Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Tuesday amended the Sikh Gurudwara act 1925. It aimed to free the telecast of sacred Gurbani from any Political riggings. Earlier the broadcasting Rights were only given to the PTC. PTC is Owned by the Sukhbir Badal’s Family. The Shiromani Akali Dal coined this as a disgraceful act. According to the party committee this was a direct attack on Gurudwaras and Sikh Panth.
The CM termed this as the Sikh Gurudwara Amendment act 2023. Consequently, this act will be implemented right from the date of its publication. After the cabinet approved the amended act the Shiromani Akali dal and Shiromani Gurudwara Prabandhak Committee lashed out on the AAP leader and said “This is a direct attack on SGPC by the government and the Sikh community will never forget this”. In a Press conference in Amritsar the SGPC president Harminder Dhami remarked that “This is a black day(20TH June 2023) for the Sikh community in last 103 years as the AAP government is directly prying in Gurudwara Management affairs by passing such unconstitutional laws”.
Furthermore, Harminder Dhami added that this will not be tolerated at any cost. Dhami called for a general session of the SGPC on June 26th 2023. Which aims to discuss the outlines of this act. According to the committee these acts weaken the Sikh community. In addition, Congress is on board with SGPC.
How did the Punjab government justify the allegations
In Retort the Punjab Cm said that this amendment was made to introduce the Global civilisation with preachings of Sikh Gurus. As this decision will lead to broadcasting of Gurbani free of cost to all the media outlets whoever want to Telecast it. Bhagwant Mann made it clear that this act was not implemented to give all the rights to a single power. The act focuses instead to make people aware about Gurbani across the globe. Mann countered the SGPC by stating that “ A single Family mastered all the affairs which already caused damage to Sikh panth and amongst which they forgot to ensure their duty”. Lastly he also addressed that 11 years have passed but a single election didn’t take place in SGPC.
