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I Can't Hide In My Basement: Gurudwara President

A P Kamath in Vancouver

"I am not afraid," declared Balwant Singh Gill as he discussed his victory over hard-liners led by Dalip Singh Mangat.

But he could not really savor the victory because he had heard that the losers, who alleged there was rigging of votes and police harassment, have threatened to retaliate.

"I cannot hide in my basement," said Gill, who becomes the president of the Guru Nanak gurudwara for the second time, recounting several violent incidents in the temple in the past decade.

The polling took place on Sunday and the results were announced on Monday. More than 40 police officers, some of them in plainclothes, monitored the voting, held on three locations away from the gurudwara.

The Guru Nanak gurudwara is one of the biggest Sikh houses of worship in the world.

Asserting that democracy won, Gill demanded the losing faction should either accept the verdict and work with the winners or simply go to another gurdwara where more traditional views are upheld.

"Leave us alone," he pleaded, adding there was much work to be done to protect Sikhs from racism and discrimination across Canada.

"They have their own gurudwaras," Gill said, referring to the places of worship controlled by the hard-liners. "They should go there."

All 19 other members of the executive committee elected belonged to Gill's faction. Among them is Parminder Singh Pannu, a former radical who got out of the Khalistani faction, and aligned with the moderates. He was beaten up and stabbed two years ago when the liberals and hard-liners fought over the control of the temple.

The hard-liners sought to run the liberals out, particularly on the issue of using tables and chairs in the gurudwara during the langar. Gill's side favors the use of chairs and tables.

Gill received 10,325 votes to the 7056 received by his opponent. Nearly 65 per cent of the eligible voters cast their ballot. He said his opponents had spread vicious lies about him and other moderates through Punjabi radio programs and newspapers.

Mangat was once a member of the executive committee but he was expelled because he did not attend committee meetings, a spokesperson for Gill said. But Mangat says his expulsion was motivated by partisanship. He had stopped attending the Guru Nanak gurudwara since his expulsion, he said.

He contested the election specifically to wrest control of the temple from the hands of Gill and fellow moderates.

Gill said the hard-liners have to accept the people's verdict There are far more important issues facing the community than that of chairs and tables, he asserted.

Referring to the murder of gurdwara caretaker Nirmal Singh Gill last year by self-confessed members of a racist group, Gill asked his opponents to join hands with his group to fight for a more humane society.

EARLIER REPORT:
Vancouver Sikhs Snub Hard-liners

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