Veteran Akali leader and former chief secretary of Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) Manjit Singh Calcutta passed away here on Wednesday morning. He was 79.
He was not keeping well for the past some time and had been hospitalised since January 4. He is survived by wife Santokh Kaur, son Gurpreet Singh and two daughters, who reside in Canada.
His cremation will take place here on Thursday noon.
Calcutta entered public life in 1954-55 through All India Sikh Students Federation and became its national president. Later, he became secretary of Gurdwara Sri Guru Singh Sabha, Calcutta. In 1957, he became the general secretary, Shiromani Akali Dal (Eastern States).
He did his LLB from University College of Law, Calcutta, in 1966 and moved to Delhi in 1968. In 1980, he got elected as general secretary of Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee and later became its president. Then, he was elected as national general secretary, SAD, under the presidentship of JS Talwandi, Sant Harchand Singh Longowal, Surjit Singh Barnala and Parkash Singh Badal.
In his decade-long stint at the SGPC, he occupied top posts such as its honorary secretary between 1988 and 2004. He was elected as an MLA from Amritsar South constituency in 1997 and became the minister for higher education. Later, he lost the 2002 polls that he fought under the banner of the SAD (Mann) group.
He was the first chief secretary of the SGPC in 2003 during the tenure of Gurcharan Singh Tohra. He was removed from the post on the directions of the Sikh Gurdwara Judicial Commission, which fixed the maximum age limit of 60 for the post. However, his short stint as chief secretary was also a distinct one as he used to draw only Re 1 per month and that too he would put back in the ‘Guru ki Golak’. He did not enjoy perks like residential accommodation, free phone, etc.
In his political career, he had been instrumental in raising Sikh issues. He created uproar after he showed solidarity with Gurcharan Singh Tohra, the influential and controversial leader who headed the SGPC for a record 27 years.
He was one of the five members of Badal’s cabinet to have resigned in protest against Tohra’s expulsion from the SAD.
On the religious front, he was vocal against the “violation of hukamnamas” issued by the Akal Takht from time to time and highlighted sensitive issues in his “open letter” addressed to the Akal Takht Jathedar, be it revoking the committee formed by Tohra to frame rules regarding service, appointment and superannuation of Akal Takht Jathedars, or the controversial flip-flop decision of the Dera Sacha Sauda exoneration.
Officially, Calcutta was known as the intellectual face of the SAD, yet he had extended his support to the Congress under the leadership of Capt Amarinder Singh, the then PPCC head.
Later, he showed his inclination towards AAP prior to the 2017 Assembly elections.
