Cong trying to seize control of SGPC, says Parkash Singh Badal

Former Punjab chief minister Parkash Singh Badal Monday attacked the Congress, accusing it of trying to seize control of the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC), which manages Sikh shrines.

He alleged that Congress was the "biggest of enemy" of Punjab as well as Sikhs.

"The Congress is stooping too low to seize control of the SGPC and other Sikh institutions as it is trying to create division among the Sikhs by colluding with anti-Sikh forces to achieve this goal," Parkash Singh Badal said, addressing people on the eve of 'Maghi Mela' here.

"You can see the difference by comparing it with the Modi government. The Congress is trying to grab control of our 'gurdhams' (gurdwaras) by instigating Sikhs against each other and on the other hand, the Modi government is fulfilling a long pending desire of every Sikh to have hassle-free access to the Kartarpur Sahib Gurdwara in Pakistan," he alleged.

Parkash Singh Badal lauded Prime Minister Narendra Modi for taking decision with regard to the construction of Kartarpur corridor which would facilitate Sikh devotees to pay obeisance at the historic shrine in Pakistan.

"Khalsa panth will forever be indebted to Modi sahib who took decision to make the Kartarpur corridor a reality and delivered justice to victims of 1984 anti-Sikh riots by setting up an SIT to reopen the cases closed by the successive Congress governments," he said.

"We never forget the people who had ever sympathised with our community by their noble acts. Modi ji has won our hearts with his noble gestures and we want to see him as prime minister for the second term," he added.

SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal alleged that some "anti-Sikh" forces were trying hard to defame the party and its leadership in their "desperate attempt to gain control" over the Sikh institutions.

He said they are "misleading" Sikhs by making baseless and false claims about the functioning of the SGPC.

"The affairs of the SGPC are run by representatives of the Sikh community not by the Badal family as they put it to misguide Sikhs. These so called panthic forces are B-team of Congress. They held dharna and lifted it, blocked cavalcades of SAD leaders, issued false statements against the Badal family as they were directed to do by the Congress," Sukhbir Badal said.