Demand for separate body not illegal: Bajwa
Wednesday, 02/07/2014
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CHANDIGARH: Punjab Congress chief Partap Singh Bajwa on Tuesday dismissed the argument given by SGPC president Avtar Singh Makkar that the demand for a Haryana gurdwara management committee was illegal.
In a statement, Bajwa told Makkar to go through Section 72 of the Punjab Reorganisation Act, under which Haryana had been created to meet the Akali demand of a Punjabi-speaking state.
The PPCC chief reminded Makkar that neither the Shiromani Akali Dal nor the SGPC had objected when 30 seats in the general House of the SGPC were reserved for women by creating double seats through an executive order, whereas the resolution for this purpose should first have been adopted by the general House and the recommendation sent to the Centre for implementation in accordance with provisions of the Master Tara Singh-Nehru Pact.
He said the demand for a separate gurdwara body had been made by Sikhs in Haryana and it had nothing to do with the Congress. This demand stemmed from discrimination meted out to community members in neighbouring states, he added.
