Chandigarh, March 18 (IANS) Acceding to the request of Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) Working President Balwinder Singh Bhundar and former party chief Sukhbir Singh Badal, Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) chief Harjinder Singh Dhami on Tuesday withdrew his resignation from the post.
The senior leaders, along with former minister Janmeja Singh Sekhon, visited the residence of Dhami in Hoshiarpur to appeal to him to take charge as the SGPC President following the rejection of his resignation by the SGPC’s executive committee.
Dhami announced that he would take charge as President of the SGPC in the next few days.
Speaking to the media, Bhundar described Dhami as a most capable, honest and religious personality who had made great sacrifices for the ‘panth’ (spiritual path).
“We entreated to Mr Dhami that the SGPC as well as the SAD needed his religious leadership at this crucial juncture and that he should rescind his decision to resign as the SGPC President,” he added.
Sukhbir Badal, while thanking Dhami for withdrawing his resignation, said in doing so he had honoured the sentiments of the entire Sikh community. Asserting that the Sikh ‘qaum’ was facing attacks on multiple fronts, Badal said: “At this juncture, it is of paramount importance that our ‘gurughar’ and our Takhts are strengthened.”
He said there was a conspiracy to weaken the Sikh community from within and that this was being done by taking over control of the Hazur Sahib, Patna Sahib and Delhi Gurdwara Management Committees, besides forming a separate Committee for Haryana. He also appealed to the community to recognise its true enemies and unite to ward off attempts to weaken Sikh institutions as well as the Akali Dal.
Last month, a delegation of the Akali Dal met Dhami and appealed to him to continue as the President of the SGPC. Amid the crisis between the Akal Takht, the supreme temporal seat of Sikhs, and the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), Dhami had resigned from his post after facing “criticism” from the then Akal Takht Jathedar (high priest) for removing Giani Harpreet Singh as the Jathedar of Takht Damdama Sahib.
–IANS
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