New Delhi, August 23
Worried that the demand for a separate gurdwara body for Haryana may become another flashpoint, the Centre has asked Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda to refrain from pursuing this matter.

This message, it is learnt, has been conveyed to Hooda by the Prime Minister’s Office. The Centre has not taken kindly to Hooda’s active involvement in Sikh religious affairs and his open declaration that he would constitute a parallel Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) in Haryana.

UPA sources said that Hooda was told that he should not say or do anything
that could revive the old confrontation and mistrust between the Congress and
the Sikh community.

“Relations between the two have just about started improving... it was in this context that Hooda was told that he should not start a fresh chapter,” said a senior Congress leader.

Haryana’s demand for a separate SGPC has met with strong opposition from Punjab’s Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), which submitted a memorandum to the Prime Minister yesterday to “intervene effectively and immediately to save Punjab from being turned into another Kashmir”.

Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal is learnt to have suggested that the matter be dealt by the SGPC, which could set up a sub-committee to manage the affairs in Haryana.

Struggling to control violent protests in Jammu and Kashmir over the Amarnath land row, the Centre is wary of any sensitive religious matter, which could provide a common platform to the Akalis and religious hardliners in the border state of Punjab.

With the Centre responding favourably to this issue, a massive rally planned by the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) at Karnal on August 30 has been now been postponed.

On their part, Hooda’s aides said the chief minister had not accepted the demand of the Sikh community but had instead set up a committee headed by state Agriculture Minister Harmohinder Singh Chatha to look into the issue.

The committee is expected to submit its report by the month-end and the Hooda government had planned to bring out a legislation on the constitution of a SGPC in the state in the September Assembly session.

However, this may not be possible now. Realising the gravity of this ongoing confrontation between Punjab and Haryana, the Congress has underlined that it does not favour state interference in religious matters.

Party spokesperson Manish Tewari today clarified that it is for the Sikhs and Haryana to sort this issue among themselves.