Claiming that the Sikhs of Haryana never wanted a separate body to manage the gurdwaras in the State, Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal on Saturday described the State Government’s move to carve out a separate body as Congress’ desperate attempt to hand over control of gurdwaras to its agents.
“This ill-conceived move is aimed at dividing the Sikhs on one hand and destabilising the Sikh panth on the other,” Badal said at a function here.“Haryana Congress is following the footsteps of the erstwhile British Government, who appointed their stooges (Mahants) to run the affairs of Gurdwaras in the pre-SGPC period as a result of which Gurdwara reforms movement was initiated and led to the formation of SGPC in 1925,”he said.
Badal claimed that Sikhs in Haryana never wanted Haryana Sikh Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (HSGPC) and it was aptly proved in the last general elections of SGPC when all the 11 seats in Haryana were captured by Shiromani Akali Dal with a thumping majority.The “protagonist” of HSGPC like Jagdish Singh Jhinda and Didar Singh Nalwi, who spearheaded the campaign for separate SGPC in Haryana, were badly trounced and could not even save their security deposits, Badal said.
He said that now these “cronies” are playing into the hands of Haryana Congress in furtherance of its political motives, eyeing on the forthcoming State Assembly elections.Haryana Assembly passed the Bill on Friday paving way for the formation of a separate body to manage affairs of gurdwaras in the State.
Badal said the entire episode for the creation of separate committee was merely a political gimmick of the Congress which would soon unfold into reality and said that it was practically not feasible to constitute separate committee and would not happen at all. He also mentioned that even the Haryana Congress was time and again refrained from acting so by the former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who never allowed them to meddle in the religious affairs of Sikhs, realising fully that this sinister move could vitiate the congenial atmosphere in the region.
legal implications of separate body
Chandigarh: For Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, the passing of the Haryana Sikh Gurdwaras (Management) Bill, 2014, which paves the way for a separate body for Haryana’s gurdwaras, was only the first hurdle which he has crossed.The Hooda Government rushed with the Bill in the Assembly on Friday, introducing it and getting it passed on the very first day of the Monsoon Session.It is now likely to push Haryana Governor Jagannath Pahadia to give his asset to the bill to make it a law.
Pahadia, appointed by the Congress-led UPA Government and a former Congress leader, is completing his five-year term by the end of July. It is a tricky situation for him at the fag end of his tenure.
The SGPC and the Akali Dal, which approached Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh when the Hooda Government initiated the move for a separate Sikh body last month, have been given assurances by the centre that the Haryana Government cannot push ahead with the legislation without the Centre’s consent. Finally, President Pranab Mukherjee has to give his assent to the Bill.
With BJP-led NDA, of which the Akali Dal is a partner, at the helm of affairs at the Centre, the Bill passed by the Haryana Assembly has to clear legal and political hurdles.
The legal view over the issue is divided. While some say that Haryana cannot violate the Sikh Gurdwara Act, 1925, as it falls under parliament’s purview, the Hooda Government got the legislation passed, saying it was competent to do so. If the bill becomes an Act, the Haryana Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (HSGPC) will come into being.
Cong chief hails Haryana gurdwara panel
Chandigarh: Punjab Congress president, Partap Singh Bajwa on Saturday hailed the formation of the Haryana Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee and hoped that this might be the first step towards the end of the stranglehold of Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and his son and the Deputy Chief Minister, Sukhbir Singh Badal, over the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee.