Amritsar, Punjab: The Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) has raised objections to the Haryana Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (HSGMC) extending help to the Congress in the Haryana assembly polls.
SGPC president Avtar Singh Makkar addressing media
In a statement SGPC chief Avtar Singh Makkar said HSGMC president Jagdish Singh Jhinda should realize that an “anti-Sikh party” like the Congress should not be extended support.
“Jhinda and his supporters should be aware of what the Congress had done with the Sikhs in the past,” he said without making mention of November 1984 Sikh pogrom. At the same time SGPC president also maintained that no Sikh in Haryana was going to listen to Jhinda. “Jinda carries no weight in Haryana” Makkar added.
Though he did not elaborate on this, the SGPC chief’s clear indication was to the excommunication of Jhinda from the Sikh community by the Akal Takht. Jhinda along with Didar Singh Nalvi, the vice-president of HSGMC and Haryana minister Harmohinder Singh Chatha, were excommunicated from the Sikh ‘panth’ by the Akal Takht for their role in the formation of a separate Gurdwara body. The trio was accused of ‘dividing the panth’ and weakening the SGPC.