Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee calls special meeting at Amritsar on March 3

CHANDIGARH: The Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) on Friday decided to call a special meeting of all its members at Amritsar on March 3 to draw future strategy on the issue of taking charge of gurdwaras by the ad-hoc Haryana Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (HSGMC).
In the SGPC executive meeting, presided over by its president Harjinder Singh Dhami, the members condemned the “well-planned conspiracy” of the Haryana government to take over the management of historical gurdwaras of Haryana.
The members termed it an attack on the Sikh community by the BJP. Dhami said the actions of the ad-hoc HSGMC were no less than the excesses committed by the mahants during the British Raj.
The Haryana government, under the cover of the Supreme Court’s decision, has made a mischievous attempt to take over the Sikh shrines in Haryana, Dhami alleged.
He further said the management of gurdwaras was provided to the ad-hoc HSGMC with force and gross violation of maryada (religious code of conduct). Even the police personnel entered the gurdwara premises with shoes in Kurukshetra, he said, adding that this move of the Haryana government and the ad-hoc HSGMC had hurt the sentiments of the Sikhs community.
“It is clear in the Supreme Court’s decision that the HSGMC should be made functional after the election and the members to be elected should be amritdhari (initiated), but a large number of members of the ad-hoc HSGMC nominated by the government are not amritdhari,” said Dhami.
Apart from this, the process of nominating the committee through notification is also unconstitutional, as it has paved the way for government control on the management of the gurdwaras by issuing an ordinance through the governor on October 24, 2022, he added.
The SGPC had set up a five-member panel to look into the actions of the ad-hoc HSGMC at Gurdwara Patshahi Chhevin, Kurukshetra, and its report was discussed in the executive committee on Friday.