Chandigarh: The Shiromani Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee (SGPC) and Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) have objected to the appointment of a non-Sikh as the administrator the Takht Hazur Sahib board, Nanded (Maharashtra) saying it was not in accordance with the Sikh sentiments and "maryada’’ (code of conduct).
Takht Hazur Sahib (also known as Takht Sachkhand Sri Hazur Abchalnagar Sahib) is one of the five Takhts (seats of temporal authority) in Sikhism.
SGPC & SAD bodies demand immediate revocation
While president of the SGPC, which is known as mini-parliament of the Sikhs, Harjinder Singh Dhami, has written to Maharashtra chief minister Eknath Shinde, SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home minister Amit Shah demanding the withdrawal of the order of Maharashtra government.
Demanding elections to form the Gurdwara board, Dhami said that the tenure of the said board had ended on March 15, 2022, and added that the Maharashtra government should not take arbitrary decisions and till the elections were conducted, a Sikh person should be appointed as its administrator.
Demand For "A Pooran Gur Sikh"
Sukhbir in his letters to Modi and Shah demanded appointment of “a pooran gur Sikh” (a fully practicing Sikh) from among the bureaucrats as administrator of the Takht associated with the founder of the Khalsa Panth, Guru Gobind Singh and urged the Union and state governments to show ``greater sensitivity to Sikh sentiments’’.
He said that the Sikhs, the SGPC and the SAD will not allow ``these conspiracies to succeed'' and asked how could not a single Sikh in the country be found to replace Parvinder Singh Pasricha even if at all he had to be replaced?
The SAD chief also held that with this step a full scale assault on Sikh philosophy and practices was visible in the attack on Sikh institutions especially against the SGPC. He further held that it was not a one-off stray appointment casually made and that it was being seen by the Sikh masses as a part of the attempts being made to dilute and destroy Sikh principles.
