NEW DELHI; Akal Takht Jathedar Manjit Singh has said a section of the Sangh parivar Is attempting to make a backdoor entry into the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) to which elections are to be held shortly.
Talking to reporters before leaving for the U S A last week some sangh parivar were enlisting themselves Aj dhari Sikh who constitute the electorate of the SGPC. But any person trying to get into the management of gurdwaras under the guise of a sehaj dhari should be debarred from doing so the jathedar said.
The SGPC a statutory body created under the Gurdwara Act of 1925 controls the historical gurdwaras in Punjab Haryana Himachal Pradesh and has an annual budget of more than Rs SO crore.
The SGPC also runs various educational institutions and hospitals in Punjab and outside.
The Jathedar said the Sikhs made a lot of sacrifices in early 1920s to liberate gurdwaras from the control of mahants who enjoying the patronage of the then British into the fiefdom.
The mahants should not be allowed to regain control of the Sikh Shrines the jathedar felt.
The decks for the SGPC elections have been cleared recently with the government agreeing to revise the electoral rolls and lower the voting age from 21 to 18
The SGPC which according to its Constitution is to be elected every four years had its last election about 16 years ago.
Article extracted from this publication >> July 15, 1994
