by force or allurement.Reiterating their commitment to serve the Sikh nation with more zeal, the delegates of the organization brought changes in
its leadership. Satnam Singh Paonta Sahib has been nominated as its next president for a period of two years.
Satnam Singh, who is a close associate of Bhai Gajinder Singh, who resigned two days back to give chance to new incumbent,
has a long history of revolutionary activities for the cause of Sikh independence. Satnam Singh, 54 had to spend one-third
of his life in incarceration because of his ideological leanings and political convictions.
On assuming charge of the party head, Satnam Singh proposed the names of Jaspal Singh Dhillon and Kanwar Pal Singh as
vice-president and general secretary respectively. Mr Dhillon would hold the additional charge of secretary International
affairs and Kanwar Pal Singh of secretary, information and public relations.
He assigned Dr Manjinder Singh Hoshiarpur with the charge of secretary economic affairs and Sarbjit Singh Ghuman with
organizing secretary. Baldev Singh Ajnala (Amritsar) was given the assignment of looking after religious affairs and
Shinder Pal Singh (Nawanshahr) socio-cultural affairs.
Eight-member team that was constituted to look into the affairs of the organization in various parts of the world includes
Manmohan Singh (UK), Surinder Singh Sekhon & Gurdeep Singh (Germany), Ajit Singh Pannu and Gagandeep Singh (USA), Chattar
Singh Saini (Canada), Pritpal Singh (Switzerland) and Gurinder Singh Chahal (New Zealand).
Addressing the gathering of selected activists, the general secretary listed party achievements of the recent past. He
stated that the organization had succeeded in rekindling spirit of freedom amongst Sikh masses by organizing rallies,
conventions and marches. Be it the observance of battle of Amritsar 1984 on June 5, raising the flag of the Sikh nation
symbolizing the sovereignty of the Sikh people on India's Republic day (Jan 26) and launching a freedom march across the
state during the month of April last year. WE have forged close ties with SAD (Amritsar), Shiromani Khalsa Panchayat and
HR&DF. WE have interacted with the National Human Rights Commission and Minority Commission on matters concerning human
rights violations in Punjab.
Announcing his two-year future plans, Mr Satnam Singh laid emphasis on organizational matters. We will endeavor to reach
out to the remotest village to set up organizational base. Making a policy statement he stated that the Dal Khalsa would
from now on be a cadre-based party requiring every member to renew his membership annually. He laid special emphasis on the
enrolment of women members. Setting the political agenda for his party, he said that they would strive to raise the
awareness level of the ordinary citizen of the state so that they would not fall easy prey to corrupt and morally degraded
politicians. He expressed serious concern at the declining morality of the electorate, for example, he said, in lieu of a
bottle of alcohol, they barter away their valuable votes and bright future.
On the electoral front, he said the decision to directly participate in any forthcoming elections would be taken in
consultation with brotherly groups like SAD (Amritsar). We were not shy of direct participation in the electoral process
however the ultimate decision would be taken after due deliberations within the party.
Outlining the social agenda, he said our rank and file would work to ensure that all rural children have excess to primary
education. Explaining further, he said that party activists would motivate parents of such children who were deprived of
basic education to send their wards to schools. He strongly criticized the state government for not providing/maintaining
basic infrastructure and human resources in rural areas that has resulted in a steep decline in the standard of education.
Female foeticide and declining male-female ratio was another area of serious concern that warrants urgent attention, he said.
Realizing the damage caused by drugs abuse and high consumption of alcohol, he called upon party cadres to fully cooperate
with BKU and other NGO's to erase this menace from our society.
Satnam Singh brought certain changes in his approach by pledging to work with Dalits and Hindus in a cordial manner.
Promising to build a political culture where hatred and negativism would find no place, he said healthy and constructive
engagement on all issues can take the society forward.
Significantly, he was firm in his resolve to carry on with his struggle for the fulfilment of rightful political aspirations
of the Sikh nation. When media correspondents asked him about the goal the organization has been propagating since its
inception, Satnam Singh very patiently answered, "goals didn't change with the change of guard. We stand by our commitment
for sovereign Sikh state", he argued.