Manifesto row: SGPC to move court against AAP for ‘hurting Sikh sentiments’

Claiming that AAP's "blunder" cannot be undone by an apology, SGPC chief said the party has to bear the consequences for using an image of Golden Temple and a broom (party symbol) on its youth manifesto.

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The manifesto cover that sparked a row. Express

THE SHIROMANI Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee (SGPC) Thursday announced that it will move court against the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) for comparing its youth manifesto to the Sikh holy book and also for superimposing its party symbol — broom — on the picture of the Golden Temple on the manifesto’s cover.

“We will file a court case in Amritsar against (AAP national convenor and) Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal and AAP leaders Ashish Khetan and Kanwar Sandhu. They have committed a blunder that cannot be undone by an apology. They have to bear the consequences for hurting Sikh religious sentiments and taking political mileage by using the photograph of Golden Temple and a broom,” said SGPC chief Avtar Singh Makkar.

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Asked why similar action was not taken against Punjab Revenue Minister Bikram Singh Majithia when he allegedly distorted Gurbani (holy text), Makkar termed that incident an “unintentional mistake”.

“SGPC is not being biased. We are not favoring any particular party, but AAP’s manifesto has hurt Sikh religious feelings across the world and thus legal action is being taken by SGPC,” he said, while refusing to comment on why no legal action was taken against Majithia.

Divya Goyal

Divya Goyal is a Principal Correspondent with The Indian Express, based in Punjab. Her interest lies in exploring both news and feature stories, with an effort to reflect human interest at the heart of each piece. She writes on gender issues, education, politics, Sikh diaspora, heritage, the Partition among other subjects. She has also extensively covered issues of minority communities in Pakistan and Afghanistan. She also explores the legacy of India's partition and distinct stories from both West and East Punjab. She is a gold medalist from the Indian Institute of Mass Communication (IIMC), Delhi, the most revered government institute for media studies in India, from where she pursued English Journalism (Print). Her research work on “Role of micro-blogging platform Twitter in content generation in newspapers” had won accolades at IIMC. She had started her career in print journalism with Hindustan Times before switching to The Indian Express in 2012. Her investigative report in 2019 on gender disparity while treating women drug addicts in Punjab won her the Laadli Media Award for Gender Sensitivity in 2020. She won another Laadli for her ground report on the struggle of two girls who ride a boat to reach their school in the border village of Punjab. ... Read More