Kurukshetra, 26th July 2014: Despite opposition from Punjab’s ruling Shiromani Akali Dal and Amritsar-based SGPC, the newly set-up ad hoc committee of the Haryana Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (HSGMC) Saturday elected state Sikh leader Jagdish Singh Jhinda as its first president.
The meeting of the ad hoc HSGMC held in Kurukshetra in Haryana, 110 km from here, also elected Didar Singh Nalvi as the senior vice president. Other office bearers of the new body were also announced along with an 11-member committee.
At the meeting, which was held under the supervision of the district administration and police, six resolutions were passed, Nalvi said.
Through one of the resolutions, the ad hoc committee appealed to the Jathedar (chief) of the Akal Takht, the highest temporal seat of Sikh religion, to recall task force members and volunteers of the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) from gurdwaras in Haryana.
The SGPC and Akali Dal had deputed task force members and leaders to the Haryana shrines to resist any attempt for forcible takeover of gurdwaras in Haryana.
While thanking Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda for the setting up of the new committee in Haryana, the HSGMC resolved that it will follow all directives of the Akal Takht.
The panel would soon elect a 11-member body of executive within the ad hoc committee. An elected 40-member body would follow, and there would be no nominee of the government.
Jhinda and Nalwi confirmed to HT on Thursday that they were ready to accept any role in the HSGMC as their excommunication had nothing to do with leading the religious body.
Jhinda said that the issue of his excommunication would be decided by Sikh sangat of Haryana at the Panthic Ikhat scheduled for July 28 in Karnal. “I will follow the decision of Sikh sangat,” he said.
Nalwi hoped that excommunication from panth would be solved amicably in the days to come. “In fact it is no longer a major issue but I admit that it would continue to haunt me till the matter is sorted out,” said Nalwi.