Mr. Ajit Singh Dhaliwal’s team of 13 unscrupulous trustees – that has taken on the entire decent population of youth, adults, and the older venerable generation at GNFA – did him a disservice. They set him up to use a highly accessible media to purposefully misreport events, for which he was personally absent, to garner media attention that he really would have been better off avoiding.

1. Sequence of Events:

On Monday (4/22/2002), the GNFA Raagis were served a notice of suspension, yes, but Mr. Dhaliwal forgot to mention that after fourteen years of service at GNFA, the Raagis were given only 12 hours of notice to vacate their office which is not only a resting place, but where they meet people and where they stay during Akhand Paaths. Mr. Dhaliwal also forgot to mention that their contract requires six months notice if either party wished to terminate the agreement.

On Friday (4/26/2002), Mr. Dhaliwal reports, “…5/6 people ladies and gents went into the main Diwan hall and grabbed the Keertan Jatha from the stage …”. Our ladies must have Herculean strength to “grab” 3 grown men as they sat on the stage. Where were Mr. Dhaliwal and his teammates when these ladies were hurling these men right off the stage – absent perhaps? Mr. Dhaliwal sounds angry enough “reporting” this occurrence he would surely have stepped in to prevent it.

SikhSentinel.com and Sikhe.com ran a story complete with pictures of the entire proceeding. The article and pictures speak for themselves and the accuracy can be verified by all the decent Sangat present.

Mr. Dhaliwal, let’s jog your memory about the events of Sunday morning (4/28/2002) when the Sangat was met at the door by GNFA Chairman Kashmir Singh Dhariwal and four police officers. Can anyone believe that the appointed chairman has the nerve to hand pick who could and could not enter the Gurdwara to worship. Did you fail to notice the children and elderly ladies who were left standing in the rain as you were picked to enter? This story also ran on Sikhe.com.

Mr. Dhaliwal forgot to mention that the same Kashmir Singh Dhariwal was arrested and found guilty in April 1994 of “assault and battery by mob on each of the five (5) counts.” The arrest and conviction stemmed from a large melee at the Sikh Foundation of Virginia, a nearby Gurdwara, in which nine people went to the hospital. (Case Number 82509, Fairfax County, VA)

2. Financial Situation of GNFA:

Mr. Dhaliwal talks about the financial situation of GNFA and would like the Sangat to conclude that the annual revenue of GNFA stands at $120,000. Here are the actual figures, he should take note of because the youth and Sangat are already aware of this publicly shared and audited information:

1998 GNFA revenue - $229,000

1999 GNFA revenue - $287,761

2000 GNFA revenue - $354,608

2001 GNFA revenue - $??????? (the Sangat awaits confirmation)

Mr. Dhaliwal the above dollar figures are revenue earned in the years that our membership grew slowly, realistically and legitimately from about 600 members to last year’s 1100 members.

This year should be a bountiful and record breaking revenue generating year in our Gurughar’s history. Our GNFA membership has magically grown to an amazing 3,600 members.

We should see the strength of adding 2500 new members right away. The monthly balance sheets should already show the bulging, extra golak collection. Mr. Dhaliwal, you should not worry about the members who are not contributing to pay the mortgage payment. The new members will surely, with a lot of zest, want to partake in giving and pledging their share. The langars at the Gurughar should not be a problem considering our three-fold jump in GNFA membership.

If the revenue is not already showing a record increase or as Mr. Dhaliwal would have us believe that revenue is down to less than half of the amounts collected in the previous years, it is an issue that warrants serious examination by Mr. Dhaliwal. He should attempt to ensure that the funds have not been misappropriated. In any institution where the membership increase does not match revenue growth, it reflects very poorly on the practices and policies being pursued by the existing management.

Mr. Dhaliwal gets a little breathless when he tells us that in January 2002 the board (again the same devious group of 14) passed a resolution to cut GNFA payroll and notified the Raagis. Some important information got dropped off. The suspension notice was sent to the Raagis 3 months after that January meeting when the resolution was passed. The minutes claimed that all employees on GNFA payroll would be suspended. Mr. Dhaliwal needs to look into the continued employment of sewadar Mr. Narinder Singh.

3. Financial Situation of Raagis:

Mr. Dhaliwal would want you to believe that the three Raagis cost GNFA over $60000/year as per a 14 year old contract, but up until 1999 GNFA was paying them only $650/month each. Beginning in 2000, it was increased to a salary of $12000/year each.

GNFA’s total annual cost break down since 2000 for the 3 Raagis is as follows:

$36,000 ($12,000 x 3) salary

$ 5,400 health insurance

$ 4,800 housing allowance

$ 2,700 (7.5% x $36,000) FICA

$48,900 TOTAL

Mr. Dhaliwal, where is the missing $11,000/year?

Mr. Dhaliwal must never have visited the Raagis castle in “a very decent community.” (Should they be raising their families in an indecent community?) Well, again, Mr. Dhaliwal, you got the facts wrong. According to the Maryland State Department of Assessments and Taxation, the current value of the Raagis house is half of what you claim. Mr. Dhaliwal, you also failed to mention that there are 3 families living in this house.

Mr. Dhaliwal, you stated that the Raagis sell musical instruments and Palkis to supplement their income. Oh my God, call the moral police! What is the problem with the Raagis living the American dream. It only shows that the Sangat supports and appreciates them. Are you jealous?

4. Political Situation at GNFA:

Mr. Dhaliwal boasts about his understanding of the Sikh Rehat Maryada, would someone please tell him not to disgrace the Sabat Surat Amritdhari’s by using their special greeting of saluting the Almighty and each other. Mr. Dhaliwal’s neatly trimmed beard belies his big words on how religion should be taught to the youth and Sangat, and who should play the role of teaching it.

5. Role of Suspended Ragis:

Mr. Dhaliwal mentioned that their attorney (being paid by our – the Sangat’s hard earned golak charawa) had his turn signal broken, his car door kicked and even his wife “grabbed” from the passenger seat. Mr. Dhaliwal, there you go again. Please don’t get breathless. Let us back track a little – where had the attorney driven to, where was he parked, what was he doing there, what was the motivation behind this attorney’s videotaping of the Raagi Singh’s house and on whose instructions was he doing all this anyway. Did your friends tell you that there were five witnesses to the entire fiasco? Perhaps your attorney’s videotape will show what really happened – nothing.

The next time Mr. Ajit Singh Dhaliwal takes it upon himself to misguide people at large over the net, or be the mouthpiece for his scheming 13 other comrades, he should insist that they keep him in the loop. They should give him correct information, after all, why should he be made to look like an ill-informed country cousin and take a fall in front of the intelligent and fully aware Sangat.