In an attempt to prevent conflict and deescalate tension between two Sikh groups who had called separate Sikh conventions in Punjab and Haryana, the Akal Takht, highest temporal body of the Sikhs, intervened on Saturday.
After the intervention of the Akal Takht, the two conventions, one at Amritsar on Sunday and the second at Karnal in Haryana have been called off. The convention had been called in the wake of controversy around the creation of the Haryana Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (HSGPC). Akal Takht Jathedar Gurbachan Singh said that as per the order all Sikh conventions called on Sunday and Monday should be cancelled.
At a press conference in Amritsar, the Akal Takht Jathedar said that in the light of the prevailing circumstances, nobody could be allowed to hold convention or rally anywhere in Punjab and Haryana as it may deepen the crisis in the Sikh circle. Talking about the separate Haryana Gurdwara Management Committee, Jathedar said both the parties (Sikh leaders from Haryana and Akali leaders from Punjab) would be asked to come to Akal Takht to find a solution to the current problem which arose after formation of a separate Gurdwara Committee in Haryana.
Sunday’s meet in Amritsar was called after the Haryana Government refused to pay heed to the Centre’s missive to revoke the law passed for the creation of a separate SGPC for the State, which Punjab has termed “unconstitutional” and “illegal”. Haryana has brushed aside the Centre’s directive calling for the annulment of the Act, saying it has every right to enact a law and the Haryana Gurdwara Act has been passed under its legislative powers. It has instead asked the Centre to withdraw its letter.
Punjab’s ruling Shiromani Akali Dal, which had called for a World Sikh convention in Amritsar’s Golden Temple complex on Sunday announced that in view of the Akal Takht directive, Sunday’s Sikh convention stood cancelled. “We have called off the Sikh convention to be held on Sunday. We have taken this step in the interest of the Sikh community following the Akal Takht’s directive. We are informing the Sikh leaders about this,” Punjab Education Minister and Akali Dal spokesman Daljit Singh Cheema said.
The other convention called by the HSGPC leaders Monday (July 28) in Karnal was also postponed. These leaders are supporting the creation of the HSGPC. “We hold the Akal Takht in supreme respect. We have called off our Sikh convention to be held in Karnal on Monday,” HSGPC leader Jagdish Singh Jhinda said in Kurukshetra.
The Akali Dal and the Amritsar-based Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) are locked in a bitter controversy with the Congress Government in Haryana led by Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda over the creation of the HSGPC. They have both strongly opposed the creation of the new HSGPC for Haryana Sikh shrines.
The SGPC, the mini-parliament of Sikh religious affairs, which controls gurdwaras across Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh, will lose control over gurdwaras in Haryana with the new law. Badal has warned of an agitation over the issue and said that this could disturb peace in the region.