | Raag Ramkalee
Ashtpadiyan (902-916)
Gurbani (876-902)
Anand (917-922)
Sadd (923-924)
Chhant (924-929)
Dakhnee (929-938)
Sidh Gosat (938-946)
Vaar Ramkalee (947-968)
ਰਾਗੁ ਨਟ ਨਾਰਾਇਨ | Raag Nat Narayan
Gurbani (975-980)
Ashtpadiyan (980-983)
ਰਾਗੁ ਮਾਲੀ ਗਉੜਾ | Raag Maalee Gauraa
Gurbani (984-988)
Bhagat Bani (988)
ਰਾਗੁ ਮਾਰੂ | Raag Maaroo
Gurbani (889-1008)
Ashtpadiyan (1008-1014)
Kaafee (1014-1016)
Ashtpadiyan (1016-1019)
Anjulian (1019-1020)
Solhe (1020-1033)
Dakhni (1033-1043)
ਰਾਗੁ ਤੁਖਾਰੀ | Raag Tukhaari
Bara Maha (1107-1110)
Chhant (1110-1117)
ਰਾਗੁ ਕੇਦਾਰਾ | Raag Kedara
Gurbani (1118-1123)
Bhagat Bani (1123-1124)
ਰਾਗੁ ਭੈਰਉ | Raag Bhairo
Gurbani (1125-1152)
Partaal (1153)
Ashtpadiyan (1153-1167)
ਰਾਗੁ ਬਸੰਤੁ | Raag Basant
Gurbani (1168-1187)
Ashtpadiyan (1187-1193)
Vaar Basant (1193-1196)
ਰਾਗੁ ਸਾਰਗ | Raag Saarag
Gurbani (1197-1200)
Partaal (1200-1231)
Ashtpadiyan (1232-1236)
Chhant (1236-1237)
Vaar Saarang (1237-1253)
ਰਾਗੁ ਮਲਾਰ | Raag Malaar
Gurbani (1254-1293)
Partaal (1265-1273)
Ashtpadiyan (1273-1278)
Chhant (1278)
Vaar Malaar (1278-91)
Bhagat Bani (1292-93)
ਰਾਗੁ ਕਾਨੜਾ | Raag Kaanraa
Gurbani (1294-96)
Partaal (1296-1318)
Ashtpadiyan (1308-1312)
Chhant (1312)
Vaar Kaanraa
Bhagat Bani (1318)
ਰਾਗੁ ਕਲਿਆਨ | Raag Kalyaan
Gurbani (1319-23)
Ashtpadiyan (1323-26)
ਰਾਗੁ ਪ੍ਰਭਾਤੀ | Raag Prabhaatee
Gurbani (1327-1341)
Ashtpadiyan (1342-51)
ਰਾਗੁ ਜੈਜਾਵੰਤੀ | Raag Jaijaiwanti
Gurbani (1352-53)
Salok | Gatha | Phunahe | Chaubole | Swayiye
Sehskritee Mahala 1
Sehskritee Mahala 5
Gaathaa Mahala 5
Phunhay Mahala 5
Chaubolae Mahala 5
Shaloks Bhagat Kabir
Shaloks Sheikh Farid
Swaiyyae Mahala 5
Swaiyyae in Praise of Gurus
Shaloks in Addition To Vaars
Shalok Ninth Mehl
Mundavanee Mehl 5
ਰਾਗ ਮਾਲਾ, Raag Maalaa
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Who Is The Present Guru Of The Sikhs?
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<blockquote data-quote="spnadmin" data-source="post: 90152" data-attributes="member: 35"><p>To those who believe that Sri Guru Granth Sahib Maharaj and the khalsa are equal as Guru. To those who believe that Sri Gobind Singh Patasha intended that his khalsa be seen as equal to the Granth Sahib, I say this:</p><p></p><p>Do you then behold your guru? Is it a reflection of yourself? Who of them is guru? Who of them is khalsa? <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite1" alt=":)" title="Smile :)" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":)" /></p><p></p><p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><strong><span style="color: #000080"><span style="font-size: 18px">Mangling the religion</span></span></strong></span></p> <p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><strong><span style="color: #000080"><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></span></strong></span></p> <p style="text-align: left"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><strong><span style="color: #000080"><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></span></strong></span></p> <p style="text-align: left"><span style="color: #000080"><strong>Sach Kanwal Singh - World Sikh News</strong></span></p> <p style="text-align: left"></p><p> <em><span style="color: #000080"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><strong>How The Mini Parliament Of The Sikhs Has Been Hijacked By Vested Interests. This Special Report takes a macro look at the entire gamut of functioning of the SGPC and brings out what is wrong. It argues for a thorough engagement at all levels to save the institution from those manning it</strong></span></span></em></p><p></p><p> <span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="color: #000080">You want to recall the glorious period of contemporary Sikh history, try the origins of the Shiromani Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee (SGPC). A child of the Gurdwara Reform Movement and an example of what positive resistance and a return to the roots struggle can achieve, the setting up of the SGPC is a lesson on how a minority can save its identity, freedom and institutions with a simple tactic: just plain honest sense of purpose and leadership.</span></span></p><p></p><p> <span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="color: #000080">You want to study how not to run an institution, how institutionalizing administration of the affairs of a minority can lead to worse ways of control and muzzling of ideas, and how institutions that go haywire can wreck even the most glorious of legacies, study the way the SGPC is being run for the last few years. Pay particular attention to who gets to call the shots and why, and how the men and women tasked with managing its affairs are selected/elected, and you would have a study in contrast.</span></span><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="color: #000080"></span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="color: #000080"></span></span></p><p> <span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="color: #000080">One of the most respected and widely accepted body of the Sikhs, basically a premier Sikh gurdwara management panel but whose role over the years has far outgrown its stated objectives, represents today a pathetic picture of what a good institution could have been.</span></span><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="color: #000080"></span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="color: #000080"></span></span></p><p> <span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="color: #000080">To just start pointing out the aberrations, so far even the name Shiromani Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee needs to be clarified. Legal records of the SGPC itself are run in the name of a central board.</span></span></p><p></p><p> <span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="color: #000080">Elections to the SGPC General House, comprising some 185 members, are conducted with the help of a government panel called Gurdara Election Commission, and so far only the Akali Dal has fought these elections on its party symbol. For many years now, the party led by Parkash Singh Badal and now his son Sukhbir Singh Badal, thanks to the clout it enjoys in terms of political reach, money, muscle power and the killer instinct, has been winning most seats.</span></span></p><p></p><p> <span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="color: #000080">Such is the cult of personality in the Akali Dal, and the same has permeated to such an extent into the SGPC culture, that all major decisions are almost a family matter for the Badals.</span></span><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="color: #000080"></span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="color: #000080"></span></span></p><p> <span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="color: #000080">Elections to the top office posts of the SGPC are organized every year, and members of the general house elect the SGPC president and other office bearers. By now, the Sikhs know well that basically the Badals select a man, send a slip of paper in an envelope that is opened right on the spot and a usual cry of Bole So Nihal follows. This becomes the choice of the Panth.</span></span></p><p></p><p> <span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="color: #000080">It is immediately followed by the chosen one thanking the Badal family members, the SGPC members, the sangat and the Akal Purakh, very often in that order.</span></span></p><p> <span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="color: #000080">It was no different this time. It wasn't expected to be.</span></span></p><p></p><p> <span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="color: #000080">But the fact that a Sikh organization in times of crisis for the community, and with a budget of Rs 400 crores and hundreds of gurdwaras, educational institutions, social forums, hospitals and inestimable real estate resources, men and money power, simply sits on it all and exploits the resources for the benefit of the Akali Dal and its top brass, has been perturbing the Sikhs for a long time now.</span></span></p><p> <span style="color: #231f20"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"></span></span></p><p><span style="color: #231f20"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="color: #000080">With Rs 400 crore budget, and wide cceptability as a representative organisation of the Sikh community, the Shiromani Gurdwara rabandhak Committee was custom-made to not just represent but advance the religion, and take it through the labyrinths of a discourse with modernity. Instead, the SGPC today is a handmaiden of just one family, a bunch of power-hungry people and is manned either by the irreligious or the unscruplous. Complete lack of democracy and good governance practices have now reduced it to real madhouse. No wonder, those who man it take pride in calling it a Mini Parliament. In reality, it is as badly run as the Indian Parliament.</span></span></span></p><p> <span style="color: #231f20"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="color: #000080"></span></span></span></p><p> <span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="color: #000080">The challenges facing the community are many, and tough. Apart from the daily quibbles over Maryada, there have been partisan and bitter debates on on the subject of Dasam Granth, All India Sikh Gurdwara Act, status of Takht Sahibans, appointments of top clergy, issues of resource distribution between Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh, an increasingly widespread tendency at apostasy, the culture of derawad, the issues of place of priestly class in Sikh society, the role of missionary colleges and seminaris, and sundry other matters.</span></span></p><p></p><p> <span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="color: #000080">Stepping back from such issues, there are larger issues of the Sikh community's interface with the neo-liberal economy's realities that affects the religion and its administration in interesting ways.</span></span></p><p></p><p> <span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="color: #000080">The issue of virtually every village in Punjab having separate gurdwaras, the prevalence of caste as a construct within the Sikh society, the increasing distance between the Sikhs and the Dalits, the poor handling of the trouble caused by Sirsa dera's fraudster sadh and the affect it has been having on Sikh-Dalit relationship, are all issues that one would have thought would come in for serious discussion within the SGPC.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="color: #000080"></span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="color: #000080"></span></span><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="color: #000080">Instead, we are treated every year to the sorry spectacle of the SGPC leaders assuring us that the affairs of the religious body are being run "exactly as per the wishes of the Akali Dal leadership." This year, Avtar Singh Makkar, propped up as the leader of the urban Sikhs, a non-Jat, and a spineless man to boot, educated us that the SGPC affairs have always been decided by the Akali Dal leadership and even asked the reporters, "Why do you have any doubt about it?" No one had any doubts, but Makkar will go down in history as the man who spoke the shameless truth with a straight face without flinching. </span></span><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="color: #000080"></span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="color: #000080"></span></span></p><p> <span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="color: #000080">That is a better achievement than any Tohra. </span></span><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="color: #000080"></span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="color: #000080"></span></span></p><p> <span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="color: #000080">The Diaspora Sikhs will do well to just compare the functioning of the SGPC to the way they have been trying to run their community affairs. The new team at Surrey is working on how to involve youth and children in community activities. It is seeing education as a way out. The Fremont Sahib gurdwara team is working on how to pull out the gurdwara administration from huge debts and integrate the sangat into the day to day functioning of the community life in gurdwaras. The El Sobrante gurdwara is paying attention to the growing role of the community and thus trying to add infrastructure to the gurdwara while trying to take along the local residents. </span></span><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="color: #000080"></span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="color: #000080"></span></span></p><p> <span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="color: #000080">As all of this happens, the SGPC takes a cautious decision that suits the Badals: stay away from the Guruta Gaddi celebrations since the Badals' write may not run all over. So it just makes a token presence, then walks away. When the Sikhs the world over were fully immersed in religiosity and a great chance was there to ensure that the issue of education could be brought to the heart of all community debate, the SGPC simply decides to squander it all away. </span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="color: #000080"></span></span></p><p> <span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="color: #000080">The continuous effort to keep Bibi Jagir Kaur near the power center of the Akali Dal and the SGPC is also questionable considering the charges she is facing in courts of law, and her perceived role in the murky affair of the death of her own daughter. Even Cherie Blair had to blush, but not the Akali leadership. </span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="color: #000080"></span></span><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="color: #000080"></span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="color: #000080"></span></span><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="color: #000080">Mismanagement and malfeasance in the SGPC has been spoken of ad nauseum by now. Sometime back, there was renewed talk in some circles about underlining the need for structural and organizational changes but the machinations of the Badals have taken the force out of the sails of such a revolution. </span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="color: #000080"></span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="color: #000080">Now we have a situation where the Akali Dal president Sukhbir Singh Badal announces from any available stage that his party is fielding four candidates for the Delhi Assembly elections and two of them will be fighting on BJP symbols. "Earlier, all were fighting on BJP tickets but this time two will fight on the Akali Dal's own symbol," he said. </span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="color: #000080"></span></span></p><p> <span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="color: #000080">Next time, you don't even have to make an allegation that the Akali Dal is in league with the RSS. Just quote Sukhbir Singh Badal. The novices are candid, though due to stunted intellectual growth. </span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="color: #000080"></span></span></p><p> <span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="color: #000080">Surely, if there is nothing wrong with the Akali Dal candidates fighting on BJP symbol, there can;t be much wrong with BJP candidates fighting on Akali Dal symbol. What now is the hassle for any BJP member to fight elections to the SGPC under an Akali Dal symbol? </span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="color: #000080"></span></span></p><p> <span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="color: #000080">And where goes the authority of Akal Takht amid all this debate when we all know who calls the shots? No one family, no matter how powerful, can appropriate to itself the entire decision making for the community. It is time the community talks back, reacts back, and takes its affairs into its own hands. Otherwise “Koorr Phire Pardhan Ve Lalo”. </span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="color: #000080"></span></span><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="color: #000080"></span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="color: #000080"></span></span><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="color: #000080">One of the most definitive ways in which the lack of democracy and accountability gets underlined is the way the budget making exercise of the SGPC takes place. The Rs 400 crore budget is transcribed in four thick volumes, made almost unreadable thanks to the talent of the drafting team. Then it is presented before the general house and in less than a minute, someone belts out the war cry of "Bole So Nihal." As "Sat Sri Akal" echoes around the Teja Singh Samundri Hall, the budget is declared passed. </span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="color: #000080"></span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="color: #000080">How would have the mahant system been worse than this? </span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="color: #000080"></span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="color: #000080">When was the last time you heard a discussion in the SGPC about how to cleanse the system, how to formulate norms about who can be a member, how to end politicization of the religious affairs body? Or how to make budgeting procedures more transparent by opening ways of reviewing and auditing of the budget? </span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="color: #000080"></span></span></p><p> <span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="color: #000080">The Sikh Nation must get its act together to pull the SGPC from the morass it has slipped into. Every gurdwara, every forum of the Sikhs should be debating the issue in its weekly gatherings. We need seminars, workshops, debates on how to save the SGPC. It is not about the Badals or the Makkars, it is about us.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="color: #000080"></span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><span style="color: #000080"></span></span></p><p> <span style="color: #000080"><span style="font-size: 10px"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'">26 November </span></span></span><span style="color: #ff0000"><span style="color: #999999"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"><strong>2008</strong></span></span></span></p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="spnadmin, post: 90152, member: 35"] To those who believe that Sri Guru Granth Sahib Maharaj and the khalsa are equal as Guru. To those who believe that Sri Gobind Singh Patasha intended that his khalsa be seen as equal to the Granth Sahib, I say this: Do you then behold your guru? Is it a reflection of yourself? Who of them is guru? Who of them is khalsa? :) [LEFT][FONT=Arial][B][COLOR=#000080][SIZE=5]Mangling the religion[/SIZE][/COLOR][/B][/FONT] [FONT=Arial][B][COLOR=#000080][SIZE=5] [/SIZE][/COLOR][/B][/FONT][/LEFT] [LEFT][COLOR=#000080][B]Sach Kanwal Singh - World Sikh News[/B][/COLOR] [/LEFT] [I][COLOR=#000080][FONT=Arial][B]How The Mini Parliament Of The Sikhs Has Been Hijacked By Vested Interests. This Special Report takes a macro look at the entire gamut of functioning of the SGPC and brings out what is wrong. It argues for a thorough engagement at all levels to save the institution from those manning it[/B][/FONT][/COLOR][/I] [FONT=Arial][COLOR=#000080]You want to recall the glorious period of contemporary Sikh history, try the origins of the Shiromani Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee (SGPC). A child of the Gurdwara Reform Movement and an example of what positive resistance and a return to the roots struggle can achieve, the setting up of the SGPC is a lesson on how a minority can save its identity, freedom and institutions with a simple tactic: just plain honest sense of purpose and leadership.[/COLOR][/FONT] [FONT=Arial][COLOR=#000080]You want to study how not to run an institution, how institutionalizing administration of the affairs of a minority can lead to worse ways of control and muzzling of ideas, and how institutions that go haywire can wreck even the most glorious of legacies, study the way the SGPC is being run for the last few years. Pay particular attention to who gets to call the shots and why, and how the men and women tasked with managing its affairs are selected/elected, and you would have a study in contrast.[/COLOR][/FONT][FONT=Arial][COLOR=#000080] [/COLOR][/FONT] [FONT=Arial][COLOR=#000080]One of the most respected and widely accepted body of the Sikhs, basically a premier Sikh gurdwara management panel but whose role over the years has far outgrown its stated objectives, represents today a pathetic picture of what a good institution could have been.[/COLOR][/FONT][FONT=Arial][COLOR=#000080] [/COLOR][/FONT] [FONT=Arial][COLOR=#000080]To just start pointing out the aberrations, so far even the name Shiromani Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee needs to be clarified. Legal records of the SGPC itself are run in the name of a central board.[/COLOR][/FONT] [FONT=Arial][COLOR=#000080]Elections to the SGPC General House, comprising some 185 members, are conducted with the help of a government panel called Gurdara Election Commission, and so far only the Akali Dal has fought these elections on its party symbol. For many years now, the party led by Parkash Singh Badal and now his son Sukhbir Singh Badal, thanks to the clout it enjoys in terms of political reach, money, muscle power and the killer instinct, has been winning most seats.[/COLOR][/FONT] [FONT=Arial][COLOR=#000080]Such is the cult of personality in the Akali Dal, and the same has permeated to such an extent into the SGPC culture, that all major decisions are almost a family matter for the Badals.[/COLOR][/FONT][FONT=Arial][COLOR=#000080] [/COLOR][/FONT] [FONT=Arial][COLOR=#000080]Elections to the top office posts of the SGPC are organized every year, and members of the general house elect the SGPC president and other office bearers. By now, the Sikhs know well that basically the Badals select a man, send a slip of paper in an envelope that is opened right on the spot and a usual cry of Bole So Nihal follows. This becomes the choice of the Panth.[/COLOR][/FONT] [FONT=Arial][COLOR=#000080]It is immediately followed by the chosen one thanking the Badal family members, the SGPC members, the sangat and the Akal Purakh, very often in that order.[/COLOR][/FONT] [FONT=Arial][COLOR=#000080]It was no different this time. It wasn't expected to be.[/COLOR][/FONT] [FONT=Arial][COLOR=#000080]But the fact that a Sikh organization in times of crisis for the community, and with a budget of Rs 400 crores and hundreds of gurdwaras, educational institutions, social forums, hospitals and inestimable real estate resources, men and money power, simply sits on it all and exploits the resources for the benefit of the Akali Dal and its top brass, has been perturbing the Sikhs for a long time now.[/COLOR][/FONT] [COLOR=#231f20][FONT=Arial] [COLOR=#000080]With Rs 400 crore budget, and wide cceptability as a representative organisation of the Sikh community, the Shiromani Gurdwara rabandhak Committee was custom-made to not just represent but advance the religion, and take it through the labyrinths of a discourse with modernity. Instead, the SGPC today is a handmaiden of just one family, a bunch of power-hungry people and is manned either by the irreligious or the unscruplous. Complete lack of democracy and good governance practices have now reduced it to real madhouse. No wonder, those who man it take pride in calling it a Mini Parliament. In reality, it is as badly run as the Indian Parliament. [/COLOR][/FONT][/COLOR] [FONT=Arial][COLOR=#000080]The challenges facing the community are many, and tough. Apart from the daily quibbles over Maryada, there have been partisan and bitter debates on on the subject of Dasam Granth, All India Sikh Gurdwara Act, status of Takht Sahibans, appointments of top clergy, issues of resource distribution between Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh, an increasingly widespread tendency at apostasy, the culture of derawad, the issues of place of priestly class in Sikh society, the role of missionary colleges and seminaris, and sundry other matters.[/COLOR][/FONT] [FONT=Arial][COLOR=#000080]Stepping back from such issues, there are larger issues of the Sikh community's interface with the neo-liberal economy's realities that affects the religion and its administration in interesting ways.[/COLOR][/FONT] [FONT=Arial][COLOR=#000080]The issue of virtually every village in Punjab having separate gurdwaras, the prevalence of caste as a construct within the Sikh society, the increasing distance between the Sikhs and the Dalits, the poor handling of the trouble caused by Sirsa dera's fraudster sadh and the affect it has been having on Sikh-Dalit relationship, are all issues that one would have thought would come in for serious discussion within the SGPC.[/COLOR][/FONT] [FONT=Arial][COLOR=#000080] [/COLOR][/FONT][FONT=Arial][COLOR=#000080]Instead, we are treated every year to the sorry spectacle of the SGPC leaders assuring us that the affairs of the religious body are being run "exactly as per the wishes of the Akali Dal leadership." This year, Avtar Singh Makkar, propped up as the leader of the urban Sikhs, a non-Jat, and a spineless man to boot, educated us that the SGPC affairs have always been decided by the Akali Dal leadership and even asked the reporters, "Why do you have any doubt about it?" No one had any doubts, but Makkar will go down in history as the man who spoke the shameless truth with a straight face without flinching. [/COLOR][/FONT][FONT=Arial][COLOR=#000080] [/COLOR][/FONT] [FONT=Arial][COLOR=#000080]That is a better achievement than any Tohra. [/COLOR][/FONT][FONT=Arial][COLOR=#000080] [/COLOR][/FONT] [FONT=Arial][COLOR=#000080]The Diaspora Sikhs will do well to just compare the functioning of the SGPC to the way they have been trying to run their community affairs. The new team at Surrey is working on how to involve youth and children in community activities. It is seeing education as a way out. The Fremont Sahib gurdwara team is working on how to pull out the gurdwara administration from huge debts and integrate the sangat into the day to day functioning of the community life in gurdwaras. The El Sobrante gurdwara is paying attention to the growing role of the community and thus trying to add infrastructure to the gurdwara while trying to take along the local residents. [/COLOR][/FONT][FONT=Arial][COLOR=#000080] [/COLOR][/FONT] [FONT=Arial][COLOR=#000080]As all of this happens, the SGPC takes a cautious decision that suits the Badals: stay away from the Guruta Gaddi celebrations since the Badals' write may not run all over. So it just makes a token presence, then walks away. When the Sikhs the world over were fully immersed in religiosity and a great chance was there to ensure that the issue of education could be brought to the heart of all community debate, the SGPC simply decides to squander it all away. [/COLOR][/FONT] [FONT=Arial][COLOR=#000080]The continuous effort to keep Bibi Jagir Kaur near the power center of the Akali Dal and the SGPC is also questionable considering the charges she is facing in courts of law, and her perceived role in the murky affair of the death of her own daughter. Even Cherie Blair had to blush, but not the Akali leadership. [/COLOR][/FONT][FONT=Arial][COLOR=#000080] [/COLOR][/FONT][FONT=Arial][COLOR=#000080]Mismanagement and malfeasance in the SGPC has been spoken of ad nauseum by now. Sometime back, there was renewed talk in some circles about underlining the need for structural and organizational changes but the machinations of the Badals have taken the force out of the sails of such a revolution. [/COLOR][/FONT] [FONT=Arial][COLOR=#000080]Now we have a situation where the Akali Dal president Sukhbir Singh Badal announces from any available stage that his party is fielding four candidates for the Delhi Assembly elections and two of them will be fighting on BJP symbols. "Earlier, all were fighting on BJP tickets but this time two will fight on the Akali Dal's own symbol," he said. [/COLOR][/FONT] [FONT=Arial][COLOR=#000080]Next time, you don't even have to make an allegation that the Akali Dal is in league with the RSS. Just quote Sukhbir Singh Badal. The novices are candid, though due to stunted intellectual growth. [/COLOR][/FONT] [FONT=Arial][COLOR=#000080]Surely, if there is nothing wrong with the Akali Dal candidates fighting on BJP symbol, there can;t be much wrong with BJP candidates fighting on Akali Dal symbol. What now is the hassle for any BJP member to fight elections to the SGPC under an Akali Dal symbol? [/COLOR][/FONT] [FONT=Arial][COLOR=#000080]And where goes the authority of Akal Takht amid all this debate when we all know who calls the shots? No one family, no matter how powerful, can appropriate to itself the entire decision making for the community. It is time the community talks back, reacts back, and takes its affairs into its own hands. Otherwise “Koorr Phire Pardhan Ve Lalo”. [/COLOR][/FONT][FONT=Arial][COLOR=#000080] [/COLOR][/FONT][FONT=Arial][COLOR=#000080]One of the most definitive ways in which the lack of democracy and accountability gets underlined is the way the budget making exercise of the SGPC takes place. The Rs 400 crore budget is transcribed in four thick volumes, made almost unreadable thanks to the talent of the drafting team. Then it is presented before the general house and in less than a minute, someone belts out the war cry of "Bole So Nihal." As "Sat Sri Akal" echoes around the Teja Singh Samundri Hall, the budget is declared passed. [/COLOR][/FONT] [FONT=Arial][COLOR=#000080]How would have the mahant system been worse than this? [/COLOR][/FONT] [FONT=Arial][COLOR=#000080]When was the last time you heard a discussion in the SGPC about how to cleanse the system, how to formulate norms about who can be a member, how to end politicization of the religious affairs body? Or how to make budgeting procedures more transparent by opening ways of reviewing and auditing of the budget? [/COLOR][/FONT] [FONT=Arial][COLOR=#000080]The Sikh Nation must get its act together to pull the SGPC from the morass it has slipped into. Every gurdwara, every forum of the Sikhs should be debating the issue in its weekly gatherings. We need seminars, workshops, debates on how to save the SGPC. It is not about the Badals or the Makkars, it is about us.[/COLOR][/FONT] [FONT=Arial][COLOR=#000080] [/COLOR][/FONT] [COLOR=#000080][SIZE=2][FONT=Arial]26 November [/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR][COLOR=#ff0000][COLOR=#999999][FONT=Arial][B]2008[/B][/FONT][/COLOR][/COLOR] [/QUOTE]
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