The row over setting up of separate Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) for Haryana reached Delhi Durbar on Thursday.
Opposing Haryana’s move, Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal urged the Centre to stop the move initiated by Bhupinder Singh Hooda government. Badal, leading a delegation of Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) MPs, alleged that the Congress government in Haryana was taking the initiative with an eye on the forthcoming Assembly elections and the Centre must ensure by enacting a law that SGPC remains the only organization to look after the religious affairs of Sikhs.
“The entire Sikh community is upset with the Hooda government’s move. It is unlawful. Even people of Haryana rejected the Congress nominees in SGPC polls. Their all 11 candidates lost the last SGPC polls. We have asked the Central government to stop Haryana’s move,” said Badal, after submitting the memorandum in this regard to the Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh. Chief Minister said that the SGPC came into existence following 1925 Gurdwara Act after years of struggle and sacrifice by thousands of people against the British ploy to divide the community. “We cannot allow this to happen. SGPC is like Sikh Parliament. We cannot tolerate any move to split it,” Badal said. SAD called for an end to interference in Sikhs’ religious affairs which has been nearly instrumentalized by successive Congress governments and urged the Centre to take immediate and effective steps to permanently end the potential for this mischief in the larger national interest and in the interest of peace.