Elections vs paarchi system

[jagjit_waheguru]

Part 3………….

Waheguru ji ke khalsa, waheguru ji ke fateh

Pyare jio, most youth today know what a nightmare Gurdwara Elections can be. Many have experienced them first hand at their local Gurdwaras. Slough was once, one those towns saved from this. (see email – Demise of Sikhism in Slough below). However times have changed and Slough has also fallen foul to it.

The key to the unity and peace in slough was the Gurdwara never had any elections in its 10-15,000 sikh community. It used the Parchhi system.

Basically there was a constitution, which had a 25 member Committee, with the Top 11 positions reserved for Amritdharis only. Each position had a criteria of skills, and only those who fit these skills applied. All the applications were scrutinised. Then all the names were collated, and the names for each position were put into a small black bag in front of the sangat. Then a child from the sangat was selected, and the child pulled out one name in front of Guru Maharaj Hazori and the sangat. Whoever`s name came out did the seva for the next year. So Simple, and purely Guru Jis Will who got seva, so no-one complained. Slough Gurdwara committees were made in 15 minutes, with no sangat fighting or unnecessary election expense. The Committees always were based with people who loved the Gurdwara and were active and willing sevdaars.

The problem with elections are that they are based not on seva, but on Who can get the most people on their side. This is fine if it is based upon the issues and manifestos, but unfortunately punjabi elections in particular are not. Unfortunately the majority of the younger sangat get put off by any sign of politics, and many elder sangat cannot read or write. This results in election being won by arm twisting, blackmailing, buying people out, spreading false rumours, and generally all the things Gurmat is anti. It divides the community into factions which is anti-Gurmat. It divides families. An example is Slough which has one Bisla brother supporting the councillors, and the others supporting the youth. Friends get divided, and peoples loyalties get questioned especially at crunch time. Most of all the process can be long, and it breaks people "Sharda".

The SGPC is in such a bad situation because it went away from positive selection based on knowledge, seva, principles, and ability, to a system where whoever supports Badal gets in. Kaljug dominates our world, how can we expect this kaljug to go against its natural instincts and push forward Gurmat.

Clearly in Slough, the youth have won this argument and the councillors and their egos even went on Punjab radio to debate in favour of elections, but clearly anyone who has faith in Guru Maharaj and true Sharda for Seva will always have faith in the Paarchi system.

Fortunately more and more youth are now paying interest. The one thing Is clear, youth whether Amritdhari, non-amritdhari or Mone, they all have A sincere nature and want the Gurdwaras to be special places where the community and come together in a positive manner. Will these youth get a chance? Maybe in some towns they will. Singh Sabha Bradford is a model Gurdwara for developing youth and youth ideas for the benefit of the Gurdwara. Equally this reflects in the nature of the sangat and sevadaars, which has a majority of young children and teenagers. However in towns like Slough, as more elder councillors are getting retired they are just using the Gurdwara for their Pindo war games.

I would ask youth in all towns to put forward to their local Gurdwaras In towns where elections have decimated the sangat into factions. Present To the sangat an alternative which is a paarchi system. If people need a Full Gurdwara constitution showing how Paarchi system works, then we can send the old slough one to them.

There are two types of people in this world. One who watch things happen, and one who makes things happen. Lets be the latter. Rather than watching wrong happening in our Gurdwras, lets do what we can to bring change for the better, in the hope our next generation will witness more Gurmat in our Gurdwaras.

Waheguru ji ke khalsa, waheguru ji ke fateh