Even as an Akali member of the Shiromani Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee (SGPC) from Karnal, Bhupinder Singh Assandh, has gone against his party to support a separate SGPC for Haryana, the Congress in Punjab has said the demand is a fall-out of the gross misuse of this body for personal whims of the ruling Parkash Singh Badal family in Punjab.
Mr Assandh, a senior vice-president of the Shiromani Akali Dal from Haryana said here on Friday that money collected from Haryana’s gurdwaras was being spent in Punjab and used for political purposes by the SAD leadership, ignoring the interests of Haryana’s Sikhs. He also accused the Badal-controlled SGPC of giving jobs to Sikhs from Punjab in Haryana’s gurdwaras.
The Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, who is also the SAD chairman has opposed a separate SGPC for Haryana, petitioning the Union Home Minister, Rajnath Singh, against it, on the grounds that it is an interference in the internal affairs of the Sikhs.
Meanwhile, Sukhpal Singh Khaira, a spokesman of the Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee, said here that the ruling Badal family has destroyed the democratic character of the SGPC by appointing puppet presidents. He said the strong demand for a separate body in Haryana and Rajasthan is because Sikhs in these states feel that the resources generated from their offerings are not being re-invested for the promotion of Sikhism in their respective states.
