The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) on Wednesday on Wednesday requested the President to dismiss National Commission for Minorities chairman Iqbal Singh Lalpura from his post immediately for interfering in the religious affairs of the Sikh community by trying to break the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC).
Addressing a Press conference, senior leaders Dr Daljit Singh Cheema and Maheshinder Singh Grewal said Lalpura held a Constitutional post and was supposed to protect the interest of minorities.
“However it seems Lalpura is only working to protect the interests of the BJP in his dual role as Member of its Parliamentary Board as well as national executive. The president should sack him immediately as this is a clear case of conflict of interest and he is working against the interests of minorities, particularly the Sikh community,” Dr Cheema said.
The SAD leaders said Lalpura was directly ringing up SGPC members and asking them to support the candidature of Jagir Kaur in the forthcoming elections to the post of president of the august body said “the Sikh community will never tolerate the handing over of the management of its gurdwaras to the BJP and the RSS”.
Grewal also requested the central government not to interfere in the religious affairs of the Sikh community saying efforts were afoot to break the SGPC and run it with the help of stooges. The leaders also urged the Prime Minister to take note of the activities of Lalpura which were against the mandate given to the latter in his role as chairman of the Minorities Commission.
The SAD leaders said the recent activities of the Minorities Commission Chairman were in line with steps taken by the centre and BJP state governments to subvert Sikh institutions. They said the management of Takth Sri Hazur Sahib was taken into government hands by nominating government nominees, the Delhi Gurdwara Management Committee was taken over by the BJP and a separate gurdwara management committee was formed for Haryana.
“Now an effort is being made to break the SGPC in its present form and the first step towards this task is to divide the community for facilitating the election of a stooge to the top post,” they said.