To counter RSS ‘ghar wapsi’, SGPC recruits preachers
SGPC president Avtar Singh Makkar, who was in Amritsar Tuesday, confirmed the recruitment of the preachers.
The 27 qualified recruits, with either an MA in religion or having undergone the three-year course in missionary colleges run by the SGPC.
With the RSS and its affiliates having extended their ‘ghar wapsi’ programs to get Christians back to Sikhism in Punjab, the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) — the apex representative body of Sikhs — has begun a concerted effort to get Sikhs, predominantly Mazhabi Sikhs, back to the fold. As part of the initiative, the SGPC, controlled by the ruling Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), recruited 27 new preachers Tuesday.
The 27 qualified recruits, with either an MA in religion or having undergone the three-year course in missionary colleges run by the SGPC, will join a team of more than 150 preachers already working in different parts of the state. The SGPC runs as many as nine missionary colleges, six of which are in Punjab. It runs three-year courses in these colleges focussing on Gurbani, Gurmat and Sikh principles.
SGPC president Avtar Singh Makkar, who was in Amritsar Tuesday, confirmed the recruitment of the preachers. He added that more preachers were likely to be recruited and added that they would focus on the border belt to spread awareness about Sikhism. Makkar, however, asserted that the SGPC was against “forced conversions”.
Over the last few days, the SGPC has also started the Sikhi Saroop Mera Asli Roop (My real identity is being Sikh) initiative, where preachers are reaching out to schools and colleges with a form that contains an undertaking that one would return to Sikhism and follow Sikh tenets and principles. For students who fill and sign the form, an SGPC preacher hands over a medal as a token of appreciation.
SGPC Dharam Parchar Committee secretary Satbir Singh said by the end of January, nearly 10,000 students would be covered under the initiative. “This is all voluntary. The students sign the form voluntarily after they are convinced that they should return to follow Sikh principles. There have been cases where Sikh students get their hair shorn. The initiative is aimed at getting them back into the Sikhism fold,” Satbir Singh told The Indian Express.
SGPC to form its own censor board
The SHIROMANI Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) chief Avtar Singh Makkar on Tuesday said that SGPC would form its own censor board to vet films relating to Sikhism.
Makkar said such movies would need to get the approval of the SGPC Censor Board first before they being sent to the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC).
Makkar said the movie, Chaar Sahibzaade, was a big success and was vetted by the SGPC at numerous stages before being cleared.
A buoyed SGPC would now make an animation movie on great Sikh warrior Baba Banda Singh Bahadur, he added.
On Akal Takht directing the SGPC to watch the controversial movie, MSG, featuring Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh, to see if the movie was objectionable, Makkar said he would do so only when Akal Takht asked him in writing. The movie is scheduled for release in January.
Notably, Akal Takht had in 2007 issued an edict to the Sikh community to boycott the dera chief after he had allegedly parodied Guru Gobind Singh in a ceremony akin to creation of Khalsa. “If Akal Takht gives in writing, I will watch the movie (MSG),” said Makkar.
When contacted, Akal Takht chief Giani Gurbachan Singh said he would write to the SGPC chief to “either watch the movie or ask some to watch the movie and brief him about the movie contents”.
“The movie has to be seen to see whether there is anything anti-Sikh in it,” said the Akal Takht chief.
He, however, added that as per the Akal Takht edict, no Sikh would go to watch the movie in theatres in case it was released, as it has been ordered to snap all ties with the dera chief.
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