Chandigarh: The Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) has decided to launch its own YouTube and television channel for the live telecast of gurbani from the Golden Temple in Amritsar.
Addressing a press conference in Amritsar Friday, SGPC president Harjinder Singh Dhami said the YouTube channel will start relaying gurbani — hymns played at gurdwaras — live in the early morning and evening hours from 24 July.
Dhami said the name of the SGPC’s YouTube channel for gurbani broadcast will be ‘Sachkhand Sri Harmandir Sahib Sri Amritsar’ and the logo ‘SGPC’ will be used on it.
The decision comes amid raging controversy for the past two months over the SGPC having given exclusive gurbani relay rights to a private channel, PTC, owned and run by Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) president Sukhbir Singh Badal.
The 11-year contract of the SGPC — a body that controls and manages historical gurdwaras in Punjab, Himachal Pradesh and Chandigarh — with PTC ends on 23 July.
After Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann objected to gurbani relaying rights being given to the SAD’s private channel, the SGPC decided in May that it would invite global tenders to grant live telecast rights through a transparent process, and choose a suitable channel.
However, on 20 June, the AAP-led Punjab government passed a Bill amending the Sikh Gurdwaras Act of 1925, making it abiding on the SGPC to allow any radio, TV or social media channel to relay the gurbani from the Golden Temple.
Condemning the government’s move, the SGPC alleged that Mann was interfering in the religious issues of the Sikhs with a political aim in mind.
The CM had, however, said in the assembly during the discussion on the Bill that “gurbani is the common spiritual heritage of all Sikhs and should be free to air available through multiple channels to Sikhs across the world”.
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‘Systematic approach will be followed’
At the press meet, Dhami said the sole rights of relay and distribution of the gurbani (visual and audio) lie with the SGPC, and any duplication or illegal dissemination of the gurbani by any other web, satellite or social media entity will amount to infringement of those rights and invite prosecution.
He added that the SGPC had received a direction from the Akal Takht Sahib (the highest temporal body of the Sikhs) last year to consider starting its own channel to relay the gurbani, following which a sub-committee was formed for the same.
According to Dhami, the sub-committee had, following several meetings, given its recommendations on the matter to the executive committee of the SGPC earlier this week.
He said that “one of the prime recommendations of the sub-committee was the setting up the SGPC’s own satellite channel to relay the gurbani”.
“Since the task of starting a satellite channel can take a few months, the sub-committee recommended that, as an interim measure, the services of a private media company can be hired on monthly charges,” said Dhami.
He clarified that the services that would be taken by the company were related to technology, equipment, and staff, while the broadcast rights will remain with the SGPC.
Regarding the television channel for broadcast of gurbani, Dhami said that in-principle approval had been given by the SGPC’s executive committee to start this work, and a letter had been written to I&B Minister Anurag Thakur as part of the preliminary action.
A request will also be made to the I&B minister to provide an appointment to the SGPC delegation, said Dhami, adding that “since this work is technical, the services of experts will also be taken”.
“A systematic approach will be followed to obtain a licence to operate the television channel. If it is necessary to set up a separate company for this purpose, then the process will be completed for that also,” the SGPC president said.
(Edited by Nida Fatima Siddiqui)
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