The Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) on Thursday urged Punjab Governor Banwarilal Purohit to nullify the Sikh Gurdwaras (Amendment) Bill, 2023, which clears the path for free-to-air telecast of the Gurbani (sacred hymn) from the Golden Temple in Amritsar. The Punjab Assembly recently passed the Bill.
The Gurbani broadcast rights were so far granted by the SGPC. They are currently with G-Next Media (PTC Channel), which is owned by Shiromani Akali Dal president and former Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal.
A delegation of the SGPC led by its president, Harjinder Singh Dhami, submitted a memorandum to the Governor. The SGPC is responsible for the management of Gurdwaras in Punjab, Himachal Pradesh and Chandigarh.
“The interference made by the Punjab government headed by Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann in the Sikh Gurdwaras Act, 1925 and the provisions of the SGPC is unconstitutional, which should not be allowed,” the SGPC said in the memorandum.
Mr. Dhami said the State government was going beyond its jurisdiction and complicating Sikh affairs. “The government has interfered in the Sikh Gurdwaras Act, 1925 by making an issue of Gurbani broadcast in the Legislative Assembly. This step is a direct violation of the Constitution as any amendment in the Sikh Gurdwara Act can be done only by the Centre with the recommendations of the SGPC,” he told reporters.
He said the Punjab government had no right to interfere in the management of the SGPC.
Mr. Dhami said the broadcast of Gurbani broadcast was completely an administrative matter, which the Aam Aadmi Party govenment was using for its political interests. “The aim of [Chief Minister] Bhagwant Mann’s government is to weaken the SGPC, but the Sikh community will not allow this to happen,” he said.
