[ad_1]
Bibi Jagir Kaur, the first girl to be elected SGPC president greater than 20 years in the past, has made a comeback. A have a look at her chequered profession and what her election means to the SAD.
Teacher-turned-politician
Bibi Jagir Kaur, 66, holds bachelor’s levels in science and schooling and labored as a trainer. In 1987, she stop her job after she was appointed head of the Dera of Baba Prem Singh Murale Wale. The Dera has a major following in Kapurthala district’s Bholath constituency – which Kaur later represented in the state meeting – primarily amongst the Lubana group to which she belongs.
Winning first election
Kaur’s place as Dera head helped her in becoming a member of the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) earlier than the 1997 meeting elections in Punjab. The then occasion chief Parkash Singh Badal determined to subject her from Bholath in opposition to Sukhpal Singh Khaira, son of firebrand Akali politician and former minister Sukhjinder Singh. Khaira, a Congress candidate, misplaced by an enormous margin. Kaur’s victory helped the first-time MLA acquire a cupboard berth in the authorities. She gained the identical seat once more in 2002 and 2012.
First girl SGPC president
Kaur’s meteoric rise got here two years later amid a political tussle between the then Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) chief Gurcharan Singh Tohra and SAD chief Parkash Singh Badal. The rift noticed Badal sacking Tohra, who was SGPC chief for practically 26 years, in March 1999 and changing him with a 44-year-old Kaur, making her the first-ever girl president of the Sikh physique. Her elevation helped by her Dera background, Kaur remained on the put up till November 2000, and once more from September 2004 to November 2005. Kaur’s aggressive posturing established her place in Punjab’s “panthik” politics very quickly. 📣 Express Explained is now on Telegram
Tussle with Akal Takht
However, Kaur’s election as SGPC chief noticed the Sikh group divided over the Nanakshahi calendar, with the Akal Takht Jathedar Puran Singh and Bibi Jagir Kaur representing the two camps. While the SGPC celebrated Guru Gobind Singh’s start anniversary on January 5, 2000, the Akal Takht noticed it two years later, on January 14, 2002.
The battlelines between Kaur and Singh had been drawn, with many anticipating she would use her authority to take away the Jathedar from the put up. Preempting such a transfer, Singh issued an ‘edict’ on January 25, 2000 to excommunicate Kaur from the group and ordered her to seem earlier than the Akal Takht.
As her rivals sensed a chance to topple her, a combative Kaur lastly succeeded in getting Singh eliminated as the Akal Takht Jathedar.
Standing for rights of ladies ‘ragis’
There is an unwritten conference that ladies don’t carry out kirtan at the Golden Temple. While the group had been debating the difficulty for lengthy, Kaur favoured breaking the conference and permitting girls to sing.
As SGPC president, Kaur issued an commercial in newspapers asking Sikh girls who may sing gurbani hymns to contact the physique. However, no Sikh girl reportedly responded to the commercial, with lots of them publicly opposing any tampering with the traditions.
Death of her daughter
Kaur’s early success in politics was quickly overshadowed by the homicide of her daughter in 2002. In an ironic improvement for the first SGPC girl president who stood for ladies’s rights, Kaur was accused of killing her daughter in 2000. Many stated it was a case of honour killing ordered by Kaur, who in March 2012 was convicted by a CBI court docket for abduction and homicide, and jailed for 5 years.
The conviction was a setback to Kaur’s picture and political profession. She misplaced the SGPC presidentship, whereas the SAD additionally didn’t provide her any main put up, retaining her as president of the occasion’s girls’s wing. The Punjab and Haryana High Court acquitted her of all prices in December 2018.
Row over Sikh Code of Conduct
There has been a bit inside the Sikh group that wishes some modifications in the Sikh Code of Conduct (Sikh Rehat Maryada) adopted by the Akal Takht. But Kaur has brazenly opposed any modifications, a difficulty that precipitated friction throughout her first tenure as SGPC president.
Kaur additionally performed an essential function when the 550th start anniversary of Guru Nanak Dev was celebrated final yr. Her stand on the Sikh Code of Conduct throughout the occasion resulted in a tussle with former Union minister and the strongest girl chief in SAD, Harsimrat Kaur Badal. Kaur is reported to have stood her floor, forcing Harsimrat to step again.
Leadership high quality
The SGPC is dealing with a management disaster in its 100th yr. Last yr, the lack of management inside the Sikh physique acquired uncovered when 328 ‘birs’ of the Guru Granth Sahib had been reported to be lacking. A sequence of U-turns had been taken by the SGPC on the difficulty, leading to criticism of president Gobind Singh Longowal.
Observers say Kaur not solely brings expertise to the Sikh physique, but additionally her authoritative angle, which they anticipate will streamline the SGPC administration. Also, in an election yr for SGPC which is celebrating its 100th yr of basis, Kaur at the helm is maybe the finest guess.
[ad_2]
Source hyperlink