The Punjab Cabinet on Monday approved an amendment to the British-era Sikh Gurdwaras Act to ensure "free-to-air" telecast of Gurbani from Amritsar's Golden Temple. Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann said the bill in this regard will be introduced in the Punjab Assembly on Tuesday, the second day of its two-day session.
Currently, Gurbani is broadcast from the Sikh shrine by PTC, a private channel often linked to the Shiromani Akali Dal's Badal family. The Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC), the apex religious body of the Sikhs, has contested the move by the AAP government, saying the 1925 Act is a central legislation and can only be amended by Parliament.
However, Chief Minister Mann said the state government is fully competent to amend this Act as the Supreme Court had on the issue of a separate Gurdwara Committee for Haryana already ruled that this Act is not an inter-state Act, but a state Act.
According to an official statement, Mann said the state cabinet has approved a proposal to amend the Sikh Gurdwaras Act and to insert Section 125A, thereby making it the responsibility of the SGPC to ensure "free-to-air" live telecast of the holy Gurbani from Sri Harmandir Sahib (Golden Temple).
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Mann said that this amendment has been approved with the objective that the entire humanity is able to listen to and see the live telecast of Gurbani free of cost. Meanwhile, SGPC chief Harjinder Singh Dhami on Monday strongly condemned the AAP government's move.
Dhami told media in Amritsar that any amendment to the Act can only be done by the Central government through Parliament as per the recommendations of the General House of the SGPC. He alleged that Bhagwant Mann wants to "please" his party leadership in Delhi and claimed that a "political colour is being given to the religious affairs of the Sikhs".
The SAD has also hit out at the AAP dispensation over the move, with party chief Sukhbir Singh Badal calling it a "direct attack on the panth". However, CM Mann claimed that the decision is in consonance with the feelings of the "Sikh Sangat (community)" across the globe.
The chief minister described it as the need of the hour to disseminate the "Sarb Sanji Gurbani" across the globe with the aim of spreading the universal message of "welfare of all". Mann said that the new Act will be called the Sikh Gurdwaras (Amendment) Act, 2023 and will come into force from the date of its publication in the Official Gazette.
