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Missing saroops row: AAP MLA Sukhi resigns as warehousing corp chairman
Ruling Aam Aam Party (AAP) MLA from Banga Sukhwinder Kumar Sukhi resigned as the chairman of the Punjab State Container and Warehousing Corporation (CONWARE), to which he was appointed with a cabinet rank, amid the ongoing controversy related to 328 missing saroops (sacred copies) of Guru Granth Sahib
SBS Nagar
Ruling Aam Aam Party (AAP) MLA from Banga Sukhwinder Kumar Sukhi resigned as the chairman of the Punjab State Container and Warehousing Corporation (CONWARE), to which he was appointed with a cabinet rank, amid the ongoing controversy related to 328 missing saroops (sacred copies) of Guru Granth Sahib.
Sukhi’s resignation came days after Punjab chief minister Bhagwant Mann claimed that 169 saroops had been found at the Baga-based religious place — Rasokhana Nabh Kanwal Raja Sahib — in Banga’s Mazaara Nau Abad village during an ongoing investigation into missing saroops.
Sukhi snapped ties with the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) before formally joining the ruling party in August 2024. He was appointed the chairman of CONWARE with a cabinet rank in January last year.
Taking to social media on Sunday, Sukhi said his resignation comes out of the pure respect for “raja sahib” (referring to religious place) with which he and his family remained associated for the past several decades. “This site can never be a place of politics for me as I am deeply connected with this revered place, which gave me my identity and everything in my life so far,” said Sukhi, adding that “I am pained that this place has become a centrestage of politics in recent days.”
He added that he has been visiting this place since his childhood and knew all the religious and historical aspects surrounding this institution.
“Being a reverent disciple of this pious place, I tendered my resignation as the CONWARE chairman and from the cabinet rank bestowed upon me. I pray to the almighty to give me the strength to tell the chief minister Bhagwant Mann and the top leadership of the AAP about the truth of this place,” said Sukhi on his Facebook post.
When asked whether he will continue to be a part of the AAP, Sukhi said his decision has nothing to do with the party. “I will try to take up the issue with the party’s top leadership so that misconceptions surrounding the Rasokhana Nabh Kanwal Raja Sahib could be cleared at the earliest.”
“Being a regular visitor of this place, I can assure the government that there could never be any sort of desecration as the saroops of Guru Granth Sahib are kept with utmost Sikh ‘maryada’ (code of conduct),” said Sukhi.
He added that he will seek time from CM Mann so that the meeting of “raja sahib” management committee could brief him about the importance and reverence of this holy place.
Situated in Mazaara Nau Abad village of Shaheed Bhagat Singh Nagar district, the present premises of Rasokhana Nabh Kanwal Raja Sahib was established in 1971, though the site’s history dates back to the late 18th century. The site has a large following in the region, especially among the NRIs.
Earlier, CM Bhagwant Mann claimed that of the 169 traced saroops at Rasokhana Nabh Kanwal Raja Sahib, 139 were found to have no official record or serial numbers, raising questions about unauthorised distribution and mismanagement. Later, the special investigation team (SIT) probing the missing saroops case said of the total total saroops, 20 were procured from the SGPC in the name of village Mazaara Nau Abad gurdwara on January 8, 2009, while 10 saroops are in the name of Gurdwara Sahib Patshahi Nauvi of village Dosanjh Khurd of SBS district on the same date in the same year. It further claimed that the administrative body and management of “raja sahib” had no record of the remaining 139 saroops.
However, on January 15, the “raja sahib” management debunked Mann and SIT’s theories, accusing them of misleading the people.
The management claimed that of the total 169 saroops, 107 were published by the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) and 79 of these were procured from the SGPC between 1978 and 2012. As many as 30 saroops, which were printed by the SGPC in 2014, were received by the trust in 2019. The “raja sahib” possesses 62 copies published by private Punjab and Delhi publishers and printers. These were printed before 1998, and all these saroops were donated by the NRIs and philanthropists for their religious upkeep, it said.
