FEROZEPUR: Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) President Sukhbir Singh Badal today appealed to the Khalsa panth to support the twin Khalsa Marches being held from Takth Sri Kesgarh Sahiba and Takth Sri Damdama Sahib on March 7, saying the community would unitedly defeat the conspiracy to weaken its institutions and divide its strength.
The SAD President, who visited a number of villages in Ferozepur Rural constituency, also warned the AAP government not to try to uproot farmers from lands which they had been cultivating for more than 50 years. He asked chief minister Bhagwant Mann to withdraw all notices issued to farmers, saying they had been given cultivation rights by former CM Parkash Singh Badal and that if any other formality was required it should be done but land should be snatched from the tillers.
Mr Sukhbir Badal also said it was shameful that the AAP government did not have money for Shagun scheme and old age pension scheme but was spending Rs 700 crore on fake advertisements. He said nearly Rs 2.50 crore per day was being spent on various kinds of paid news.
Addressing a public meeting at Mudki, the SAD President said a great injustice had been done to the community with a biased judge validating the Haryana Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee Act of 2014 even though parliament alone could change the inter-state corporate status of the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC). He said while the apex court had adjudged on an inter-state body in the case of the SGPC, earlier Acts passed by the Punjab government vis a vis the SYL were not approved on the plea that the SYL was an inter-State body.
Mr Sukhbir Badal said it was a fact that the SGPC was governed by an Act of parliament. He said this was the reason why the central government appointed an Election Commissioner to hold its elections and even conducted its elections. “No other religion has such a democratic system to manage its religious institutions”, he said adding this was the reason why a uniform ‘maryada’ was followed in all gurdwaras and administered so well.
Asserting that the Bhupinder Singh Hooda led Congress government had first mooted forming a separate gurdwara committee for Haryana but former Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh stalled it while asserting that his father too had courted arrest in the movement which led to the formation of the gurdwara act. Mr Badal said subsequently two months before the assembly elections in 2014 Hooda passed the controversial Act which was challenged by the SAD in court.
Mr Badal said the apex court verdict validating a separate Committee for Haryana was not in the interest of the community. “Already infighting has started with the Baljit Singh Daduwal group supported by the BJP and Jhinda group supported by the Congress vying with each other to take control of the Committee”.
The SAD President also detailed how the BJP had earlier succeeded in taking over the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (DSGMC). “Now even the Haryana Committee has been recognized with the purpose of weakening the SGPC. Tomorrow they will target the SGPC in Punjab. We need to stand up and fight for our rights as all governments have aligned against us while giving the example of how the previous Congress and AAP governments had submitted affidavits against the SGPC even as the BJP government in Haryana and the centre had also arraigned against the SGPC.
Senior leaders Joginder Singh Jindu, Vardev Singh Mann and Montu Vohra also attended the functions.