HSGPC issue: SGPC carries on with anti-Cong rhetoric

Amritsar, Punjab: A day after the Haryana assembly gave its consent to the formation of the Haryana Sikh Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee (HSGPC), the Amritsarbased Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) continued with its anti-Hooda and anti-Congress tirade.

On Saturday, it was the same old rhetoric from SGPC chief Avtar Singh Makkar, who accused the Congress of interfering in the religious affairs of Sikhs with an attempt to divide and weaken the community. At the same time, he continued with his appeal to the Sikhs of Haryana to reject the HSGPC.

Without naming anyone, Makkar regretted that ‘some Sikh elements’ had not learnt lessons from the past while siding with the Congress. “Those who had aligned with the Congress for getting the HSGPC are not true Sikhs as they fail to realise that the SGPC was formed after a great deal of sacrifices under the guidance of the Akal Takht,” he added.

Makkar claimed that the SGPC had pumped in a lot of money for education and had established a number of schools in Haryana and many more were coming up. Even for higher education, the SGPC remained committed to the Sikhs of Haryana, he added.

He claimed that the establishment of the Miri Piri Medical College at Shahbad was a prestigious project of the SGPC which would have brought about a change in medical education in Haryana. However, this was yet to be given the NOC by the Hooda government, he added, while claiming that the ‘socalled’ Sikh leaders of Haryana did not make any effort to get the clearance from the government.

The SGPC chief claimed that it was clear that the Congress had its eyes on the next assembly polls so it went ahead in passing the HSGPC formation bill in the assembly. He appealed to the Sikh electorate to reject the Congress in the assembly polls.

Source: HT