Samraat Joshua Grewal

Samraat Joshua Grewal, is an Australian public figure who in 2019 led a political coup and allegedly took control of the Christian Democratic Party.
Background
Samraat is the great great grandson of Mehtab Singh Grewal, a minister in Maharaja Hira Singhs Royal Court. He is of Punjabi heritage and is a Christian.
Early Political Involvement
Candidacy
Samraat Grewal ran as a candidate for the Christian Democrats in the 2019 New South Wales State Elections for the seat of Mount Druitt. He ran on a conservative policy platform, and spoke on issues such as pill-testing, and had a significant following in India.
Youth Wing
Samraat Grewal was President of the Christian Democrats Youth Movement from 2018-2019.
Christian Democratic Party Coup
On the third of June 2019, Samraat announced that he had seized control of the Christian Democratic Party and removed the Party's Board following a vote of no confidence at a Party State Council which had passed unanimously after half the membership vacated the meeting. This included the Party's leader Rev Fred Nile, who is a longtime member of the New South Wales Parliament. This was allegedly done in an attempt to reform the Party. Subsequently, it was announced that he had established a Directional Committee -leaving the party with two competing Board of Directors to investigate internal party breaches of Electoral Commission regulations. In the following weeks, there were allegations made that the Party's State President Ross Clifford had been bullying party members and members of the theological college he was the President of.
In the following weeks it was confirmed that the Party had been involved in high level breaches of Government Regulations. The Party's State Director Craig Hall said that 'The Party needed to change if it was to survive,' and that the Party's deficient Constitution was being changed by the orders of Government Regulators. By August, it was announced that the Party would have a re-vote of the motion. At this time a former State Director of the Party, Greg Bondar commented that the re-vote would give the membership and opportunity to set a new direction for the Party and its leaders. Eternity news reported that the Coup by Samraat was partially instigated by succession issues, such as when Fred Nile allegedly reneged on a promise to hand over his parliamentary seat to Ross Clifford, Principal of the Baptist Morling College. Resulting in the party losing 80 branches in a year, including four interstate organisations.
By the end of August 2019 the Party had concluded its re-vote of the no-confidence motion which was defeated. Criticisms were made about the secret ballot requiring names to be written on them. In addition, claims were made that the Party Executive moved a motion to prevent Samraat from addressing the membership. After the meeting an associate of Samraats claimed that the Party was a cult of personality and would not recover from the coup.
In November of 2019, it was announced that the Party President Ross Clifford had resigned his position, as a result of mismanagement claims made by Samraat and other party members.
Bibliography
<references />

Main Menu

See Also

Main Menu