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Gurbani telecast row: Bhagwant Mann shoots off letter to guv, urges him to sign gurdwaras bill
Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann has urged governor Banwarilal Purohit to sign the Sikh Gurdwaras (Amendment) Bill, 2023, before the agreement between the SGPC and the private channel expires on July 23.
Chandigarh
Punjab chief minister Bhagwant Mann on Saturday urged governor Banwarilal Purohit to sign the Sikh Gurdwaras (Amendment) Bill, 2023, before the agreement between the SGPC and the private channel expires on July 23.
The Punjab Assembly had on June 20 passed the Sikh Gurdwaras (Amendment) Bill, 2023, to ensure free telecast of Gurbani from the Golden Temple in Amritsar.
The development comes a day after the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee said it will launch its own YouTube channel and later a satellite channel for the telecast of Gurbani.
Mann said the telecast of Gurbani will not be allowed to go into the hands of “special people” of the Badal family’s company again.
In a letter to the governor, Mann said: “It is regretted that the Bill sent to you on June 26 has not been signed till date. This amounts to stifling the democratic will of the people of Punjab.”
“To propagate the teachings of the Gurus and ensure the telecast of Gurbani from Harmandir Sahib freely available to all, The Sikh Gurdwaras (Amendment) Bill, 2023, was introduced in Vidhan Sabha. He said that Section 125-A was inserted in the Act and the state Vidhan Sabha passed it with overwhelming majority,” the letter reads.
The CM said in case the governor does not give nod to the Bill immediately, it may lead to a situation where millions of devotees across the world will be again deprived of watching the live telecast of Gurbani from the Golden Temple. “This will hurt their religious sentiments of the Sikhs across the globe,” he said in the letter.
“I urge you to sign the Bill at the earliest so that telecast of Gurbani can be made available to all through various channels and media,” the letter reads.
