HSGMC support crucial for parties on at least 30 seats

With the Haryana assembly polls slated for October 5, the majority of the Haryana Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee’s (HSGMC) members appear to have a tilt towards the Bharatiya Janata party (BJP), office-bearers of the gurdwara body have suggested. The HSGMC is expected to take a formal decision on lending support to a party shortly.

“No, we are not against the BJP. The saffron party’s government has constituted the HSGMC in its present form,” said HSGMC president Bhupinder Singh Assandh, hinting the tilt towards the BJP. Bhupinder, who comes from the Assandh assembly constituency that has the highest number of Sikh voters among the 90 seats in the state, said, “We will meet shortly this week and take a formal call on supporting a party in the upcoming assembly election.”

The HSGMC came into existence in 2014 during the Congress regime when the Haryana Sikh Gurdwara (Management) Act was passed for formation of the gurdwara body to manage historical Sikh shrines, separating it from Amritsar-headquartered Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) which earlier used to control the historical gurdwaras in Haryana, along with those in Punjab and Himachal Pradesh. The HSGMC has its headquarters in Kurukshetra and a sub-office in Nada Sahib, Panchkula.

In September 2022, the Supreme Court upheld the validity of the Act of 2014 and dismissed all petitions challenging its constitutional validity. It allowed the HSGMC to control all gurdwaras in the state.

Baljit Singh Daduwal, who heads the gurdwara body’s dharam prachaar committee, said, “In my opinion, the members are divided but majority of them are with the BJP which has been in the government for 10 years since 2014.”

“There are 41 members in the committee out of which 25 were nominated by the BJP government in September 2022. The BJP had retained 16 members out of 25 nominated by the Congress government in 2014,” explained Daduwal.

Haryana’s 29-30 constituencies, which have a sizeable Sikh population of 5,000 to 25,000, can turn out to be a decisive factor if they decide to vote in a similar pattern. Out of the 25 lakh Sikh population in Haryana, 18 lakh are voters. The gurdwara body is expected to discuss in its executive body meeting scheduled for Tuesday.

The state’s belt from Dabwali to Panipat has Sikh concentration which includes assembly constituencies of Dabwali, Assandh, Pehowa, Ratia, Kalanwali, Ellenabad, Shahbad, Karnal, Ambala, Neelokheri, Taraori, Kalka and Pinjore. There are 52 historical gurdwaras with three schools, a college and at least 2,500 acres of agricultural land in the state which are controlled by the HSGMC.

Daduwal further said the parties in the fray, including the BJP, Congress, Indian National Lok Dal and Jannayak Janta Party (JJP), are approaching Sikhs for their support. Some members of the gurdwara body have already started campaigning in support of the candidates of their choice.