The Haryana Assembly today set the ball rolling to free the state gurdwaras from the reins of Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) by debating a non-official resolution proposing a separate body for the state. Former state CM Om Prakash Chautala, an ally of Punjab CM, skipped the session and his men preferred to keep away when the Assembly declared that the SGPC was in the grip of Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and it was time to free it from his clutches. Most of the members at the debate were of the view that Haryana should be given its separate SGPC as proposed in the non-official resolution floated by Congress MLA Nirmal Singh. Leading the attack, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Randeep Singh Surjewala said: “I mention with regret that Badal takes more than Rs 100 crore from the SGPC funds in Haryana but does not spend even a penny on the welfare of its Sikhs. Instead, he uses this religious organisation to bankroll the Chautalas in elections.” He rued that Haryana was given a step-motherly treatment by the SGPC which runs a number of educational institutions and professional colleges in Punjab. Pointing out that the body had taken 24 acres of land worth Rs 50 crore on GT Road at Shahbad for Miri Piri College, he said: “This college is no more than a private property of Badal who heads its board and has appointed his relative as its director,” he alleged. “We won’t allow him to use the Rs 100 crore earned by SGPC on elections in Punjab,” he said. Finance Minister Birender Singh too joined the issue and said the Akalis have made this religious organisation their political outfit. A separate SGPC, he said, would give Haryana Sikhs an independent identity. CM Bhupinder Singh Hooda also supported a separate SGPC for Haryana on the ground that since the Sikhs were in a minority in the state, it was the moral duty of the government to give them their right.
