A day after Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda laid the foundation of realising the long pending demand to have separate body to manage Sikh affairs in the State, the political parties in the neighbouring Punjab are engaged in war of words.
As the Punjab Congress has warned the Narendra Modi-led Central Government against any move to create hurdles in setting up of separate Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC), the ruling Shiromani Akali Dal dubbed the move as an “exercise to create a split in Sikh community for political gimmick”.
On the other hand, Bajwa made it clear that the Congress in Haryana had only accepted long pending demand of Sikhs in that State and this could in no way be construed as a move to divide Sikhs. “Already the Delhi gurdwaras were managed by the Delhi Sikhs and Takhts at Patna Sahib and Hazoor Sahib by their respective boards,” said Bajwa.
State Congress president Partap Singh Bajwa also slammed Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal for blaming the party’s national president Sonia Gandhi “rather than respecting the long pending demands of Sikhs in neighbouring State who wanted to manage their own religio-political affairs as they had been feeling neglected and discriminated against at the hands of the SGPC”.
“The enabling provision to form this body existed under the Punjab Re-organisation Act and as such, there was nothing illegal about the move of the Haryana government to enact legislation for the creation of a separate gurdwara management panel for that state,” said Bajwa.
The State Congress chief warned the Modi Government against any move to crush aspirations of Sikhs in Haryana by creating hurdles in the way of formation of the Haryana SGPC at Badal’s instance.
Taking Badal and his Deputy Chief Minister son Sukhbir Badal to task for misleading people saying that Sikh Gurdwara Act, 1925, was an act of Parliament whereas this legislation had been enacted by the Punjab Assembly, Bajwa said that this Act went under the jurisdiction of the Parliament only when the SGPC became an inter-state body corporate with the division of Punjab in 1966.
“This would facilitate emergence of Sikhs as a powerful religio-political group and they would now be in a position to bargain in political permutation and combination of Haryana as had been the case in Delhi after formation of Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee. It is this emergence of Sikhs which would weaken bargaining power of Badal family and hence its vociferous opposition by them,” pointed Bajwa.
Calling the separate SGPC a very unfortunate step initiated by Hooda Government, SAD spokesperson and secretary Daljeet Singh Cheema said that it was the result of hands in glove of Haryana and Punjab Congress, which again peel-off simmering wounds of Sikhs after 1984 Sikh pogrom.
“This is the third attempt by Congress party to divide Sikh community by proposed bifurcation in SGPC…It is the sole political move of Congress Party, in which they would never succeeded and the political death of Hooda Government is inevitable in upcoming elections,” said Cheema, also the State Education Minister.
Cheema said Hooda was the main architect of this whole drama, which he scripted on the directions of Gandhi family hurting sentiments of crores of Sikhs settled across the globe. “Involvement of so-called Sikh representatives including Capt Amarinder Singh, Partap Singh Bajwa and Paramjit Singh Sarna have played a vital role to add fuel to the fire,” he added.
Criticising the presence of Congress leaders from Punjab on dais with Hooda, Cheema said that they were directed by Sonia Gandhi to participate in this “anti-Sikh community conclave”.
“SGPC will not become a mute spectator and it will act according to situation keeping in view all legal channels to maintain the dignity and sacredness of Premium religious organisation of Sikhs,” said Cheema.