Sikh News

Avtar Singh Makkar says HSGPC move ‘illegal’ and it’s prerogative of Badals to decide next course

July 12, 2014 | By Parmjeet Singh

Chandigarh (July 11, 2014): The Shiromani Gurdwara Prabhandak Committee (SGPC) has dubbed the Haryana Government’s initiative to carve out a separate Sikh gurdwara panel for Haryana as ‘unconstitutional and illegal’. SGPC has expressed anguish over the Haryana govt’s move and it has also urged the Central Government of India and the President of India to intervene and stall the move.

It is pertinent to note that the Haryana Government yesterday tabled a bill for the formation of Haryana Sikh Gurdwara Prabhandak Committee that was passed by the state assembly amidst wakout staged by opposition members belonging of INDL and BJP.

The SGPC has been opposing the move for HSGPC and SGPC chief Avtar Singh Makkar declared that they might take a legal route to block the creation of the Haryana Sikh Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (HSGPC).

“The party (Shiromani Akali Dal – Badal) will decide the next course of action and do the needful. We will see…we might take legal action if necessary,” said SGPC chief Avtar Singh Makkar.

The SGPC chief, who presided over a meeting at Nada Sahib, said: “It’s the prerogative of SAD (Badal) patron Parkash Singh Badal and party chief Sukhbir Singh Badal to take up the matter with the Central Government and the President. We have also requested the Haryana Governor to not give his nod to the Bill for creation of the HSGPC.”

It is learnt that Badal during his recent meetings with top BJP leaders sought the Union Government’s support to stall the ongoing process for creation of a separate HSGPC.

On being asked about the Modi government’s response, Avtar Singh Makkar said: “It (response) was good.”

However According to The Tribune, the Badal Dal leadership was given a ‘cold shoulder’ by central BJP leaders over the issue. Consequently, the SGPC has ‘toned down’ its stand on the HSGPC issue.

The panel on Friday renewed its ‘truce’ offer to Haryana Sikh leaders. “We are all for the ‘panthic ekta’. To achieve it, we again offer our Haryana elected members two posts — that of Vice-President and Additional Secretary. We are also okay with Haryana Gurdwaras spending the income being generated by them,” said Avtar Singh Makkar.

Slamming Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda and senior Congress leader HS Chatha, Makkar claimed the Hooda government had no right to decide the fate of Haryana Sikhs.

“We will react when the time comes. Hooda’s plan is to garner Sikh votes in the upcoming Assembly, but no one will listen to him. Chatha has been speaking lies as he had earlier claimed that the income from Haryana Gurdwaras was more than Rs 500 crores, whereas, in reality, it was just Rs 30 crore,” said Makkar.

When asked why Haryana Sikhs could not have a separate Gurdwara management committee when such bodies were there in Delhi and Patna Sahib, Makkar said: “Those are local management committees and not parallel to the SGPC. They are basically managing one or two shrines.”

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Related Topics: HSGPC, SGPC, Shiromani Akali Dal (Badal), Sikhs in Haryana

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