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NRIs in USA, Canada, UK, Australia have reacted sharply to the statements of SGPC and its abuse of power to nominate PTC as the Only Preferred Channel to adhere to “Sikh Maryada”
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There are allegations that the Akali Dal (B) controlled the Members of SGPC, who contested elections, with their support
Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann has criticised the extending of rights to telecast ‘gurbani’ at the Golden Temple to only one TV channel and offered to pay all expenses for its telecast across channels free of cost, according to a report from patch.com.
NRIs in USA, Canada, UK, Australia have reacted sharply to the statements of SGPC and its abuse of power to nominate PTC as the Only Preferred Channel to adhere to “Sikh Maryada”. There are allegations that the Akali Dal (B) controlled the Members of SGPC, who contested elections, with their support.
India’s Home Minister Amit Shah has the right to intervene in the matter, since it involves news channel outside India, which has SGPC Rights of Broadcasting, worldide.
“We NRIs support Bhagwant Mann and advise him to establish a state government channel, similar to Doordarshan, India, including a state radio, namely Punjab Today where Prime Minister Narendra Modi shares his “Mann Ki Baat”, on a regular basis. We are willing to become partners with Government of Punjab (PPP-model), donate $ 1 million dollars as seed Money, since Punjab NRI Minister Kuldeep Dhaliwal, has shown great interests to solve the problems of NRIs in Punjab,” said Indus Foundation Secretary Simran Gill. “We also urge SGPC President HS Dhami to introspect the issue at hand and streamline the purpose of the SGPC, since its establishment — the reason that a majority of the Sikh Temples-Gurudwaras outside India, do not see the SGPC as their ‘Savior’, like the ‘Vatican’, in Rome.”
“The state government is ready to discharge the duty of bearing all expenses for installing hi-tech equipment for the telecast of ‘Gurbani’ on all the channels. The endeavour will go a long way in allowing the ‘sangat’ to listen to gurbani while sitting at their homes even abroad and have a glimpse of Harmandir Sahib on their TV sets.”
— Mann
Punjab Today can establish their broadcasting from Golden Temple Amritsar, Anandpur Sahib, Mata Vaishno Devi, including but not limited to State Assembly, Punjab & Haryana High Courts, DGP-Office, Sikh Heritage Complex, PGI, Attari Border and any other spots of interest in Punjab history, culture and religion, said Vikram Jit Singh.
The Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) reacted sharply to Mann’s statement, asking him to refrain from creating unnecessary controversy with his tweet, and tried to draw his attention towards the poor state of the heritage street and roads leading to the Golden Temple.
It is not the first time Mann has referred to the issue of telecast of Gurbani. Last year too, he had urged the SGPC to allow the telecast of the Golden Temple gurbani at other channels.
Currently, the sacred hymn is being telecast by a private TV channel. In a recent statement, Punjab Chief Minister Mann said, “This is the need of the hour to disseminate the ‘Sarb Sanji Gurbani’ across the globe with an aim to spread the universal message of ‘Sarbat da Bhala’ (welfare of all).” He said it was strange that only one channel had been given exclusive rights for the telecast of gurbani from Sri Darbar Sahib and that such rights should be given free of cost to all channels rather than confining it to a single channel.
The state government is ready to discharge the duty of bearing all expenses for installing hi-tech equipment for the telecast of ‘Gurbani’ on all the channels, he said. Mann said the endeavour will go a long way in allowing the ‘sangat’ to listen to gurbani while sitting at their homes even abroad and have a glimpse of Harmandir Sahib on their TV sets.
SGPC chief Harjinder Singh Dhami told Mann that the apex gurdwara body was capable of managing the ‘Guru Ghars’ (Sikhs shrines) without his intervention. “Do not create unnecessary controversy and confusion in the sangat by tweeting about the Gurbani broadcast or ‘Guru Ghar’ matters. The jurisdiction related to ‘Panthic’ works undertaken by a Sikh organisation and the Qaum (community) are different and the domain of a government is different. Your government is proving to be a failure pertaining to the jurisdiction of a government,” said Dhami in a tweet.
He also spoke about the condition of the corridor of the Golden Temple. “No attention was being paid towards maintenance of the heritage street and look at the poor condition of roads leading to Harmandar Sahib… Put money where it is meant to be spent. Do not confound the ‘qaum’ by unnecessarily speaking about expenditure on telecast of gurbani,” Dhami said.
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