All channels should have right to telecast Gurbani from Golden Temple, says Punjab CM; SGPC disapproves

Sanjeev Singh Bariana

Chandigarh, May 21

“All channels should be given the free right to telecast Gurbani from the Golden Temple,” tweeted Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann today.

Mann questioned, “Why exclusive rights of broadcasting the message of ‘sarbat da bhala’ and communal harmony should be given to a particular channel only?” The government is ready to spend the entire amount on providing the state-of-the-art infrastructure for it.

He was referring to PTC Channel, which has the sole rights for broadcasting the Gurbani from Darbar Sahib.

Don’t mislead sangat: SGPC

Don’t mislead the ‘sangat’ with unnecessary controversies. The SGPC management is an independent body. The government has no role in its working. First, you look at what actions are required to be done by your government. Harjinder Singh Dhami, SGPC Chief

Reacting to the CM’s tweet, president of the SGPC Harjinder Singh Dhami, tweeted, “Don’t mislead the ‘sangat’ with unnecessary controversies and put ‘sangat’ in any confusion. The SGPC management is an independent body. First you look at what actions are required to be done by your government.”

General secretary of the SGPC Gurcharan Singh Grewal said, “Our contract with the PTC ends in July this year. Our ‘sangat’ will decide our future plan of action. Till date we have not received a single complaint against the quality of broadcast by our current contract holders.”

Grewal said, “We are thankful to the Chief Minister for evincing interest in the telecast of Gurbani from the Golden Temple. We will appreciate in case he also showed interest in other important matters. We have been asking for grant-in-aid for the aided schools run by the SGPC. We want scholarships meant for the SC category to be released.”

The PTC, owned by G Next Media Private Limited, has the “sole, exclusive, absolute and full worldwide broadcasting rights”of telecasting the Gurbani from the Golden Temple till July 24.

The tweet comes more than a year after CM Mann in April, last year, had told the SGPC that the state was willing to take the responsibility of installing the state-of-the-art broadcast/communication technologies at Darbar Sahib in Amritsar. The government had, then, offered to bear the entire cost of setting up the infrastructure.

CM Mann had urged the SGPC to relay “Gurbani kirtan” from Darbar Sahib on various communication platforms instead of limiting its reach to a single medium. Rejecting the offer, the SGPC had asked the CM to concentrate on “fulfilling own responsibilities, instead of indulging in tasks pertaining to religion”.