A day after newly-formed Haryana Sikh Gurudwara Management Committee (HSGMC) sought control of Sikh shrines in Haryana from the Amritsar-based Shiromani Gurudwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC), Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal on Friday warned that the same will not be tolerated.
The SAD patron said that the future course of action will be decided only after holding due deliberations with the Sikh community.
“The efforts of the Haryana Government to wrest the control of gurdwaras in the State through its remote-controlled ‘modern mahants’ would not be tolerated at any cost. The future course of action to oppose this sinister move of the Congress would be decided after due deliberations with the Sikh Panth,” said Badal, while addressing gatherings at various places in Sri Muktsar Sahib district.
He said: “On the directions of Jathedar Sri Akal Takht Sahib, the supreme religious body of the Sikhs, we have called off the agitation against separate committee in Haryana. However, if due care is not taken to assuage the religious sentiments of Sikhs, which have been deeply hurt by this anti-Sikh step of the Haryana government, a relevant strategy would be chalked out in consultation with the Sikh Panth.”
Chief Minister said that the SGPC was formed after enormous sacrifices by the Sikhs and the HSGMC move by the Haryana government was aimed at weakening the SGPC. Terming the Congress anti-Sikh, he said that by constituting a separate committee for management of gurdwaras in Haryana, the “Congress has inflicted a blow to the Sikh psyche, which cannot be tolerated at any cost”.
Akali Dal and the SGPC are locked in a bitter controversy with the Haryana government under Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda over creation of the HSGMC. They have strongly opposed the creation of HSGPC for Haryana Sikh shrines.Haryana assembly on June 11 passed a Bill under which a new committee would be set up to manage gurdwaras in Haryana. Haryana Sikh Gurdwaras (Management) Bill, 2014, got the assent of the Haryana governor June 14.
SGPC, known as Sikhs’ mini-parliament which controls gurdwaras across Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh, will lose control of gurdwaras in Haryana under the new law.