Amritsar: Accusing Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann and his Delhi counterpart Arvind Kejriwal of trying to implement an “anti-Sikh agenda”, SGPC chief Harjinder Singh Dhami on Monday warned an agitation would be launched against the Punjab government if the Sikh Gurdwara (Amendment) Bill, 2023 was not withdrawn.
Addressing the special general house of the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) — the mini parliament of the Sikh religion, days after the Assembly passed the amendment Bill, paving the way for eliminating undue control over the free to air telecast of the sacred Gurbani from the Golden Temple, Dhami said: “If the state government does not stop interference in Sikh matters, then a morcha (agitation) will be started against it after performing ‘ardas’ (prayer) at the Akal Takht.”
“Then it will be the responsibility of the government,” he said, asserting that any amendment in the Sikh Gurdwaras Act of 1925 can be made only with the approval of a two-third majority of SGPC members and neither the Centre nor the Punjab government has any right to amend the law.
Claiming the amendment was carried out at the directive of Kejriwal, Dhami said the Chief Minister does “what he is asked to do by Kejriwal”.
“It is the conspiracy of ‘Babu’ Kejriwal.”
Wrapping up discussion on the Bill on June 20, the Chief Minister had informed the Assembly that the Bill “aims at freeing the undue control of a particular family over the rights to telecast sacred Gurbani”.
He has said it was a paradoxical situation that the SGPC, under the influence of a family that controls its affairs, had given intellectual property rights of telecasting the sacred Gurbani to a channel owned by this family.
Mann has questioned how these rights of Gurbani, which is repository of knowledge and faith, can be given to any channel. He has said the Bill is in no way interference in religious affairs, rather it is a simple step to ensure that Gurbani reaches every household. He said in the Sikh Gurdwaras Act, 1925, after section 125, section 125-A will be inserted for live telecast of Gurbani free of cost.
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