Alleging that the Haryana Government had followed a collision course with the Akal Takht and should be prepared for the consequences, Sikh leaders on Tuesday expressed their willingness to participate in a movement to defeat Haryana’s “conspiracy to divide and weaken the community”.
Addressing a gathering of Sikh leaders, Shiromani Akali Dal patron and Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal said the Khalsa Panth would never tolerate any interference in its religious affairs.
“The Akal Takht is supreme for us. Sikhs worldwide obey it. Even Maharaja Ranjit Singh had to appear before it as a humble Sikh when summoned. It is intolerable for us if anybody tries to challenge the authority of the Akal Takth”, he said.
The Chief Minister said the SGPC did not belong to Punjab, Haryana or even India. “It is the representative body of Sikhs worldwide. Whenever any Sikh faces a problem the world over it is the SGPC which comes to his rescue. Nobody, least of all the Haryana government can decide to divide the SGPC into two”, he added.
Badal claimed that it was the Gandhi family which was behind the Haryana Government’s decision to form a separate body to interfere in the Sikh affairs and that the Sikh community was ready to battle with the Congress. “I appeal to the Gandhi family and also warn it that both nature and God have always punished those who have gone against the Akal Takht”.
He said the gathering (Sangat) at Amritsar on July 27 would give its final nod for the “morcha” to be launched to correct the “historic wrong” committed by the Haryana government. He said the Haryana government would be responsible for the consequences, appealing in the same vein to the people to maintain peace and communal harmony at all costs.
Deputy Chief Minister and SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal accused Congress of infiltrating the Sikh community with its agents. “The Sikh community has ousted agents like Sarna (Paramjit Singh) earlier and I am sure people like Nalvi (Didar Singh) and Jhinda (Jagdish Singh) who have colluded with the Haryana government to betray the community will also meet the same fate”.
SGPC president Avtar Singh Makkar said the community would unitedly defeat efforts to divide it. Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (DSGMC) president Manjit Singh GK said the Sikh community had never accepted anyone interfering in its internal matters and would never tolerate this now.