SGPC, govt spar over holding separate Sikh religious events

The Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) on Tuesday accused the state government of creating a confrontational situation over the commemoration of religious events, only to be told by ruling AAP that the Sikh body was “acting at the behest of the SAD”.

The SGPC and AAP leaders, including CM Bhagwant Mann and Finance Minister Harpal Cheema, traded charges as the government on Monday announced a series of religious events to commemorate the martyrdom day of Guru Teg Bahadur in November.

The SGPC had objected to the announcement, with its chief Harjinder Singh Dhami saying only the Sikh body was “entitled to organise such historic events” with the support of the community.

Slamming the government, Dhami alleged that the Bhagwant Mann-led government was “interfering in the jurisdiction of Panthic institutions".

He said the AAP regime should focus on establishing memorials in connection with Sikh religious figures instead of creating a confrontational atmosphere through separate religious events.

Dhami said the SGPC had already planned a series of events beginning April from Gurdwara Guru ke Mahal, the birthplace of the Ninth Sikh Guru in Amritsar.

“Since then, programmes have been organised across the country,” Dhami said, adding that separate events — overlapping with those planned by the SGPC at Anandpur Sahib — would create confusion and go against long-standing traditions of the Khalsa Panth.

He alleged that it appeared as if the government was “deliberately trying to sideline Sikh institutions". He said since the AAP government came to power in 2022, the SGPC celebrated 12 Sikh centenaries but it never showed any interest.

He recalled that previous governments cooperated with the SGPC in observing such events by setting up major memorials such as the Virasat-e-Khalsa in Anandpur Sahib during the 300th Khalsa Sajna Diwas in 1999 and a memorial at Chappar Chiri in 2010 in memory of Banda Singh Bahadar’s victory at Sirhind.

He said this after a meeting with Mann over the bomb threats to the Golden Temple. Dhami said no discussions were held with the CM over separate government functions. “I will discuss this with the CM another time," he said.

Why they didn’t object during SAD rule: Mann

Reacting to the criticism, Mann questioned as to why theSGPC was objecting to the government programmes now when it did not object toit when the SAD government in 1999 held functions to mark the 300th anniversaryof the birth of the Khalsa.

Cheema too accused the SGPC of “acting at the behest of the SAD and behaving as if it was part of a political party that seems to believe it has patent over Sikh religion”.

Earlier on Monday, Education Minister Harjot Bains posted a song of slain singer Sidhu Moosewala on his X (formerly Twitter) account to indicate that religion wasn’t the domain of any political party. In response, Akal Takht officiating Jathedar Giani Kuldeep Singh Gargaj questioned leaders of AAP “for not following tenets of Sikhism".

Punjab