CHANDIGARH: Sukhwinder Sukhi, MLA of ruling AAP from Banga today resigned from the post of Chairman of Punjab State Warehousing Corporation in protest against police search of the Banga-based religious place named Nabh Kanwal Raja Sahib in Banga and objectionable remarks by the Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann. Sukhi who was earlier MLA from Shiromani Akali Dal had joined AAP. He was given cabinet rank.
Bhawant Mann had ordered the police to search the premises of Nabh Kanwal Raja Sahib and later made a public announcement that police had found 169 Saroops out of 368 missing Saroops of Guru Granth Sahib from the shrine. Nabh Kanwal Raja Sahib Trust has accused the government of misleading the public and asserted that it has records of all the 169 saroops (sacred copies) of Guru Granth Sahib in its possession.
Sukhwinder Singh Sukhi who is MLA from Banga said that he had strong objection against the police action in Raja Sahib and he can go too any extent to protect the honour of the religious shrine which is source of inspiration for people of all faiths. He said that Bhagwant Mann's comments had hurt his sentiments and millions who have faith in the Raja Sahib shrine. Bhagwant Mann had claimed that Sikh maryada was not aintained in the Raja Sahib shrine.
Amrik Singh Bullowal, spokesman for the Raja Sahib trust said that most of the saroops are from the pre-1998 era when private players also used to publish them. Of the 139 saroops, 79 were procured from 1978-2012, and 62 were in our custody before 1998. However, the case pertaining to missing saroops is between 2014 and 2019. We have provided all the records maintained by the trust to the SIT, but it was shocking that the probe team later came up with the fudged figures, ” he alleged, adding that all the saroops are kept with utmost Sikh ‘maryada.’
The Congress and Shiromani Akali Dal had also condemned the action of Punjab Chief Minister alleging that police had entered the shrine violating the maryada of the religious place.
It is recalled that Punjab Police had already registered a FIR in the missing saroops case and named 16 SGPC ex-employees as accused. SGPC had strongly opposed the police action and described it interference in the religious affairs of Sikhs. Bhagwant Mann who was summoned by the Akal Takht Jathedar to clarify his position had alleged misuse of SGPC funds for political purposes. He also submitted 2500 documents to probe his allegations. His critics blame him for challenging the authority of Akal Takht which is supreme seat of Sikh community.