The Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) — the body responsible for the management of the gurdwaras — on Tuesday condemned the farm laws and urged the Central government to revoke them immediately.
At a general house meeting held in Amritsar, a resolution among several others was passed condemning the laws.
According to an official statement, the resolution said the three laws are not in the farmers’ interest and would prove to be disastrous to the farming community. The SGPC said it would stand firmly with all sections, including the farmers, who were involved in the struggle against the laws. Also, it demanded a probe into the violence on January 26 in New Delhi during the “tractor march”, terming the role of government agencies as ‘suspicious’. It also demanded release of the Sikh youth and farmers arrested following the incident.
The SGPC presented an annual budget of ₹912 crore for the 2021-2022 financial year. It passed a resolution asking the UNO to observe 2021 as “International Year of Human Rights” to mark the 400th birth anniversary of Guru Tegh Bahadur. It urged the Centre to observe the day of Guru Tegh Bahadur martyrdom as “Religious Tolerance Day”. A resolution also asked the Central government to reopen the “Kartarpur corridor” that has been shut on account of COVID-19. “..the non-reopening of the corridor is hurting the religious sentiments of the ‘sangat’,” it said.
Another resolution said religious freedom of the minorities including the Sikhs is being suppressed in the wake of the attempt by the RSS to make the country a Hindu nation. “Minorities are being targeted through direct and indirect intervention,” it said, urging the Centre to work towards protection of the rights and freedom of all religions.
