CHANDIGARH : Haryana Governor Jagannath Pahadia on Monday gave his ascent to the Haryana Sikh Gurudwaras (Management) Bill, 2014, paving way for the formation of separate committee to manage Sikh gurudwaras in the state.
Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda on Monday said the Governor has given his ascent to the Bill thus enacting the Act for separate Shiromani Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee (SGPC) for Haryana.
When his attention was drawn towards the media reports that some quarters suggesting that the decision to form a separate SGPC for Haryana would benefit him, Hooda said that was not a new issue as it was in the party’s manifestos of 2005 and 2009.
In a reply to a question concerning the right to votes for Sehajdari Sikhs in the separate SGPC, Hooda said, the issue was pending with the Supreme Court and the state government would follow the decision of the apex court in this regard.
Meanwhile, Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal on Monday described the action of the Congress-led Government in Haryana in getting the law enacted to set up a separate body for Sikh shrines as ‘provocative and a brazen interference in religious affairs of the minority Sikh community’.
The CM said the action was not only blatantly unconstitutional but also motivated by a desire to fulfil the long-standing design of the Congress to weaken the spiritual, social and political strength of the Sikhs by seeking to encourage divisions.