New Delhi: The Punjab Assembly on Tuesday passed the Sikh Gurdwaras (Amendment) Bill, 2023 which will make broadcast and telecast of “gurbani” from Sri Harmandir Sahib (The Golden Temple) free for all.
The Cabinet on Monday had approved an amendment to the British-era Sikh Gurdwaras Act to ensure “free-to-air” telecast of the “gurbani”.
The “gurbani” was broadcast from the Sikh shrine by PTC, a private channel often linked to the Shiromani Akali Dal’s Badal family.
The Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC), the apex religious body of the Sikhs, has contested the move by Punjab’s Aam Aadmi Party government, saying the 1925 Act was a central legislation and could only be amended by Parliament.
However, Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann maintained the state government was fully competent to amend this Act as the Supreme Court had already ruled it was not an inter-state Act, but a state one.
Mann said it was the need of the hour to disseminate the “sarb sanji gurbani” across the globe with the aim of spreading the universal message of “welfare of all”.
He said the move would go a long way in offering an opportunity to the “sangat” to listen to Gurbani while sitting at home, even in foreign countries.
The chief minister said the Act stipulated that it would be the duty of the SGPC to propagate the teachings of the Gurus by making uninterrupted (without any advertisements, commercials, distortion) live feed (audio as well as video) of holy “gurbani” available free of cost to all media houses, outlets, platforms, channels and whoever wished to broadcast it.
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