Challenging the contention that Congress continued to be anti-Sikh, Punjab Congress president, Partap Singh Bajwa on Saturday reminded Akali Dal president and Deputy Chief Minister, Sukhbir Singh Badal, that it was Congress which elevated Manmohan Singh as Prime Minister for two terms.
He said on the other hand, it was the Akali Dal which was trying to crush the aspirations of the Sikhs in Haryana on the issue of the separate gurdwara management committee for that State which was their right in every sense of the term.Extending support to the Haryana Sikhs who are demanding separate Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee for the shrines in that State, Bajwa pointed out that it was the Akali Dal which was responsible for the enactment of the Punjab Re-organisation Act, 1966 and according to Section 72 of this Act, the demand for separate gurdwara panel was legal and thus justified. The demand was not the brainchild of the Congress but result of the discrimination meted out to the Haryana Sikhs by the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee.