Separate Haryana SGPC demand rocks meeting, budget passed

Amritsar, Mar 30 (UNI) The demand for a separate Haryana Shiromani Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) rocked the annual SGPC General Body meeting today, which passed the budget of Rs 46.94 crore for the year 2007-08 amid walkout by its Haryana members.

After SGPC General Secretary Sukh Dev Singh Bhaur read out the budget speech. Many prominent SGPC members, taking part in the debate, brought up the much-publicised issue of the Haryana demanding a separate SGPC to take care the Gurdwaras dotting the neighbouring state.

Though most Sikh leaders opposed the demand, they also lashed out at the present SGPC leaders as well as Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and Sikh religious leaders for the present crisis in the Sikh community.

Akali stalwart and former SGPC president Jathedar Jagdev Singh Talwandi stressed that the need of the hour was to take effective steps to propogate and strengthen the Sikh religion so that the community remained united and strong.

While most SAD (Badal) rival leaders blamed the chief minister for ''politicising the SGPC'', Karnail Singh Panjauli, a Tohra loyalist, stressed that the Haryana SGPC members should be taken into confidence and their grievances redressed to pursuade them from withdrawing their demand.

Most of the speakers favoured that Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committe should remain the apex Sikh shrines management body.

However, SGPC Haryana unit president Jagdish Singh lashed out at SGPC president Avtaar Singh Makkar saying that he, at the behest of Mr Badal, wanted to re-enact the 'Mahabharta war' at Kurukshetra.

He was referring to Mr Makkar's statement yesterday after the SGPC executive meeting in Kurukshetra that the formation of a seprate committee for the Sikh shrines in Haryana was ''an illegal step, violative of the Sikh Gurdwara Act under which the SGPC was formed'' and amounted to direct interference in the religious affairs of the Sikhs by the Congress. He had also asked Congress Chief Ms Sonia Gandhi to stall the move.

The SGPC budget was later passed by voice even as the six SGPC Haryana unit members, led by Mr Jagdish Singh, staged a walk-out in protest against the SGPC's neglect of the genuine issues of Sikhs as well as the historic gurdwaras in Haryana and in support of their demand for a separate SGPC for the state.

UNI