Close X
Friday, November 29, 2024
ADVT 
India

After Mahabharat and Panipat, it's now HSGPC vs SGPC

Jaideep Sarin IANS, 10 Jul, 2014 12:38 PM
    The land that is now called Haryana has been famous for epic battles like the Mahabharat and the three historic battles of Panipat. Now a leading Sikh body is fighting a politico-religious battle in the state to retain control over its gurdwaras.
     
    The Amritsar-based Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC), known as the mini-parliament of the Sikh religion, is at odds with the Congress-led government in Haryana after Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda announced that a separate committee will be set up in Haryana to control gurdwaras in the state.
     
    The move by the Hooda government, which proposes to bring legislation for a separate committee to manage gurdwaras in Haryana, will take out of the SGPC's hands the control of 72 gurdwaras.
     
    The SGPC, which has an annual budget of Rs 950 crore ($159 million) and controls Sikh shrines across Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh, surely does not want to lose control over the Haryana shrines. If the Hooda government succeeds in showing the door to the SGPC, its bosses are worried that this could have a ripple effect in other states where the SGPC controls Sikh shrines.
     
    The gurdwaras in Delhi and in Pakistan (Nankana Sahib, Panja Sahib and in Lahore) are controlled by independent Sikh bodies. The Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (DSGPC) is now dominated by Punjab's ruling Shiromani Akali Dal.
     
    Sikh leaders in Haryana allege that the SGPC used to pocket nearly Rs 30 crore annually from the Haryana gurdwaras but never did enough for these shrines or for Sikhs in the state. They even allege that the management and jobs in these shrines were given to people from Punjab.
     
     
    The SGPC and the Shiromani Akali dal are doing everything possible to prevent the Hooda government from going ahead with the move.
     
    They have sought the centre's intervention, saying that the Hooda government's move is "unconstitutional" and "illegal" since the SGPC controls Sikh shrines under an act of parliament. They have pointed out that a state cannot legislate on matters concerning parliament. The SGPC and Akali Dal leaders are trying to woo Sikhs in Haryana to oppose the move for a separate committee.
    The Hooda government however claims that it is doing this following demand of Haryana Sikhs for a separate body. Hooda set up a committee in 2005 under Harmohinder Singh Chatha, Haryana's finance minister and himself a Sikh. The committee received affidavits from nearly 300,000 Sikhs for a separate body. The total Sikh population in Haryana is over 1.5 million (six percent of the state's total of nearly 25 million).
     
    However, Hooda is being accused of initiating the move for a separate Sikh body just before Haryana's assembly polls to be held in October. The Chatha committee had submitted its report nearly seven years ago but the Hooda government never took action on it. One reason for that could be the reluctance of then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, also a Sikh, to support the move.
     
     
    The Congress has always had a love-hate relationship with the Sikh leaders and the community. The scars of the 1984 Operation Bluestar, the Indian Army's operation in the Golden Temple complex to flush out terrorists, the killing of then prime minister Indira Gandhi by her two Sikh bodyguards and the 1984 anti-Sikh riots, in which Congress leaders and activists are the main accused and which left hundreds of Sikhs killed and displaced, have never let both sides bridge the gap. The move on control of Haryana's shrines will only add to that.

    MORE India ARTICLES

    Murthy to step down, Sikka is new CEO of Infosys

    Murthy to step down, Sikka is new CEO of Infosys
    In a dramatic development, India's second largest global software major Infosys Ltd. Thursday announced that Vishal Sikka would be its new chief executive and managing director from Aug 1. Co-founder and chairman N.R. Narayana Murthy will step down June 14.

    Murthy to step down, Sikka is new CEO of Infosys

    E-files, the new Modi mantra to paperless governance

    E-files, the new Modi mantra to paperless governance
    No more piles of dog-eared files and clipped paper stacks littering office desks. It is the time of e-files in the new government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

    E-files, the new Modi mantra to paperless governance

    Woman gang raped inside UP police station, SHO nabbed

    A woman was gang raped allegedly by four policemen inside a police station in Uttar Pradesh. The SHO was arrested Wednesday.

    Woman gang raped inside UP police station, SHO nabbed

    Let's create a 'skill India', not 'scam India', says Modi; wants all aboard

    Let's create a 'skill India', not 'scam India', says Modi; wants all aboard
    Prime Minister Narendra Modi said Wednesday his government will work for the poor, improve the lot of the weaker sections including Muslims, curb price rise, take all political parties along in its march to progress and seek to change India's identity from "scam India" to "skill India" .

    Let's create a 'skill India', not 'scam India', says Modi; wants all aboard

    How Punjab's Paddy Straw Burning is Impacting Climate and Health

    How Punjab's Paddy Straw Burning is Impacting Climate and Health
    A study by an international team using satellite and ground-based instruments has shown that crop residue burning, a common practice in northern India and particularly in Punjab, is contributing to atmospheric pollution over the entire Indo-Gangetic Plain (IGP) that may have climate and health implications.

    How Punjab's Paddy Straw Burning is Impacting Climate and Health

    Centre will study Gujarat's housing model

    Centre will study Gujarat's housing model
    The BJP-led NDA government, which has affordable housing for all as one of its objectives, will study the Gujarat model of housing for poor, Union Minister of Housing and Poverty Alleviation M. Venkaiah Naidu said here Tuesday.

    Centre will study Gujarat's housing model