CHANDIGARH, JULY 14
The Punjab Chief Minister, Mr Parkash Singh Badal, today described the action of the Congress government in Haryana in getting a law enacted to set up a separate body for Sikh shrines in that state as “ provocative and a brazen interference in the religious affairs of the minority Sikh community. “ The Chief Minister said that this action was not only blatantly unconstitutional but was motivated by a desire to fulfill the long standing design of the Congress party to dilute and weaken the spiritual, social and political strength of the Sikh community by seeking to encourage divisions.
Mr. Badal appealed to the Government of India to intervene in the matter as the Haryana Government’s action has not only created a constitutional crisis by openly encroaching upon the jurisdiction of the Parliament but will also inflame passions and hurt the religious sentiments of the millions of Sikh masses all over the world. He said that he simply could not understand the desperate urge of the Haryana Chief Minister to tread upon the Sikh religious territory while his mandate as Chief Minister is to function as a secular head of government. “What is his great motive in taking such unusual and unholy interest in the affairs of the Sikhs. Why is he so keen on undoing what people namely Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru and Mahatama Gandhi have done with regard to the SGPC? Has someone not told him that it was against his kind of governmental intervention in Sikh religious affairs that Pandit Nehru went to jail during the British regime? And then that was a foreign rule. Is Mr. Hooda out to prove that whatever mischief the British were capable of, he is capable too – and worse? asked Mr. Badal.
Mr. Badal said that the Haryana Government should have shown extreme sensitivity towards the potential threat which its action poses to the hard earned atmosphere of peace and communal harmony in the region. He has even defied the wishes of the overwhelming majority of the Sikh masses in Haryana as expressed in the last elections to the General house of the SGPC. “The last SGPC poll was a referendum among the Sikhs on the advisability of setting up a separate body for management of Sikh shrines in that state, and the Sikhs voted overwhelmingly against those who supported the Congress-sponsored move in this direction, giving thumping victory on all eleven seats to the candidates of the SAD who had opposed this move .
The Chief Minister said that the Haryana Government had also treated the Indian constitution with utter disrespect by piloting a bill which clearly violates constitutional provisions in this regard. The issue falls in the ambit of the Punjab Re-organization Act 1966 which declares several institutions including the SGPC as inter-state corporate bodies, mandating that only the Government of India and the Parliament were competent to take decisions or legislate on matters concerning these bodies. The Chief Minister pointed out that all decisions regarding the SGPC fall within the jurisdiction of the Ministery of Home Affairs, Government of India. “Be it the conduct and notification of elections, their results, electoral rolls, reservation for women or any other issue requiring statutory decisions, the mandate lies with the Government of India alone. Not to speak of Haryana, even the Punjab government or Punjab assembly cannot interfere with the working, composition or with the running of this constitutionally created body. I am shocked that all these facts, which are well known to everyone familiar with administration or with Sikh affairs, have been given a rude farewell by the Haryana Government.”
===balbirsingh227@gmail.com
The Punjab Chief Minister, Mr Parkash Singh Badal, today described the action of the Congress government in Haryana in getting a law enacted to set up a separate body for Sikh shrines in that state as “ provocative and a brazen interference in the religious affairs of the minority Sikh community. “ The Chief Minister said that this action was not only blatantly unconstitutional but was motivated by a desire to fulfill the long standing design of the Congress party to dilute and weaken the spiritual, social and political strength of the Sikh community by seeking to encourage divisions.
Mr. Badal appealed to the Government of India to intervene in the matter as the Haryana Government’s action has not only created a constitutional crisis by openly encroaching upon the jurisdiction of the Parliament but will also inflame passions and hurt the religious sentiments of the millions of Sikh masses all over the world. He said that he simply could not understand the desperate urge of the Haryana Chief Minister to tread upon the Sikh religious territory while his mandate as Chief Minister is to function as a secular head of government. “What is his great motive in taking such unusual and unholy interest in the affairs of the Sikhs. Why is he so keen on undoing what people namely Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru and Mahatama Gandhi have done with regard to the SGPC? Has someone not told him that it was against his kind of governmental intervention in Sikh religious affairs that Pandit Nehru went to jail during the British regime? And then that was a foreign rule. Is Mr. Hooda out to prove that whatever mischief the British were capable of, he is capable too – and worse? asked Mr. Badal.
Mr. Badal said that the Haryana Government should have shown extreme sensitivity towards the potential threat which its action poses to the hard earned atmosphere of peace and communal harmony in the region. He has even defied the wishes of the overwhelming majority of the Sikh masses in Haryana as expressed in the last elections to the General house of the SGPC. “The last SGPC poll was a referendum among the Sikhs on the advisability of setting up a separate body for management of Sikh shrines in that state, and the Sikhs voted overwhelmingly against those who supported the Congress-sponsored move in this direction, giving thumping victory on all eleven seats to the candidates of the SAD who had opposed this move .
The Chief Minister said that the Haryana Government had also treated the Indian constitution with utter disrespect by piloting a bill which clearly violates constitutional provisions in this regard. The issue falls in the ambit of the Punjab Re-organization Act 1966 which declares several institutions including the SGPC as inter-state corporate bodies, mandating that only the Government of India and the Parliament were competent to take decisions or legislate on matters concerning these bodies. The Chief Minister pointed out that all decisions regarding the SGPC fall within the jurisdiction of the Ministery of Home Affairs, Government of India. “Be it the conduct and notification of elections, their results, electoral rolls, reservation for women or any other issue requiring statutory decisions, the mandate lies with the Government of India alone. Not to speak of Haryana, even the Punjab government or Punjab assembly cannot interfere with the working, composition or with the running of this constitutionally created body. I am shocked that all these facts, which are well known to everyone familiar with administration or with Sikh affairs, have been given a rude farewell by the Haryana Government.”
===balbirsingh227@gmail.com
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