E-Paper
Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee to start dharam prachar in Punjab
Many are viewing this as an attempt of the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (DSGMC), believed to be close to the BJP, to make inroads into Punjab even as Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) is trying to enhance community contact in the Capital
The Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (DSGMC) has announced to open an office in Amritsar and launch dharam parchar (religious propagation) activities in Punjab, a move that comes close on the heels of the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) intensifying its activities in the National Capital.
Many are viewing this as an attempt of the DSGMC -- believed to be close to the Bharatiya Janata Party -- to make inroads into Punjab even as the SGPC is trying to enhance community contact in DSGMC-dominated Delhi.
DSGMC president Harmeet Singh Kalka said the office in Amritsar will be opened in the next 10 to 15 days and Dharam Parchar will be carried out across Punjab, with special focus on border areas where the conversion of Sikhs to Christianity is rampant.
“The SGPC has failed to protect Sikhism. This failure has necessitated the drive to be launched by the DSGMC with the cooperation of Haryana Sikh Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (ad hoc),” he said.
Targeting the SGPC, Kalka said, “The apex gurdwara body is dominated by one family, due to which it is not able to accomplish its duties with regards to Dharam Parchar; thus Sikhism is shrinking day by day. The DSGMC will run the drive across Punjab on a large scale and make efforts for the betterment of the community.”
Controlled by the Sukhbir Singh Badal-led Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), the SGPC manages affairs of the historic gurdwaras in Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pardesh and Chandigarh while the ones in Delhi are managed by the DSGMC.
The SGPC already has its office in Delhi which is run by its Sikh Mission, but it intensified the activities of Dharam Parchar and started establishing contact with the local community members after SAD lost its control over the DSGMC with Kalka and its other elected members parting ways with it. The SGPC also launched a free bus service to facilitate Golden Temple ‘darshan’ for the sangat in Delhi.
Kalka and aides are said to have formed the new Akali faction called Shiromani Akali Dal-Delhi State, following an understanding with the BJP-led Centre. SAD had parted ways with the BJP during the farmers’ agitation.
The changed equations soured relations between the two gurdwara bodies.
SGPC president Harjinder Singh Dhami was not available for comments despite repeated attempts. SGPC spokesperson Kulwinder Singh Ramdas, however, said, “Parchar by DSGMC is welcome, but its president should not play politics while doing so. Going by the statements given by him against the SGPC, it seems that his intention behind this move is not good.”
