SGPC President Harjinder Singh Dhami addressing SGPC Members during a Meeting at Teja Singh Samundri Hall in Amritsar on Friday (Express photo by Rana Simranjit Singh)The Shiromani Akali Dal Friday endorsed the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee’s call to hold a Khalsa March from Takhts of Keshgarh Sahib and Damdama Sahib to Akal Takht on October 7.
A decision to this effect was taken at a meeting of the party’s sitting and former legislators, and constituency incharges’ here. The meeting was presided over by party chief Sukhbir Singh Badal.
The SAD requested the Centre to file a review petition or pass a new law to do away with the validation of the Haryana Sikh Gurdwara Committee Act, 2014 by the Supreme Court.
Party spokesperson Daljit Singh Cheema said the Khalsa March was being held to protest against the interference in Sikh affairs as well as the deep rooted conspiracy to break the SGPC. “The SAD has decided to support the SGPC’s initiative to highlight the discrimination meted out to the community and ensure justice is done to it,” he added.
Terming the Haryana law, which was passed by the then Bhupinder Singh Hooda-led Congress government in 2014, as “illegal and unconstitutional”, the SAD leader said, “It was unfortunate that both the present Haryana and Punjab governments as well as the central government supported the move in court. This has hurt the sentiments of the community which rightly feels that Sikhs have been discriminated against with the validation of the Haryana committee by the apex court”.