HSGMC to support to Cong, asks Sikhs to vote for it in polls

Chandigarh, The newly formed Haryana Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (HSGMC) today decided to extend support to Congress in the upcoming assembly polls and asked the Sikhs to vote for the party “which has kept its promise of setting up a separate SGPC for the state.”

The decision was taken in a HSGMC meeting held at Kurukshetra.

“The HSGMC passed a resolution in today’s meeting in which Hooda government’s historic decision to carve out a separate body for Haryana’s Sikh community was hailed. The 25-members of HSGMC, who took part in the meeting, unanimously decided to support Congress in the upcoming assembly polls,” said Jagdish Singh Jhinda, HSGMC President.

He further said Congress has given a big platform to the Sikhs of Haryana by meeting the long-pending demand of the community to have an independent body to manage gurdwaras of the state and for this the community will remain indebted.

“We have appealed the Sikh community to support Congress so that they form the government in the State for the third time and the parties, who had opposed the decision to have a separate panel, are kept at bay,” Jhinda said over phone from Kurukshetra, adding the HSGMC would campaign for Congress.

Jinda said out of a total 2.5 crore population of Haryana, the number of Sikhs was about 20 lakh, of which about 14-15 lakh are registered voters. Sikhs are predominant in Sirsa, Kurukshetra, Ambala and Karnal parliamentary constituencies.

HSGMC has appointed incharges in 36 assembly segments and committees would be constituted, which would ask Sikh voters to votes in favour of Congress candidates, he added.

The new HSGMC faced strong opposition from Amritsar-based Shiromani Gurudwara Parbhandhak Committee (SGPC), the apex religious body of the Sikhs.

Recently, Harbhajan Singh, a Haryana resident and member of SGPC, had challenged before the Supreme Court the constitutional validity of Haryana Sikh Gurudwara (Management) Act, 2014 under which a separate committee was formed to manage the affairs of the Gurudwaras in the state.