Gurcharan Singh Tohra

Panth Rattan Shiri Gurcharan Singh Tohra (24 September 1924 – 1 April 2004) was a president of Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC), a Sikh body in charge of controlling Gurdwara (Sikh places of worship).

He was born in September 1924 in the Punjabi village of Tohra.

Even before India's partition, he was an active member of the Akali movement.

He remained the head of the SGPC for a record 27 years, and was one of the most influential and controversial Sikh leaders of the 20th century.

Indian President A. P. J. Abdul Kalam described the Sikh leader as a "prominent political and social leader who was well known for his work during his many years in public life".

During his lifetime and after his death, Gurcharan Singh Tohra was addressed by many sobriquets.

It included Pope of the Sikhs, Pearl of the Panth, Kingmaker, Pope, Messiah, Reformist, Conformist, Forever-Dissenter, Wily Fox, Wily Politician, and Machiavelli.

Followers often addressed him as Pardhanji (President) or Jathedar.

As an agriculturalist, Tohra was first jailed in 1945 during the Riyasti Praja Mandal Movement in Nabha, in 1950 for formation of popular government in PEPSU.

He became General Secretary of the Patiala unit of the Shiromani Akali Dal in 1947.

Tohra, a graduate in Punjabi from Lahore University, worked at the grass root level for the next two decades and came into contact with Communists, including CPI-M leader Harkishan Singh Surjeet though he did not become one himself.

Known as a hardliner, Tohra had carved out for himself the image of a non-conformist with the powers-that-be in Akali politics and had taken frontline SAD leaders Surjit Singh Barnala and Parkash Singh Badal who had headed Akali Dal governments in Punjab in the eighties and nineties.

He was known for his own brand of politics.

In 1955 and 1960 Tohra was put behind bars in connection with Punjabi Suba agitations, in 1973 in connection with Kisan agitation in Haryana, in 1975, under MISA and under NSA and TADA and religious matters, including Dharam Yudh Morcha and Operation Blue Star (1984).

Tohra became the acting president of SGPC, which manages key Sikh shrines, in 1972 after the death of Sant Chanan Singh and was formally elected its president for the first time in November that year.

Tohra continued to head the SGPC, considered the mini-parliament of the Sikh community, for a record 27 years before he was unceremoniously removed from the key post following a split in SAD in the wake of his revolt against Badal's leadership.

Tohra was arrested during the Emergency and was very popular in Punjab until Jarnail Singh Bhindranwala emerged on the scene and militancy took over Sikh politics.

Tohra's differences with then chief minister Parkash Singh Badal contributed to the fall of the Akali-Janata coalition in 1980.

That began a period of crisis for Tohra as he seemed to favour Bhindranwala's ideas which did not sit well with the opposition.

Tohra was a member of Lok Sabha in 1977–79 though earlier he was elected as a member of the Rajya Sabha five times from Punjab from 1969 to 1976 and re-elected in May 1980, April 1982, in April 1998 and in March 2004.

He played a huge role in Sikh political affairs in post partition India.

Along with Parkash Singh Badal and Jagdev Singh Talwandi, he was regarded as the triumvirate of Sikh politics in Punjab.

Unlike the other two, his main domain was the Sikh religious institution, the SGPC.

Though he dabbled with electoral politics often, Tohra made his mark in Sikh religious affairs.

He is credited with rebuilding the institution of the Akal Takhat.

During Operation Blue Star in 1984 to clear up Harmandir Sahib (Golden Temple) complex from sikh militants, Tohra was the President of the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee.

The army operation happened between 1-6 June 1984.

Several Akali Dal leaders were stuck in the temple complex during the operation.

Gurcharan Singh Tohra was among the Sikh leaders who gave up and were rescued by Army to from within the Golden Temple.

They could only be evacuated in an Armoured personnel carrier (APC) due to fear of firing from the Singhs fighting for their Temple.

When the Army officers met him, the first question he wanted to know was if Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale was dead or alive.

After Operation Blue Star in 1984, Tohra became an embittered man and did not endorse the Punjab accord put forward by the Rajiv Gandhi government to the Akalis for sharing political power with Harchand Singh Longowal.

He took another controversial step some time later by having Sikhs demolish the Akal Takht which was rebuilt after Operation Blue Star by pro-government religious leaders.

The Takht was rebuilt by the Sikhs over several years.

This turned him into the 'bete noire' not only of the Centre but also of the then Akali government in Punjab headed by Surjit Singh Barnala which had opposed the move.

He was detained under the National Security Act but continued to be elected SGPC chairman for several years in absentia.

The origin of Tohra-Badal feud could be traced to the former's casual remarks, made in November 1998, suggesting one-man-one-post for Akali Dal leaders.

Throughout this bleak period, Tohra was supported by Badal but in 1999, the two leaders, considered the best of friends, fell out after the SGPC chief pressed for Badal's removal as SAD chief.

The feud of Gurcharan Singh Tohra vs Parkash Singh Badal was described as "Clash of Titans".

He died of a heart attack in New Delhi on 1 April 2004 at the age of 79.