Special session called on June 26 on Punjab government’s interference in Sikh affairs:  Dhami

Amritsar, June 20 _The Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) has rejected the Sikh Gurdwara (Amendment) Bill, 2023 passed by the Punjab government in the Vidhan Sabha.

 Addressing the press conference here, SGPC President Harjinder Singh Dhami said that this day will be remembered in black letters in the 103-year long history of SGPC, when the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government of Punjab passed an unconstitutional bill by directly interfering in the Gurdwara managements. This will not be allowed to be implemented at any cost, he said. He said that the Sikh community will never forget this attack on the Sikh organization SGPC by the Punjab government in the independent India.

This anti-Sikh move by the Punjab government led by Bhagwant Singh Mann will be answered at all levels, for which, a special general session of the SGPC has been called on June 26 at Teja Singh Samari Hall to decide the outline. 

The SGPC President said that the community has never tolerated and will not tolerate government interference in Sikh religion and Sikh institutions. 

With reference to history, he said that even at the time of establishment of the SGPC, the British government had set up a government committee, which the Sikhs rejected and set up own committee of the community. 

He said now Punjab government led by Bhagwant Singh is walking on the same path.

 Dhami said that if Mann government tries to implement this black law, then the Sikh community knows how to deal with it strictly. 

He reiterated that the state government cannot make any amendment in the Sikh Gurdwaras Act, 1925 on its own, as it can only be done with the recommendations of the SGPC’s General House.

 Dhami said that the Punjab government is weakening the Sikh organization by making Gurbani broadcast an issue.

 He said that the SGPC is already working through a sub-committee in the matter of Gurbani broadcast. In this regard, the future priorities have been determined to a large extent in two meetings of the sub-committee and this is being done as per the orders of Sri Akal Takht Sahib. 

Keeping this development in view, Bhagwant Singh Mann’s government is deliberately confusing this issue just to gain popularity.