Capt, Akalis spar over joint Gurpurb events

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, September 8

A war of words has triggered between Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh and the Shiromani Akali Dal over the 550th birth anniversary celebrations of Guru Nanak Dev.

SAD national spokesman Manjinder Singh Sirsa alleged that Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh was trying to accuse the SGPC and other Sikh bodies of not trying to organise a joint event and said in reality, the CM and his coterie was all out to scuttle the programmes being organized at Gurdwara Ber Sahib on the historic occasion.

In a statement, Sirsa said it was shocking that after repeated appeals, written communications and even personal interactions with the CM to nominate members to the coordination committee, Capt Amarinder failed to do so.

Rejecting the charge, Capt Amarinder said a Group of Ministers (GoM) had already been constituted to coordinate with the religious body to finalise the programmes.

He said Cabinet Ministers Charanjit Singh Channi, Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa and OP Soni had been directed to discuss the modalities of the celebrations with the SGPC.

It was not the government which had shown no interest in holding a joint function as directed by Akal Takht, but rather the SGPC had been refusing to join the state in celebrating the historic occasion on a common platform, he alleged.

Reiterating his appeal to the SGPC to support the government, Capt Amarinder once again urged the religious body’s chief to keep an open mind on the issue.

He recalled that even during his last meeting with the SGPC delegation, led by Longowal on August 27, he had appealed for a consensus on various issues relating to the celebrations. Capt Amarinder reiterated his appeal to the SGPC chief to attend the meeting of the state-level organising committee to be convened shortly to discuss all issues through dialogue.