Punjab Considers a Law Giving Free Gurbani Telecast Rights Despite SGPC Resistance
The opposition parties and Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee, the supreme religious organisation for Sikhs, responded angrily to the Punjab government headed by the AAP’s announcement on Sunday that it will change the Sikh Gurdwara Act, 1925 to enable free broadcast rights of Gurbani from the Golden Temple.
The Committee requested that the government refrain from meddling in issues of religion.
Currently, the Shiromani Akali Dal president Sukhbir Singh Badal’s PTC network has been given permission by the Sikhs’ highest authority to broadcast Gurbani. The Badal family, which owns the bulk of the network, will suffer because of the planned modification.
Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann said in a public statement that the resolution’s agenda would be approved at the Monday Cabinet meeting. He said that the resolution will be brought up at the Assembly’s extraordinary session on June 20.
Declaring it a historic choice, he said, “… the Punjab government led by Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann will amend the Sikh Gurdwara Act 1925 in order to ensure the free-to-air telecast of sacred Gurbani from Sri Harmandar Sahib, Amritsar.” Mann said that the choice is in line with the sentiments of the “Sikh Sangat around the world.”
The chief minister said that in order to convey the message of “welfare for all,” it is necessary to transmit the “Sarb Sanji Gurbani” over the world. Gurbani, according to Mann, should not be restricted to a particular channel but rather aired for free. He said that the action would significantly increase the ‘Sangat’s’ ability to hear Gurbani while lounging at home, even in other nations.
According to the chief minister, it would also let people to see Sri Harmandar Sahib on their televisions and other electronic devices.
Responses to the choice
Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee head H S Dhami responded to the decision by saying that the Punjab government shouldn’t meddle in Sikhs’ religious affairs and that it has no jurisdiction to change the Sikh Gurdwara Act, 1925.
Sukhpal Singh Khaira of the Congress questioned how the Punjab government could alter a federal statute.
As far as I’m aware, the Punjab government is unable to alter, modify, or add to the 1925 Sikh Gurudwara legislation since it is a central legislation.
On the other side, Navjot Sidhu of the Punjab Congress tweeted that he supported the decision. “Sarb Sanjhi Gurbaani” translates to “for everyone, without distinction”This was a dream that millions of Sikhs throughout the world, including myself, had. Kudos for your work, @BhagwantMann.
Mann has already brought up the problem with the Gurbani transmission. He had petitioned the SGPC to let the Golden Temple Gurbani to be broadcast on other channels too the previous year.
He had criticised the Akalis in May, raising concerns about their justification for limiting the rights to broadcast Gurbani from Sachkhand Harmandir Sahib, Amritsar, to only one station.
