The stage is set for a confrontation between Punjab and Haryana over the contentious Haryana Sikh Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee (HSGPC), aimed at wresting control of all Sikh shrines and connected institutions from the Amritsar-based SGPC.
The new body was created by the Congress government led by Bhupinder Singh Hooda in Haryana.
The ruling Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), headed by Punjab Chief Minister Prakash Singh Badal, declared that it would hold a mega Panthic Convention called the ‘Vishal Panthic Ikath’ — to be attended by Sikhs from across the world including scholars and priests — on July 27 at Manji Sahib in the Golden Temple complex to chalk out a programme on how to deal with Haryana’s “brazen action.”
A decision to this effect was taken at a marathon meeting of the party’s Core Committee on Saturday, which also expressed satisfaction over the action taken by the Central government so far.
The SAD leadership has said that it is preparing for a mass agitation. The party and the SGPC controlled by it have already begun sending its task force members to Haryana’s gurdwaras in anticipation of their being taken over by the HSGPC.
Alarm bellsThe move has raised alarm bells in the region with the Congress in Punjab accusing the Badals of “playing with fire and jeopardising the hard-won peace in the State for petty political reasons.” The ad hoc HSGPC, on the other hand, has begun peace marches in gurdwara towns of Haryana, preparatory to physically taking over the Sikh shrines from the SGPC.
Meanwhile, the Haryana government has asked the Centre to withdraw the June 18th letter from the Ministry of Home Affairs that sought withdrawal of the Governor’s assent to the Haryana Sikh Gurdwara (Management) Bill 2014. Haryana’s Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Randeep Singh Surjewala, in a letter to Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh, said the MHA letter was an affront to the federal structure and parliamentary democracy. Mr. Surjewala has also pointed out that the SAD leadership had sent Akali leaders accompanied by armed policemen to Sikh shrines.
“Can the government of India remain a silent spectator to an intentional approach towards creating a law and order situation by one State within the jurisdiction of another State?” he wrote.
. Ever since it was formed, the SAD had used gurdwaras and the numerous SGPC-run educational institutions as platforms for political strength, which continued even after it affirmed its secular credentials at the Moga Convention in 1996.
The Congress’s move to form the HSGPC is an attempt to weaken this hold over Haryana’s gurdwaras and thereby wrest the Sikh vote from the Akalis.
Similar demandsThe Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee (DSGPC) broke away from the SGPC several decades ago and for long years was dominated by Congress supporters. Last year, SAD supporters won the election to the DSGPC, ousting long-time Congress supporter Paramjeet Singh Sarna. Now similar demands for separate gurdwara panels have begun to come from Rajasthan and Himachal Pradesh too.
Published - July 20, 2014 11:21 pm IST
