SGPC not a SAD body: Sukhbir Badal
Dera Baba Nanak (Gurdaspur): SAD chief Sukhbir Singh Badal on Saturday said the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) is a democratically elected body and not an organisation of the Akali Dal.
Badal was facing flak from the ruling Congress which dubbed the apex gurdwara body as a "tool" in his party's hands.
He also hit out at the Congress government in Punjab over the issue of 550th birth celebrations of Guru Nanak Dev, asking the ruling party not to "create a new history" while asserting that religious functions had always been organised by the SGPC.
"The SGPC is not an organisation of the Akali Dal. It is an organistaion of Sikh 'panth' (community) and it is a democratically elected body," Badal told the media here.
"There is no need for doing politics. The government has its own job to do while religious body has its own. Ever since the SGPC came into being, all the religious programmes had been organised by it," he said.
"The Congress should not try to create a new history in this regard," he added.
Last month, Chief Minister Amarinder Singh had described the SGPC as a "tool" in the hands of the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD). Punjab minister Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa had accused SGPC chief Gobind Singh Longowal of being a "puppet in the hands of the Badal family".
Both Punjab government and SGPC had been at loggerheads over joint celebrations of the 550th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak next month.
The SGPC has decided to hold the main event in a stadium near Gurdwara Ber Sahib in Sultanpur Lodhi in Kapurthala district on November 12 while the state government wanted to hold the function near a "Tent City" coming up there.
Randhawa, who is state government's representative in the SGPC coordination panel for finalising the celebrations programme, had expressed his annoyance for ignoring the state government in extending invitation to President and Prime Minister for the November 12 function to be held in Sultanpur Lodhi in Kapurthala.
The SAD president, when asked, said the Congress was "indulging in politics" on the issue of the 550th anniversary celebrations.
Badal said he was thankful that the Kartarpur corridor had finally come up after decades of efforts including representations made by former chief minister Parkash Singh Badal to successive Prime Ministers.
He said the corridor as well as events associated with the 550th 'Parkash Purb' of Guru Nanak Dev should not be politicised.
"There is no need for anyone to get into a credit war as the Guru Nanak Naam Leva Sangat is aware of everything," he said.
