The apex gurdwara body has hired a Delhi firm to set up a separate stage at Sultanpur Lodhi to celebrate Guru Nanak Dev's 550th birth anniversary, dimming the prospects of a joint event along with the Punjab government.
The Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee has given a contract worth about Rs eight crore to a Delhi-based company for setting up a separate stage for holding the main event at the historic occasion at Sultanpur Lodhi in Kapurthala on November 12.
The SGPC move triggered a sharp reaction from Punjab minister Charanjit Singh Channi who accused the Shiromani Akali Dal of trying to stop the state government from holding the function to celebrate the Guru Nanak's 550th birth anniversary.
Lashing out at SAD chief Sukhbir Singh Badal and former SGPC chief Jagir Kaur, Channi said the two leaders were creating roadblocks in a joint celebration of the 'Prakash Purb' for their vested political interests.
Confirming the SGPC move, Kaur, who is also the member of the coordination committee formed on Sikhs' highest temporal seat Akal Takht's direction for finalizing a joint celebration of the programme, said, "(A separate) pandal (stage) will be set up. And there will be arrangements for decoration, light and sound system.
Both the Punjab government and the SGPC have been at loggerheads on the joint celebrations of the 550th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak Dev to be held next month.
The SGPC has decided to hold the main event in a stadium near Gurdwara Ber Sahib in Sultanpur Lodhi in Kapurthala district on November 12, while the state government wants to hold the function at a tent city coming up there.
The meetings between the state government representatives and the SGPC for joint celebrations had remained inconclusive.
Asserting that the SGPC had always been holding religious functions, Kaur said the state government should not interfere into the SGPC affairs.
The government should focus on improving infrastructure like widening of roads to facilitate devotees, she said.
Why do they (the state government) need to hold separate function? she asked.
Kaur hoped the state government would not hold a separate function on the occasion and would participate in the SGPC''s function.
Punjab minister Channi, who is the state government''s representative to the coordination panel for finalising the celebrations programme, accused Sukhbir Singh Badal of putting pressure on Akal Takht's jathedar to issue such orders that would stop the state government from holding the function.
The state government has already made it clear that it will not interfere in the functions to be held inside gurdwaras by the SGPC while the state government will take care of the functions to be held outside the purview of gurdwaras, said Channi.
Channi said the present move by the SGPC to spend a huge amount of money to celebrate the occasion separately, is aimed at furthering the SAD's political interests. The SGPC is a mere tool in the hands of Badal family, he alleged in a statement.
Channi said the SGPC president has no say and Sukhbir Singh Badal has virtually given all rights to Jagir Kaur to ensure that the joint celebrations of the Prakash Purb are derailed.
The minister said the state government has completed making all arrangements for the celebrations.
And that is why, he has once again appealed to the Jathedar Akal Takht to direct the SGPC to attend as well as cooperate in the celebrations being held by the state government to convey a message of unity to the world.
The minister said Chief Minister Amarinder Singh also wanted a joint celebrations of the historic occasion.
Punjab minister Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa, who is the state government's second representative to the coordination panel, however, slammed the SGPC, accusing the apex gurdwara body of never wanting to hold the joint celebrations.
They are acting at the behest of the Badal family, he alleged. Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh and the SGPC along with SAD leaders have extended separate invitations to both President Ram Nath Kovind and Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the 550th birth anniversary celebrations at Sultanpur Lodhi.
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