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General house meeting : SGPC forms 6-member committee to approach MPs on HSGMC issue
The Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee on Friday demanded from the Union government to repeal the Haryana Sikh Gurdwara Management Act, 2014 in the Parliament by using the power it has under the Constitution of India. It also formed a 6-member committee to approach members of parliament to take up HSGMC issue.
AMRITSAR The Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) on Friday demanded from the Union government to repeal the Haryana Sikh Gurdwara Management (HSGM) Act, 2014 in the Parliament by using the power it has under the Constitution of India. It also formed a 6-member committee to approach members of parliament to take up HSGMC issue.
In its general house meeting called on the issue of forcibly taking control of the Haryana gurdwaras by HSGMC with the help of Haryana government, it was resolved to form 6-member committee that will contact different political parties and members of both the houses of Parliament from across the country to ask them to raise their voice about the forced disintegration of the SGPC, the constitutional body of Sikhs. In the meeting, it was decided to write letters in this regard to all the MPs of India.
Members of the 6-member panel on the issue of HSGMC include SGPC senior vice president Baldev Singh Qaimpuri, junior vice president Avtar Singh Raya, general secretary Bhai Gurcharan Singh Grewal, senior Akali leaders Balwinder Singh Bhunder, Prof Prem Singh Chandumajra and Daljit Singh Cheema. He said that this committee will start working immediately. He also said that if necessary, an international Sikh conference will also be called by the SGPC on this issue.
Another resolution was also passed against the “injustice and excess” of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on the minorities.
The SGPC president Harjinder Singh Dhami said that in the second resolution passed in the meeting, the “conspiracy of the government to suppress the minority communities has been criticised.” It has been said in the resolution that under vote bank politics every trick is being used by the government to make India a Hindu Rashtra (nation). “In this way, the BJP wants to break the Panthic (Sikh community’s) system of gurdwaras and run them according to their own will’, reads it.
General secretary Gurcharan Singh Grewal said, the government has been strongly warned to stop interfering in the religious affairs of minorities.
While addressing, Giani Harpreet Singh said that Haryana government’s nominated HSGMC (adhoc) forcibly taking over possession of the management of gurdwaras through the police is a big mistake, which they should accept. He said that the Sikh community should do self-contemplation. He said that the Sikh Gurdwara Act 1925 is still intact and in its decision, the Supreme Court has not interfered with it at all. He said the issue of gurdwara management in Haryana should have been discussed with the SGPC and there was an option of approaching the court in case of no hearing.
He said it is not right to take management with government force against the Guru’s maryada (conduct). He said that Sikh institutions are the pride of the community and strengthening them is very important. He said the SGPC is an achievement and backbone of the community and other institutions are also important. The Sikh community should come forward to keep the SGPC strong, because the Panth will remain strong only with its strength.
