Capt: Demand a political issue
Thursday, 03/07/2014
http://www.tribuneindia.com/2014/20140703/punjab.htm#7
Chandigarh : Congress Deputy Leader in the Lok Sabha Capt Amarinder Singh today lashed out at Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal for “using” SGPC president Avatar Singh Makkar into dragging Akal Takht into a row over a separate management body for Haryana gurdwaras.
He said that Makkar's statement that Akal Takht could summon Congress leaders who were backing the demand of the Haryana Sikhs only re-inforced the public belief that the Badals were interfering in the Akal Takht functioning. He called Makkar as the Chief Minister's handpicked "yes man".
The former Punjab Chief Minister claimed that the demand for a separate SGPC was a “political issue” and it in no way amounted to meddling in the religious affairs of the Sikhs. “Hence, it is wrong to drag Akal Takht into the issue. Badal and Makkar were trying to misuse the highest temporal authority for partisan interests,” alleged Amarinder in a statement.
Amarinder Singh reminded Badal that he was a part of the Akali movement led by Sant Fateh Singh which in 1971 had launched a 'morcha’ that had led to the creation of Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Managment Committee, as demanded by the Sikhs in Delhi.
“Badal and other Akali leaders had then courted arrest. If there was nothing wrong in demanding a separate body for Delhi, where is the wrong in seeking a separate body for the Haryana Sikhs,” asked Amarinder Singh.
