Gajendra Singh Sandhu is Uttarakhand Prant Sangh Chalak

JALANDHAR: The Sikh man, who was in the frame along with former President Pranab Mukherjee and RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat at the Sangh headquarters in Nagpur on June 7, has been associated with the Hindu outfit for the past 58 years.

The common perception, which has been widely shared on social media, is that his presence on stage was a deliberate act aimed at projecting the Sangh’s inclusive approach. However, the man in the picture, Uttarakhand Prant Sangh Chalak Gajendra Singh Sandhu, tells he was on the stage by virtue of being the sarvadhikari (chief) of the Truteeya Varsh Sangh Shisha Varg (officers’ training camp third year) for the current year. Every year, a new sarvadhikari holds the camp.

Apart from Sandhu, Punjab also has a Sikh as prant sangh chalak (state in-charge) in Brij Bhushan Singh Bedi. The sangh has 42 prant sangh chalaks.

“It so happened that former President Mukherjee was invited this year and he came. Had he not been invited, I would have been on stage according to the protocol of our camp. It was a sheer coincidence that I was the sarvadhikari this year and there was nothing deliberate in my presence there,” Sandhu told TOI on Saturday.

“In 2000, I was mukhya shikshak (principal trainer) at a similar camp and the responsibility of being sarvadhikari in the camp came to me as a routine exercise. There was nothing unusual about it,” he said.

Sandhu hails from Rudrapur in Uttarakhand and is currently the government advocate (GA) in-charge of state prosecution in Nainital high court. “My parents came from Lahore and settled in Uttarakhand, which was then part of Uttar Pradesh,” he said.

About his association with RSS, he said it went back more than 58 years. In 1975, he attended the Truteeya Varsh. “I was associated with the RSS in my childhood and my journey with it is already 58 years old,” he said.

Asked what made him join RSS, he said initially he would go to the shakha (branch), only to play. “Then, the value system and national character they emphasized in the shakha attracted me and I became a swayam sewak (volunteer),” he said.

When questioned about the apprehensions and even aversion among several Sikh quarters about RSS, he said the apprehensions were misplaced. “People make their perception without knowing the Sangh. They should watch it from close quarters and should then make their opinion. The former President was also invited so that he could know RSS from close quarters,” he said.

Responding to another question, Sandhu said the Sangh completely accepted the separate religious identity of Sikhs. “There is no doubt about it. Sangh as always accepted that Sikhs, Buddhists and Jains have their own religious identity. I have never felt that there is any dichotomy in practising my Sikh faith and working in the Sangh,” he argued, adding there were quite a few Sikh functionaries of the RSS working at different levels.

He also said apprehensions that RSS was against minorities was also misplaced. “We never get into minority-majority debate. This equation has been created by politicians we just focus that all should have one national character,” Sandhu remarked.

