SGPC puts on hold plan to install Dr Manmohan Singh’s portrait in Golden Temple museum
The Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) has decided to defer its plan to install a portrait of former prime minister Dr Manmohan Singh in Central Sikh Museum within the Golden Temple complex. However, SGPC’s decision to set up Dr Singh’s portrait alongside other Sikh personalities during its May 13 executive body meeting was met with disapproval from radical groups.
Balwant Singh Rajoana, currently imprisoned in the Patiala jail for the assassination of former chief minister Beant Singh, expressed his dissent with SGPC’s decision. In a strongly worded letter to SGPC president Harjinder Singh Dhami, Rajoana referred to Dr Manmohan Singh as the ‘puppet’ Prime Minister of the Congress, which had launched an attack on Golden Temple and Akal Takht, and was guilty of the Sikh genocide and safeguarding the culprits of the 1984 anti-Sikh riots. Rajoana asked SGPC to review its decision to install Dr Singh’s portrait in the museum.
Similarly, the radical Sikh organisation Dal Khalsa opposed the decision. Dal Khalsa acting president Paramjit Singh Mand stated that despite Dr Singh’s decade-long tenure in top positions in the Indian government, he had done little of significance for the welfare of Sikhs. “When he assumed the charge as Prime Minister in 2004, the Sikh community had high hopes from him, but they were in vain. Despite being the Prime Minister, he could not implement constitutional recognition of the separate Sikh identity. He does not deserve to share a place with our Sikh warriors and martyrs in the museum,” he said.
SGPC secretary Partap Singh said that in light of objections raised by various groups, the SGPC president has ordered the plan to be put on hold ‘for the time being’. The decision regarding Dr Singh’s portrait will be reviewed in the next meeting of the SGPC’s executive committee.
“SGPC respects the sentiments of the Sikh community and believes that a general consensus among Sikhs is essential on this matter,” he said.
