Badal called the move by the Maharashtra government — in which the BJP is a key part of the ruling coalition led by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde — a “provocative and brazen interference” in the functioning of the board governing the Takht Sachkhand Shri Huzoor Sahib at Nanded, Abchal Nagar Sahib, Maharashtra, through an amendment to the Nanded Sikh Gurdwara Sachkhand Hazur Abchal Nagar Sahib Act, 1956.

In his letter to the PM, Badal reminded the Centre that one of the key commitments to Sikhs made by the Government of India after Independence was that it would not interfere in the management of Sikh shrines or other religious affairs without prior approval of a two-thirds majority in the General House of the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC), which, by virtue of its power in choosing the Akal Takht Jathedar, remains the apex body of Sikhs in India.

This is not the first time that a gurdwara management institution — whether a board as in Nanded, or a committee as in Punjab, Haryana and Delhi — has faced structural changes since 2014. But a lack of elections in these bodies means that they have been facing the charges of non-democratic functioning over the past decade. And the SAD knows it will lose face if it joins the NDA without reversing some of the structural changes in the gurdwara management bodies.

A ‘weakened’ SGPC

Created by the Sikh Gurdwara Act of 1925, the SGPC House needs the involvement of both the Punjab and Central governments in conducting elections for its body. These elections were duly held twice — in 2004 and 2011 — during the 10-year rule of the Congress-led UPA at the Centre. But the BJP-led NDA government that came to power at the Centre in 2014 and of which the SAD was a part till 2020, is yet to facilitate fresh SGPC elections in 10 years.

Meanwhile, around 30 SGPC members out of the 185 who were elected in 2011 — when the last SGPC elections were held — have passed away due to age or health.

A 2016 Supreme Court petition allowed the House elected in 2011 with the SAD holding majority to continue working. That tenure too ended in 2021, though the House continues to linger on in the absence of fresh elections.

Although Punjab-based Opposition parties like the SAD (Amritsar) and the United Akali Dal have been periodically demanding elections, the current SGPC leadership has never actively raised the issue with the state or Central governments. The SGPC is the only elected body in which the SAD holds power since it was ousted from power in Punjab in 2017.

In all this, the Punjab government, being led by the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) since 2022, threw another challenge to the SGPC in 2023 by introducing an amendment to the Sikh Gurdwara Act without the consent of the SGPC House.

HSGMC: The breakaway body

The Haryana Sikh Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (HSGMC) was a brainchild of the Bhupinder Singh Hooda-led Congress government in Haryana, which passed a legislation for the formation of a separate managing board for the Sikh gurdwaras in the state in 2014. It however failed to conduct elections to constitute the first ever HSGMC House, before it lost power in 2014.

The BJP government that returned to power in Haryana in 2019 under Manohar Lal Khattar, implemented the legislation in 2023 against the wishes of the party’s former alliance partner, the SAD, reducing the size of the nearly 100-year-old SGPC for the first time since Partition.

The first HSGMC elections were scheduled for March 6 this year, but got postponed due to exam season. Meanwhile, Harjinder Singh Dhami, the SGPC president since 2021, alleged that the HSGMC had kept no provision to register political parties and allocate them poll symbols, indicating that this was an attempt to block the SAD from registering for the polls.

In the interim, the HSGMC is being run by an ad-hoc committee beset with infighting, having seen three presidents in one year since it was formed. The SAD alleges that the ad-hoc committee is filled with people who are close to the BJP.

Last year, former Akal Takht Jathedar Giani Harpreet Singh had also alleged that under pressure of the BJP-led governments at the Centre and the state, the HSGMC ad-hoc committee had declined to provide langar (free kitchen) to farmers who were protesting across Haryana in 2023, the way the SGPC had provided langar and other services during the over year-long farmers’ protest against the Centre’s now-repealed three farm laws at the Delhi border during 2020-21.

That means, the impact of the HSGMC on Sikh affairs will only become apparent after its first House gets elected.

Gurdwara Sachkhand Board, Nanded: Current row

Unlike the parbandhak committees in Punjab, Delhi and now Haryana, the Sachkand gurdwara — which houses the fourth most important Sikh administrative body in India — is a board. That means by statute, 14 of its 17 members are nominated, who would together go on to elect its president.

According to the 1956 Act, the 17-member Takht Hazur Sahib Board comprises of four nominated SGPC members, four members from Sachkhand Hazur Khalsa Diwan, two Sikh MPs, one member of the Chief Khalsa Diwan — a Sikh body older than the SGPC, three members who are elected from the seven districts of Marathwada where most of the Sikhs in Maharashtra live, one member each from Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh, and the Nanded collector. Although largely nominated, it represented a diverse Sikh community.

In 2015, the then BJP government in Maharashtra trimmed the powers of the Gurdwara Sachkhand Board by amending Section 11 of the 1956 Act, empowering the state government to nominate 12 board members, leaving three seats to those elected from Marathwada, and two for the SGPC to nominate, while removing the representation from Parliament and other organisations. It also empowered the state government to directly appoint the board’s president. Thereby, the move allows the party in power in Maharashtra to influence the board’s decisions.

That same year, BJP MLA Tara Singh became its first president who was a government appointee.

The SGPC had opposed the 2015 amendment, but to no avail. In 2019, the SGPC also blamed the BJP and the RSS for allegedly using the 2015 amendment to indirectly take control of Sikh gurdwaras across the country.

DSGMC factor

The Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (DSGMC) House is elected for four years. However, it elects its president after every two years.

Elections for the 51-member DSGMC were last held in August 2021. The SAD secured a majority with 27 seats, though its leader, Manjinder Singh Sirsa, quit as president to join the BJP in December 2021. Election for a new president is due since January 2023, the first time it has been delayed.

Meanwhile in January 2022, the rest of the elected members of the SAD turned rebel and formed a new group, which elected Harmeet Singh Kalka as the new president. With the SAD having broken ties with the BJP in 2020, the party alleged that the Kalka group was close to the BJP.

Crises facing SAD

For decades the SAD has faced allegations by Punjab’s Opposition parties of weakening the structure and autonomy of Sikh institutions, including the SGPC, by using its hold over the SGPC for electoral gains in the state.

Ever since the break-up of its alliance with the BJP, the SAD has been making similar allegations against the BJP. Given that the SGPC remains the only elected institution where the SAD holds a majority, the party has been facing the heat. And any future alliance with the BJP would thus not be easy for it, without first extracting concessions that undo at least some of the changes the BJP-led governments has brought in the Sikh institutions.