Badal Slams Haryana Over Separate Gurdwara Committee Formation

Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Badal listening to the grievance of a woman in a gathering at Talwandi Sabo.
Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Badal listening to the grievance of a woman in a gathering at Talwandi Sabo.

TALWANDI SABO, Punjab—The recent statement by Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda announcing that the state plans to implement a separate gurdwara committee for Haryana, sparked a reaction by Punjab chief minister Parkash Badal on Saturday June 7, 2014, who said that Congress is playing with fire, as Sikhs will not tolerate interference in their religious affairs.

He said the move to divide Sikhs is uncalled for and that the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) would vehemently oppose it. “We will not allow the Congress to meddle in our religious affairs, and any such proposal would meet with a stiff resistance,” Badal declared.

He said that Congress has always adopted an anti-Sikh stance, and that the recent move of its government in Haryana has shown that a leopard never changes its spots. Badal said the Haryana chief minister’s announcement is politically motivated in view of the forthcoming assembly polls in the state.

Talking to reporters at a sangat darshan (gathering) program in the Talwandi Sabo assembly segment, the chief minister said the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) came into being only after numerous sacrifices made by Sikhs during the British rule.

Badal criticized former Punjab chief minister Capt Amarinder Singh for holding the SAD responsible for the violence at the Golden Temple on Friday, saying the Amritsar Member of Parliament (MP) has always misled people with his falsehoods.

He said that nobody will be allowed to disturb the state’s hard-earned peace.

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