Chandigarh: Punjab’s Bhagwant Mann government is all set to amend the Sikh Gurdwaras Act of 1925 to allow multiple channels to air gurbani from Amritsar’s Golden Temple, as opposed to the current practice of just one channel having broadcast rights.
Gurbani is the reading of the Guru Granth Sahib, considered a living Guru, and the singing of hymns in gurdwaras. The Sikh Gurdwaras Act, 1925, is a British-era legislation passed by the Punjab legislative council.
Addressing a press conference following a cabinet meeting here Monday afternoon, Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann said that the amendment — called the Sikh Gurdwaras (Amendment) Act, 2023 — will be made so all of “humankind” is able to listen to and watch the live telecast of gurbani through various channels.
Mann’s announcement came a day after he tweeted that the amendment was being made to free the telecast of gurbani from the tendering process.
Broadcast rights for gurbani at the Golden Temple, the highest Sikh shrine, are currently with the PTC — a Punjabi television network owned by Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) chief Sukhbir Singh Badal. It was granted the rights in 2012 by the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC), the body created for managing gurdwaras in Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, and Chandigarh under the 1925 Act.
PTC’s contract comes to an end in July.
The Punjab government’s announcement comes right in the middle of a raging controversy over the telecast rights for gurbani. The SGPC has objected to the government’s announcement, accusing Mann and his Aam Aadmi Party government of interfering with Sikh religious affairs to meet their own political ends.
In a tweet Sunday evening, SGPC president Harjinder Singh Dhami claimed that any change in the 1925 Act can only be brought about by Parliament on the recommendations of SGPC’s general house.
Punjab Chief Minister is interfering in Sikh affairs to fulfill his political interests: Harjinder Singh Dhami
Amritsar:
The Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC), Sri Amritsar, President Harjinder Singh Dhami has strongly condemned the announcement made by Punjab Chief… pic.twitter.com/6W4Nl0a4av
— Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (@SGPCAmritsar) June 19, 2023
ਮੁੱਖ ਮੰਤਰੀ @BhagwantMann ਜੀ, ਸਿੱਖਾਂ ਦੇ ਧਾਰਮਿਕ ਮਾਮਲਿਆਂ ਨੂੰ ਉਲਝਾਉਣ ਦੀ ਕੋਸ਼ਿਸ਼ ਨਾ ਕਰੋ। ਸਿੱਖੀ ਦੇ ਮਾਮਲੇ ਸੰਗਤ ਦੀ ਭਾਵਨਾਵਾਂ ਤੇ ਸਰੋਕਾਰਾਂ ਨਾਲ ਸਬੰਧਤ ਹਨ, ਜਿਨ੍ਹਾਂ 'ਚ ਸਰਕਾਰਾਂ ਨੂੰ ਸਿੱਧੇ ਤੌਰ 'ਤੇ ਦਖ਼ਲ ਕਰਨ ਦਾ ਕੋਈ ਹੱਕ ਨਹੀਂ। ਤੁਸੀਂ ਸਿੱਖ ਗੁਰਦੁਆਰਾ ਐਕਟ 1925 'ਚ ਸੋਧ ਕਰਕੇ ਨਵੀਂ ਧਾਰਾ ਜੋੜਨ ਦੀ ਗੱਲ ਕਰ ਰਹੇ ਹੋ, + pic.twitter.com/pAMLpuHTXW
— Harjinder Singh Dhami (@SGPCPresident) June 18, 2023
Political rivals also asked if Mann’s government had the power to make such an amendment. The Congress’s Sukhpal Khaira claimed that the Sikh Gurdwaras Act, 1925, was a central law and was out of the state’s ambit.
As far as my knowledge goes Punjab government cannot tinker or amend or add to the existing Sikh Gurudwara Act 1925 as its a central act! I wonder how @BhagwantMann is speaking to add a clause in the said Act! Yes the Vidhan Sabha can pass a resolution and send it to Center for… pic.twitter.com/RzcJEQUThe
— Sukhpal Singh Khaira (@SukhpalKhaira) June 18, 2023
SAD chief Sukhbir Badal, meanwhile, called it an attack on SGPC’s sovereignty and a challenge to the authority of the “Guru ghar” (house of the Guru).
ਕੇਜਰੀਵਾਲ ਦੀ "ਆਪ" ਸਰਕਾਰ ਦੇ ਮੁੱਖ ਮੰਤਰੀ ਦਾ ਪਾਵਨ ਸਿੱਖ ਗੁਰਬਾਣੀ ਸੰਬੰਧੀ ਐਲਾਨ ਸਿੱਧਾ ਸਿੱਧਾ ਖਾਲਸਾ ਪੰਥ ਅਤੇ ਸਿੱਖ ਗੁਰਧਾਮਾਂ ਉੱਤੇ ਸਰਕਾਰੀ ਹੱਲਾ ਹੈ। ਇਹ ਘਿਨਾਉਣਾ ਫ਼ੈਸਲਾ ਸਿੱਖ ਸੰਗਤ ਕੋਲੋਂ ਗੁਰਬਾਣੀ ਪ੍ਰਚਾਰ ਦਾ ਹੱਕ ਖੋਹ ਕੇ ਗੁਰਧਾਮਾਂ ਦੇ ਸੰਭਾਲ ਸਰਕਾਰੀ ਕਬਜ਼ੇ ਵਿਚ ਲੈਣ ਵੱਲ ਪਹਿਲਾ ਖ਼ਤਰਨਾਕ ਅਤੇ ਹਿਮਾਕਤ ਭਰਿਆ ਕਦਮ ਹੈ। ਇਸ… pic.twitter.com/653C2PFqQI
— Sukhbir Singh Badal (@officeofssbadal) June 18, 2023
Legal experts, however, claim that the amendment was within the legislative competence of the Punjab legislature. According to senior advocate Anupam Gupta, Punjab’s move is constitutionally valid, especially in light of the Supreme Court’s September verdict on Haryana gurdwaras.
On 20 September, 2022, the Supreme Court had rejected arguments that the Sikh Gurdwaras Act was a central legislation and that the Haryana Sikh Gurdwaras Management Act 2014 — the legislation that was being challenged in court — had violated the law, according to Gupta. The Haryana law brought into force a separate body to manage gurdwaras in Haryana, which were, until then, under the SGPC.
“Objections to legislative competence raised by the SGPC, the Akali Dal and the Congress to the latest proposal of the chief minister were also raised before the Supreme Court in the Haryana case,” Gupta told ThePrint.
He added: “After an in-depth consideration, the Supreme Court rejected all such pleas and strongly affirmed the competence of the Haryana Assembly to enact the said law. Since all state legislatures have the same legislative competence under the Constitution, what is true of Haryana must be accepted as true for Punjab as well.”
Also Read: SGPC names Giani Raghbir Singh new Akal Takht Jathedar after Giani Harpreet Singh ‘voluntarily quit’
‘Political colour’
In his press conference Monday, Mann said that his cabinet had approved inserting Section 125A in the Sikh Gurdwara Act, 1925, to ensure that gurbani is “free to air” from the Golden Temple. He also dismissed all objections from the Opposition, citing the 2022 Supreme Court ruling.
According to Mann, the new amendment will lay down as the duty of the SGPC to “propagate the teachings of the Gurus by making uninterrupted live feed of Holy Gurbani from Sri Harmandir Sahib (Golden Temple) available free of cost to all media houses, outlets, platforms, channels etc. whoever wishes to broadcast it”.
He also accused the Badal family of trying to take advantage of Sikh religious sentiments by giving PTC exclusive rights.
The SGPC meanwhile claimed that Mann wanted to please his masters in Delhi by giving a “political colour” to Sikhs’ religious affairs.
Addressing a press conference in Amritsar over Mann’s announcement Monday, SGPC chief Dhami claimed that gurbani was already being broadcast worldwide from the Golden Temple for free and that the Sangat (the Sikh community) both in India and abroad of the country were satisfied with it.
He also said that the Punjab and Haryana High Court had already dismissed a petition over the broadcast of gurbani in 2008 declaring the SGPC the competent organisation to decide on these matters.
According to senior advocate Gupta, quoted earlier, there was no doubt over the Punjab assembly’s competence on this subject and that courts in India, whether it was the high court or the Supreme Court, had repeatedly rejected the argument that only Parliament can amend the 1925 Act.
“(Also), independently of the judgments of the Supreme Court and the High Court, in my considered view, the proposed bill falls within Entry 28 of the Concurrent List in the 7th schedule of the Constitution,” he told ThePrint.
This entry deals with charities and charitable institutions, charitable and religious endowments and religious institutions.
“The Sikh Gurdwaras Act 1925 is clearly covered by the said entry. Both Parliament and state legislatures are competent to pass laws on any subject in the concurrent list,” he said.
(Edited by Uttara Ramaswamy)
Also Read: Woman ‘killed for drinking liquor’ in Patiala gurdwara, SGPC alleges plot to target Sikh shrines