Tohra elected SGPC President

Who: Gurcharan Singh Tohra (1924-2004), a farmer's son from Tohra village in Patiala district, a graduate of Lahore and a lifelong Akali. The SGPC's own list of presidents shows Sant Chanan Singh in office from October 1962 to November 1972, then Mohan Singh Tur briefly, then Tohra from 1973.

What: Tohra took over as president of the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee in 1973. The Tribune recalled that he began by starting kar seva on the sarovar of Sri Harmandir Sahib. He was returned to the post again and again. Khushwant Singh wrote that he was re-elected 26 times. The SGPC's list gives four spells: 1973 to 23 March 1986, 30 November 1986 to 28 November 1990, 13 November 1991 to 16 March 1999, and 27 July 2003 to 31 March 2004. Added up, that is about 25 years, the longest hold anyone has had on the office. The breaks were filled by Kabal Singh (1986) and Baldev Singh Sibia (1990-91).

Where: Amritsar, where the SGPC sits in the Sri Darbar Sahib complex.

Why it mattered: The SGPC runs the historic gurdwaras, and the Tribune called its head the leader of the Panth's "mini-parliament". Tohra held it through the Emergency, the Dharam Yudh Morcha and the Ghallughara of June 1984. He was inside the complex with Sant Harchand Singh Longowal when the Army entered, and he was held there until the Army took him out on 6 June.

• The Tribune credited him with "restoring the glory of Akal Takht", and both the Tribune and Khushwant Singh praised his personal honesty. He left little more than his family land and house.
• Khushwant Singh was a sharp critic. He wrote that Tohra failed to protect the sanctity of the Golden Temple and surrendered tamely to the Army, and that he never led the Panth beyond morchas and jail.
• Himmat Singh Gill, writing in the Tribune, said his position was challenged only twice: when Sant Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale was at his height, and in the Akali Dal split that ended his partnership with Parkash Singh Badal.

That split cost him the chair. He was removed by a pro-Badal executive committee a month before the 1999 tercentenary of the Khalsa, and Bibi Jagir Kaur took over on 16 March 1999. In July 2003 he came back, with Badal's support. Tohra suffered a heart attack on 25 March 2004 after doing kar seva at the same sarovar, and died in New Delhi days later, still in office.