By IANS,
Chandigarh : The Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC), that manages Sikh shrines across the country, Thursday lashed out at the Haryana government over its proposal to set up a separate organisation to administer gurdwaras in the state.
“The Haryana government is trying to divide the Sikhs of this nation. They should understand that SGPC is not only for managing gurdwaras, but is the strength of the Sikh community, and it is not easy to separate us,” SGPC president Avtar Singh Makkar told reporters here Thursday.
He added: “On one side the Congress claims to be a secular party and on the other they include issues of religion in their election manifesto. The Congress is misguiding us as all the affidavits collected by them in support of a separate SGPC are bogus.”
Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda had ignited the controversy afresh when he said Haryana would probably have a separate SGPC to manage Sikh shrines in the state.
Hooda said the announcement for a separate SGPC is likely to be made on Haryana Day, Nov 1, provided there are no legal hitches. Haryana was carved out as a separate state from Punjab in 1966.
Makkar said earlier the state Congress was claiming it had 300,000 affidavits demanding a separate SGPC for Haryana, then reduced the number to 200,000 and was now claiming 128,000 affidavits.
“However, we cannot decide the future of nearly 19 lakh Sikhs only on the basis of these unauthenticated affidavits,” pointed out Makkar.
Hooda’s announcement is being seen in the light of the impending assembly polls in the state to be held Oct 13. The state has a sizeable Sikh population.
“The Haryana government is just playing politics and it is not at all interested in the welfare of Sikhs. They do not facilitate us whenever we approach them with some developmental project,” stated Makkar.
“We had mooted a proposal of setting up a Rs.125 crore (Rs.1.25 billion) medical college and hospital in Shahabad in Haryana. But for the last four years, they have not given us an NOC. We want to establish schools and colleges in Haryana but the state government creates hurdles in our path,” said Makkar.
The SGPC, headquartered at the Golden Temple complex in Amritsar, is dominated by the ruling Akali Dal in Punjab.
“Despite the fact that huge number of Sikhs live in Haryana, they have not given the Punjabi language the status of ‘second language’ in the state,” said Makkar.
Usually, the SGPC takes 30 percent of the gurdwara income and 70 percent is spent on the development of the shrine.
“The SGPC wants overall development of Haryana gurdwaras. Depending on the need, we are ready to spend the entire income on the gurdwara and have no vested interest in it,” said Makkar.