Gurugram: After months of infighting and public sparring, the Manohar Lal Khattar government-nominated ad hoc committee of the Haryana Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (HSGMC) was plunged into further turmoil Sunday after its president Mahant Karamjit Singh and general secretary Gurvinder Singh Dhamija resigned from their posts.
The resignations came days after the Akal Takht, the highest temporal seat of the Sikhs, intervened in the factional fight and debarred the committee from holding any administrative meetings. The intervention came in the wake of a viral video purporting to show rival factions within the HSGMC hurling insults at each other during an administrative meeting at an Ambala gurdwara.
Speaking to ThePrint, an official in the Haryana government claimed on condition of anonymity that Singh and Dhamija were asked to resign in view of their “never-ending bickering and public statements against each other”.
However, Dhamija told ThePrint that he had resigned of his own volition since he wanted to ensure he was not occupying any position when the Akal Takht conducted a probe into the conflict. ThePrint tried to contact Mahant Karamjit Singh, but his phone was switched off.
A press note issued by the Haryana government’s Information and Public Relations Department Sunday said that the two office-bearers had submitted their resignations to the additional chief secretary (Home Department) TVSN Prasad.
“Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar’s efforts had paved the way for setting up of the ad hoc committee of the HSGMC. Mahant Karamjit Singh and Gurvinder Singh Dhamija were appointed president and general secretary, respectively, of the ad hoc committee. Today, both the office bearers have submitted their resignations to the additional chief secretary (home) TVSN Prasad,” said the press release.
The HSGMC, responsible for 51 out of 52 gurdwaras in Haryana, has a turbulent history, including a prolonged legal battle with the Punjab-based Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) over gurdwara management.
While the Supreme Court ruled in favour of the HSGMC last year and the Haryana government appointed a 38-member ad hoc committee to manage gurudwaras until formal elections, a bitter factional feud within the ranks has marred the panel’s functioning.
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Altercation at a gurdwara, demand for ‘dope test’
In June this year, CM Khattar tried to broker peace between the HSGMC factions led by Mahant Karamjit Singh and Dhamija respectively, but conflicts continued to erupt, including a tussle over the formation of sub-committees in July and then a controversial altercation during a meeting in Gurdwara Panjrokha Sahib in Ambala on 14 August.
The conflict reached such a pass that in a 22 August letter, accessed by ThePrint, Dhamija went so far as to ask the Akal Takht to order a “dope test” and a “celibacy test” on HSGMC president Singh. On his part, Singh too complained about Dhamija’s conduct to the Akal Takht.
Soon thereafter, the Akal Takht prohibited the ad hoc committee of the HSGMC from holding administrative meetings and instructed the members to refrain from making public allegations against each other.
This was communicated in a 28 August letter from Jathedar Giani Raghbir Singh’s personal assistant Ajit Singh, addressed to the HSGMC president.
The letter, accessed by ThePrint, takes note that members of the HSGMC were witnessed trading abuses with each other at Panjokhra Sahib Gurdwara in Ambala during an executive meeting in the presence of office-bearers.
It further said that Sikhs from across the world had approached the Akal Takht with written as well as verbal complaints about the behaviour of HSGMC members. The letter added that complaints had also been received from the HSGMC president Mahant Karamjit Singh, general secretary Gurvinder Singh Dhamija, and members Harpreet Singh and Gurbaksh Singh.
“Singh Sahib (the Akal Takht Jathedar), after serious consideration of the complaints, has directed that till the matter is under consideration of the Akal Takht, the HSGMC is barred from holding any administrative meetings except for routine works. Directions are also being issued to all the members as well as the office bearers to refrain from issuing statements on this issue through newspapers or through social media,” said the letter, written in Punjabi.
What was the latest fight about?
Following the stormy 14 August meeting in Ambala, Mahant Karamjit Singh held a press conference, which was subsequently shared on social media.
During this conference, he alleged that Baljit Singh Daduwal, the former HSGMC president, who was present at the meeting alongside general secretary Dhamija, had used offensive language when questioned about the relocation of 25 saroops of the Guru Granth Sahib from Kurukshetra to Jind.
Karamjit Singh claimed that concerns were raised since the move was not in compliance with maryada (due procedure prescribed in the Sikh traditions for maintaining the dignity of the holy book). A saroop is a physical copy of Sri Guru Granth Sahib, also called Bir in Punjabi.
In the press conference, Karamjit Singh also accused Daduwal of embezzling gurdwara funds during his term as HSGMC chief.
Contacted by The Print, Daduwal shared a copy of a legal notice his counsel has served on Mahant Karamjit Singh for his allegations of embezzlement.
On the allegations of the use of abusive language in the 14 August meeting, both Daduwal and Dhamija claimed that the video was doctored and didn’t show what the other side was saying. “I didn’t use a single abusive word,” claimed Daduwal.
Dhamija said that though he had obtained the telephonic consent of Karamjit Singh for the moving of saroops, these were never shifted from Kurukshetra because of the controversy.
About the HSGMC
Although the state of Haryana was carved out of Punjab in 1966, its gurdwaras remained under the management of the Amritsar-based SGPC for several decades.
In 2014, the Congress government led by Bhupinder Singh Hooda passed the Haryana Sikh Gurdwara (Management) Act, 2014, paving the way for an independent gurdwara panel in Haryana.
The then government constituted an ad hoc committee under Daduwal, but the control of 48 Haryana Gurdwara remained with the SGPC since it challenged the Haryana law in the Supreme Court.
On 22 September 2022, the Supreme Court dismissed SGPC’s petition. Subsequently, on December 2, the Haryana government, led by Manohar Lal Khattar, appointed a 38-member ad hoc committee to oversee Gurdwara affairs until regular committee elections could be conducted.
This ad hoc committee, later on, elected Mahant Karamjit Singh as its president and Gurvinder Singh Dhamija as the general secretary.
Meanwhile, the process of elections to the HSGMC has already begun.
A senior official of the state government told The Print Saturday that 40 wards have been made after the ward delimitation process by the Haryana Gurdwara Election Commission. He added that the registration of names for the electoral rolls for the HSGMC started on 1 September and will continue until the last day of the month.
(Edited by Asavari Singh)
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