Harjinder Singh Dhami relents, to resume duty as SGPC chief
After closed-door meeting with SAD leaders Sukhbir Singh Badal and Balwinder Singh Bhunder, agrees to resume office soon.
Harjinder Singh Dhami, who had resigned as Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) president on February 17, agreed to resume duty after a closed-door meeting with Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) leaders Sukhbir Singh Badal and Balwinder Singh Bhunder in Hoshiarpur on Tuesday.
“For a long time, SGPC members, Takht jathedars and the SAD leadership have been asking me to take back my resignation. On Monday, the SGPC executive committee rejected my resignation. Giving in to the dictate of the ‘panth (Sikh community)’, I will resume my services in two to four days,” Dhami told mediapersons.
He clarified that he had not withdrawn his resignation but the SGPC executive had rejected it. “There is a difference. I will resume office in view of the resolution that the executive has unanimously passed,” Dhami said.
Asked why it had taken him a month to decide, he said: “Certain things needed to be clarified.”
Badal and Bhunder had called on Dhami at his residence on Tuesday morning and urged him to withdraw his resignation.
After rejecting Dhami’s resignation at a meeting on Monday, SGPC executive members had visited him and urged him to change his decision but he had not relented, though hints were dropped by his aides that he would give in. It became clear when Badal planned to visit him.
Reacting to the SGPC chief’s decision, Badal said: “It’s a matter of immense satisfaction that Dhami has accepted the sangat’s appeal. He has a historic past and his personality is a rare combination of service and commitment.”
“The Sikh panth is going through a crisis. Excesses are being committed against it. Enemies have reached our doorsteps. We all should unite to fight these forces,” he said.
Badal said the panth derived its power from Takhts and gurdwaras and he was happy that Dhami had agreed to lead the apex gurdwara body.
Bhunder lauded Dhami’s decision, saying he possessed “rare qualities”. He said the state, the SAD and the Sikh panth needed his guidance.
Dhami is set to preside over the SGPC budget meeting on March 28.
He had resigned from the SGPC president’s post after former Akal Takht jathedar Giani Raghbir Singh condemned the committee’s decision to dismiss Giani Harpreet Singh as the Takht Damdama Sahib jathedar last month. Dhami had also written to the Akal Takht jathedar to relieve him from his position in the seven-member committee formed to supervise the new membership drive of the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD).
