CHANDIGARH: The Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) has launched a unique campaign under the banner ‘One Village, One Gurdwara’ aimed at bridging the caste-based divide among the members of the Sikh community.
SGPC, a statutory body comprising elected representatives of the Sikhs, concerned primarily with the management of sacred Sikh shrines in the country, has issued an advisory to centralise Gurdwara Sahibs in each village of Punjab. Under the campaign, Sikh masses of each village will get united at a single Gurdwara Sahib, claims SGPC. The highest temporal body of the community Akal Takht has endorsed the campaign to eradicate the caste divide among the Sikhs.
Punjab has around 12,900 villages and most of these have caste and sect based gurdwaras — predominantly one each for majhabi, jat and the ramghariyas. Multiple gurdwaras often result in friction between the gurdwara committees.
Concerned about the rising count of caste based Gurdwara Sahib in villages, in total contrast to the Sikh philosophy of treating everyone equal, the SGPC president Gobind Singh Longowal says: “The committee has been appealing to all the people in the state to give up caste-based gurdwaras and rise above this petty politics. Those who give up caste-based gurdwaras will be honoured in the presence of Akal Takht Jathedar at special programmes.”
The gurdwara buildings that fall vacant will be utilised to establish religious study centres to teach gurbani or libraries. The committee has also decided to keep a special budgetary provision for the purpose.
The campaign has yielded positive results in Dhurkot village in Faridkot district where two gurdwaras were recently merged into one.