Punjab congress rebutts SAD stand on Haryana SGPC

CHANDIGARH: The allegations of the Core Committee of Political Affairs Committee of the Shiromani Akali Dal holding Smt. Sonia Gandhi responsible for cropping up the issue of separate   SGPC in Haryana, one hand and the statement of SGPC President  Avtar Singh Makkar over the assurance given by the Prime Minister to effectively intervene to sort out the issue of creation of Haryana SGPC on the other hand  is paradoxical.





Bir Devinder Singh Chief Spokes person of PPCC Wednesday said that the situation created by skewed vision of some vested political interests in the State of Jammu & Kashmir in flaring up the issue of land allotment to the Amarnath Shrine Board seems to have left no impact on the sensibility of those who have shown indecent haste to jump to the conclusion of accusing the Congress President Smt. Sonia Gandhi and the Union government of “direct interference in the internal affairs of the Khalsa Panth and the Shromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC)”. First of all, let us not forget that this is not a political issue. The issue has been raised by the members of Sikh community from Haryana with the Government of Haryana and It relates to the sentiments of the Sikhs in Haryana.

He siad that Congress party is fully conscious of the fact that any political interference in this issue will snowball into the kind of volatile situation being faced by the government in J&K and also has the potential to endanger the peace and harmony in both the States, Punjab & Haryana.

Ever since Sonia Gandhi took over the reins of the Congress, the relations between the Sikhs of Punjab and Haryana have been very cordial and worth emulating. The core committee of the Political affairs committee of the Shiromani Akali Dal should know that the proper forum to address this issue   is the Shiromani Gurudwara Prabandhak Committee, which came into existence after a long and painful struggle with the Britishers and had been working very effectively in managing the Sikh shrines. I have also gone through the contents of the Nehru-Tara Singh Pact very carefully, that arrived at the meeting between Pt. Jawahar Lal Nehru then Prime Minister and Master Tara Singh Ji then President of Shiromani Akali Dal on 12th April, 1959 at 5 PM which lasted for about 85 minutes and in its essence is a sage advice “… there should be no Government interference in the religious affairs.” 

Bir Devinder Singh said, the SGPC came into being to ensure “implementation of the policy of non-interference in Gurudwara management and to consider any complaint of such interference”. Therefore, instead of taking political mileage and issuing political statements, it would be prudent for Core Committee of SAD , to let the issue be solved through the mechanism of the SGPC, which may constitute a sub-committee of the Members of the SGPC both from Punjab and Haryana to work under the umbrella of SGPC to find out a solution suiting the aspirations of the Sikhs living in Haryana but at the same time keeping the matrix of sanctity which sustains the existence of the SGPC which has a long history of sacrifices made by the Sikhs in the past.

He stated that there was no point in making generalized statements accusing the AICC President Smt. Sonia Gandhi for abrogating the essence and spirit of the Nehru-Tara Singh Pact. The Congress Party respects highly the sacrifices made by the Sikhs in the Gurudwara Reform movement, which ultimately led to the formation of the SGPC under the Sikh Gurudwaras Act 1925. The Congress Party is least inclined to meddle into the affairs of the SGPC. I would rather suggest to the SAD leadership that Instead of dealing this highly emotive issue from political angle, the SGPC should handle it most effectively in a subtle manner, especially when they had sought the meaningful intervention of the Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh.

PPCC spokesman said that Sonia Gandhi is a leader with sagacious vision and has always endeavored for greater inter-faith harmony.