The Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC), the body responsible for the management of gurdwaras, and Punjab’s ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) are at loggerheads over the recently passed Sikh Gurdwaras (Amendment) Bill, 2023 in the State Assembly.
The AAP Government in Punjab asserts that “the Bill is aimed at freeing the rights to telecast Gurbani [sacred hymn],” even as the SGPC on Monday dismissed the Bill and asked the State Government to withdraw it, or be ready to face an “intensified struggle”.
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In a special general session of the SGPC held in Amritsar, the Sikh body rejected the Bill and called for its strong opposition at all levels. At the session, SGPC members condemned what they termed “the Punjab Government’s interference in the Sikh Gurdwaras Act, 1925 and the management of SGPC” and announced that this would not be tolerated at any cost.
According to a resolution passed in the meeting, the government led by Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann has been asked to “withdraw the Sikh Gurdwaras (Amendment) Bill, 2023, 66994009r be ready to face an intensified struggle”.
SGPC president Harjinder Singh Dhami said that an amendment to the Sikh Gurdwaras Act, 1925 was possible only with the recommendation of the SGPC. “...Before making any amendment to the Sikh Gurdwaras Act, the approval of two-thirds of the members of the SGPC’s general house cannot be ignored. However, the Punjab Government led by Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann is making this interference with the aim of implementing the anti-Sikh ideology of his Delhi-based boss and Aam Aadmi Party chief Arvind Kejriwal and to usurp the Sikh organisation, the SGPC,” Mr. Dhami said.
“It is surprising that the specially called session [of the SGPC] was used only as a platform for criticising him [Mr. Kejriwal],” Mr. Mann said, meanwhile.
The Punjab CM said he failed to understand why the issue of free-to-air broadcast of the Gurbani had taken a backseat in the session. The special session had been “nothing more than an assembly of leaders to shield the family ruling the roost in SGPC,” he alleged.
Mr. Mann also alleged that Mr. Dhami was acting as a “chief spokesperson” of the Shiromani Akali Dal (Badal) and “toeing the line of his masters”.
