By IANS,
Chandigarh : The Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC), the mini-parliament of Sikhs, Monday announced it would not tolerate any attempt by Haryana to set up a separate organisation to administer gurdwaras in that state.
Strongly opposing the statement by Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, who heads the Congress government, that a new SGPC for Haryana could be announced Nov 1, SGPC president Avtar Singh Makkar said the main SGPC would oppose this move at all costs.
“The Congress is not a secular party. They are trying to divide the Sikhs and suppress their voice. The Congress is doing this to garner Sikh votes in Haryana elections,” Makkar told the media after a meeting of the SGPC executive committee held here.
The executive’s resolution, opposing the move of the Hooda government for a separate Sikh body for Haryana, will be put up before a general body meeting of the SGPC at Amritsar Friday.
The SGPC, headquartered at the Golden Temple complex in Amritsar, is dominated by the ruling Akali Dal in Punjab.
Makkar said: “This is a sensitive issue for Sikhs. Hooda’s statements in this regard are to instigate the community. His talk about holding a referendum of Haryana Sikhs is a sham. We will not tolerate if anyone tries to break the SGPC.”
But there were opposing voices in the SGPC executive meeting as well here.
Baldev Singh Khalsa, an executive member from Haryana, said Sikhs in Haryana wanted a separate SGPC.
“Sikh shrines in Delhi and Pakistan have separate committees to manage gurdwara affairs. This has not weakened the Sikh ‘panth’ cause,” Baldev Singh Khalsa pointed out.
Hooda’s announcement is being seen in the light of the impending assembly polls in the state to be held latest by February next year. The state has a sizeable Sikh population.
The SGPC, which manages all the big gurdwaras, including the holiest Sikh shrine Harmandar Sahib popularly called Golden Temple in Amritsar, is unlikely to let go of its control over the Haryana gurdwaras without a fight.
The SGPC has an annual budget of Rs.4.5 billion.
The Haryana government’s decision has come five months after the Chatha Committee, set up by Hooda to study the possibilities of having a separate Sikh organisation in the state, gave its recommendations this February based on 128,566 affidavits of Sikh activists.
Following this, the government formed a three-member committee under the advocate general to examine the case and facilitate its implementation.
The demand first came to the fore when seven Haryana members of the 170-seat SGPC levelled allegations of neglect of the state’s historical gurdwaras “even though they were adding Rs.10 crore (Rs.100 million) of revenue in the SGPC’s kitty every year”.
There are seven major historical gurdwaras in Haryana under the direct control of the SGPC. Eighteen others are under its indirect control – elected members form the local management and one member from the SGPC is co-opted into the panel.