Taking the SGPC head-on over allegations made by Sikh clergy over government “interference” in Panthic affairs, Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Monday asked the committee and SAD not to use the Sikh Panth and the Akal Takht as a “shield to evade action against their misdeeds, including the case of the missing 328 saroops of Guru Granth Sahib”.This was Mann’s sharpest attack on the SGPC and also SAD leaders, whom he referred to as the “masters of the SGPC”.He also questioned why elections to the SGPC had not taken place for years and sought their reply on why the SGPC had not reacted to caricatures of the Sahibzadas being used along with photos of Guru Gobind Singh in a social media post released by the BJP-led Central government. “Is it because a political alliance is being sought with BJP by the masters of SGPC?” he asked.The CM questioned how it was being construed that the government was interfering in religious affairs. “In the year 2020, the interim committee of the SGPC passed a resolution for legal action against its erring employees and publishers. It was only after representatives of the Sant Samaj met me and expressed their anguish about no action being taken in the case of missing saroops that I thought it was my moral responsibility to get an FIR registered and constitute a special investigation team,” he said, adding that every Sikh, whether in the country or living abroad, wants those responsible for the missing saroops to be brought to book.The missing saroop case had first come to light in the year 2020. The 328 saroops were allotted in 2013-14 and 2014-15. Following this, the then SGPC president, Gobind Singh Longowal, had declared that legal action would be initiated against the guilty, but the decision was rolled back by the SGPC executive.
An inquiry was initiated by a panel constituted by the Akal Takht and the inquiry committee headed by Isher Singh indicted 16 employees in the report submitted in August 2020. The services of these employees were later terminated. It was earlier this month that an FIR against 16 persons was registered and an SIT was formed. This has now prompted the Sikh high priests to ask the government not to meddle in the religious affairs.
Mann expressed surprise that after having publicly declared that legal action should be initiated against those responsible for the missing saroops, the SGPC changed its stand. “Who were they trying to save? Now, when acting on the demand of the Sikh religious leaders, the government registered an FIR, the SGPC is spewing venom against the state government, allegedly at the behest of their political masters.
The SGPC chief has casually admitted that 10-12 scams daily occur in the committee. This reflects the gross misuse of offerings by the devotees,” he alleged.
The CM pointed out that during the Akali regime, all rights to publish Guru Granth Sahib were given to the SGPC through the Jaagat Jot Sri Guru Granth Sahib Satkar Act, 2008 (Punjab Act). “But now when the state government wants to ensure recovery of the saroops so that no desecration or any other such heinous crimes take place, these people are giving religious colour to it,” he said, alleging that the SGPC and its president were “mere puppets” in the hands of the Akali leaders who are using it for their vested interests