Reacting to Haryana CM Bhupinder Singh Hooda's announcement to form a Haryana gurdwara committee, the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) again termed it a "conspiracy hatched by the Congress to divide and weaken the Sikh community".
SGPC chief Avtar Singh Makkar appealed to Haryana's Sikhs to "stand up and unitedly oppose the move of the Hooda government, which has the support of just a handful of Sikhs, who wanted to further their vested interests and political goals".
In his statement issued here on Sunday, Makkar pointed to the directions issued by the Akal Takht, the supreme temporal seat of the Sikh Panth, to dissuade Haryana Sikh leaders from forming a separate panel. Makkar made it clear that despite Hooda's announcement at Kaithal, the SGPC would continue its attempts to halt the formation of a separate body. "On Monday, SGPC members will hand over memorandums to all deputy commissioners in Haryana and [the SGPC will] follow this up with a similar memorandum to union home minister Rajnath Singh".
There was no reaction from the Akal Takht as its jathedar, Giani Gurbachan Singh, is touring the Poonch area of Jammu and Kashmir. However Giani Mal Singh, jathedar of Takht Kesgarh Sahib, who was in Amritsar, also described Hooda's announcement as unfortunate and an attempt to divide the community.
{{/usCountry}}There was no reaction from the Akal Takht as its jathedar, Giani Gurbachan Singh, is touring the Poonch area of Jammu and Kashmir. However Giani Mal Singh, jathedar of Takht Kesgarh Sahib, who was in Amritsar, also described Hooda's announcement as unfortunate and an attempt to divide the community.
{{/usCountry}}Meanwhile, Punjab Congress general secretary Harminder Singh Gill congratulated the Sikhs of Haryana for their "victory": "Your battle for freeing yourself from the clutches of the SGPC and the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) has finally become a reality."