NEW DELHI: Amid a brewing confrontation, Punjab Deputy CM Sukhbir Badal today met Home Minister Rajnath Singh and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and said the Haryana decision on forming a parallel SGPC is an “attack” on the country’s integrity.
“The Government of Haryana has taken a decision which will basically harm the national integration of the country.
It is an attack on India’s unity,” he told reporters here after raising the issue with the two central ministers.
“They have challenged the authority of the Government of India, they have violated every Article, every word of the Indian Constitution. And they have done something which is unimaginable in the history of this country,” the Akali Dal leader said.
His comments came against the backdrop of Haryana’s decision to form a parallel SGPC and its defiance to the Center’s missive that it cannot do so.
Akali Dal sources said that Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal has expressed readiness to take out a “morcha” over the issue and possibly may even resign to lead the protest if the need arose.
The Punjab government has been maintaining that Shiromani Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee (SGPC) – which manages key Sikh shrines – was formed under the Central Gurdwara Act, 1925, during the British rule and Haryana had no legal authority to enact a law for a separate SGPC to manage gurdwaras in the state.
The Centre had last week asked the Haryana Governor to withdraw the assent granted to a Bill aimed at creating a separate Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee, saying the state Assembly did not have legal authority to enact such a law and it was thus ‘void’.
However, the Haryana government has asked MHA to withdraw its letter.–PTI
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