The Shiromani Akali Dal, one of the oldest allies of the BJP and part of the NDA, skipped the customary meeting of alliance partners before the Budget Session of Parliament on Thursday.
According to the Akali Dal’s MLA Manjinder Singh Sirsa, the party was upset over the NDA’s interference in the religious affairs of Sikhs, especially in the Hazoor Sahib Gurudwara in Nanded in Maharashtra and Patna Sahib Gurudwara.
“We are extremely upset and hurt by what is happening in Hazur Sahib in Nanded. The Rashtriya Sikh Sangat should not interfere in the religious issues related to the Sikhs. We have also been demanding a package for the farmers,” SAD spokesperson and Rajya Sabha MP Naresh Gujral said.
The Rashtriya Sikh Sangat, a Sikh body affiliated to the Sangh Parivar, was said to be behind some of these moves.
When asked about the SAD not attending the meeting, Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister Narendra Singh Tomar said the BJP’s ally had informed in advance that it would not be attending the meeting due to prior engagement.
Sources in the SAD told The Hindu that it was not the first time that the Devendra Fadnavis led Maharashtra government had tried to interfere in the affairs of the Shiromani Gurudwara Prabandhak Committee (SGPC) by foisting its nominees on the Gurudwara boards, and its boycott of the NDA meeting was due to that.
SAD member Manjinder Singh Sirsa, who won a byelection to the Delhi Assembly on BJP ticket in 2017 had in a strongly-worded Facebook post, threatened that the SAD would be willing to forgo its alliance with the BJP, if the state of affairs would continue.
Last week the SGPC had written to Prime Minister Modi himself alleging that the BJP led government of Maharashtra was trying to take control of the board of the Hazoor Sahib by amending section 11 of the Takht Shri Hazoor Sahib Board Nanded Act, 1956, which would give the state government the right to appoint the chairman of the board. “We are also boycotting the meeting as we are anxious that a financial package for farmers be announced in this session,” said a senior source in SAD.
This is not the first time that the SAD has raised this issue, in 2015 too attempts by the Fadnavis government to get people appointed to Gurudwara Boards had forced then Punjab chief minister Parkash Singh Badal to speak out against the move.
With the government facing a truculent opposition in the last session before the announcement of General Elections, this is not good news for the BJP.
