Devinder Maan Blames Punjabi OMNI News For Twisting His Words And He Plans To File Legal Notice, He Tells LINK
By R. Paul Dhillon
SOUTH VANCOUVER – The shutdown of the Guru Nanak Elementary school last Monday angered many Sikh students and parents, who blamed the inept executive committee of the Khalsa Diwan Society, Vancouver for shutting down the Provincially school that receives $240,000 in annual government funding which has a regular school curriculum with some Sikh-religion-based education.
The school’s principal Devinder Maan was at the centre of the storm as he initially organized a protest in front of the Ross Street temple where the school was based after his students were locked out and then supposedly made comments to Punjabi television news on the ethnic OMNI Television which said that the protest was planned drama and that he knew about the shutdown much earlier.
In an interview with the LINK on Friday, Maan said he said no such thing and that OMNI news twisted his words to make it look like he was conceding that he knew about the shutdown but when in fact he only found on Monday as negotiations to keep the school were ongoing.
“It’s totally wrong what they have reported,” Maan told the LINK. “I did a long interview with their reporter where I mentioned that once I found out that the school would not be allowed to open on Tuesday, I told the parents and we planned the protest Monday night. That is what I said but they (OMNI Punjabi News) twisted my words.”
When asked why didn’t he go back to the news channel and ask for a clarification on what he said – Maan said he did phone the OMNI news department and was told that the news is now old and they will not allow him to make a clarification.
When asked whether he has approached the station’s management of filed a legal notice, Maan said his lawyers are looking into it and he planned to file a legal notice if they do not allow him to clarify what he said.
“Our lawyers are looking into all this and we will bring the whole reality to the community,” Maan said. “The parents are extremely angry and we will not stay quiet.”
According to Maan, the Khalsa Diwan Society executive voted at the last minute on Monday night to close the school down, which affects 73 students.
“We were still talking to the management about keeping the school open on Monday and working out all different issues so how can it be that it was planned drama,” Maan said. “When we found out that they were locking us out, we decided to plan the protest – that is what I said and that is the reality.”
Maan has been accused of changing his story but upon much probing by the LINK about the planned drama and propaganda against the temple executive, Maan was sticking to his story that he and his students are upset at the sudden closing despite the school meeting all of its obligations.
“I said in my press release on Monday that I am shocked as the Sikh community is struggling to promote culture, religion and moral values and now this education institution is being shut down by Khalsa Diwan Society executives and I’m sticking to those words,” Maan told the LINK..
Maan had also said in his press release that: “Khalsa Diwan Society executive has snatched smiles from many innocent faces. It is a black mark in the glorious history of Khalsa Diwan Society. It also leaves a big question mark for Vancouver’s sikh community about what guiding principles are followed to run these religious places.”
Ross Street temple president Kashmir Dhaliwal said earlier that all of the parents were notified about the pending closure in 2009, but that assertion was answered with shouts of “no, no, no,” from protesting parents.
The temple executive had said in their printed advertisements and in an interview with the LINK that the lease expired in July and due to the school not paying its bills the lease was not renewed but Maan denies it, saying that all bills have been settled, including paying $150,000 for renovations for the school.
“They were dumping extra expenses on the school that were not ours and we fought on that,” Maan said.
Maan also accused the executive of wasting the temple’s money by spending $72,000 to collect $2000 a month early.
Maan said despite being locked out he is not giving up on the school as he is currently trying to find alternative premises to keep the school going.
The school, which offers specialized Sikh studies alongside traditional curriculum, was approved by the province to operate until at least 2014.
