Sources in the HSGPC said they will wait and watch the outcome of the SGPC general body meeting in Amritsar on November 22. If the response on the separation issue, from the SGPC is satisfactory,they would wait for further talks. Otherwise they will chalk out a new plan of action.
“The SGPC did not call us for talks even though our deadline was November 20 initially. But we have not lost hope and await for a positive response. We want complete autonomy and total control over all the funds of the state gurdwaras,” said a HSGPC official who did not want to be named.
Didar Singh Nalvi, general secretary of the HSGPC said all six SGPC members from Haryana would attend the general body meeting. “The ball is in their (SGPC) court and they have to invite us for talks,’’ he said. Nalvi said they would also demand to increase the members from Haryana to at least 31 from 11.
Earlier, the move to postpone the take over threat of gurdwaras in Haryana to November 20 from October 8 had come as a big relief to both the Haryana and the Punjab government.
The Haryana unit of the SGPC had made its intentions clear of taking over control of the 6th Patshahi Gurdwara, Kurukshetra, from October 8 if no decision on the contentious issue was taken by then.
The HSGPC had given a month’s ultimatum to the Haryana government and the Centre, at its rally in Karnal on September 7 , to create a separate SGPC for Haryana.
Meanwhile, the Haryana government is keeping a low profile on the issue.
The Congress party set up a committee headed by Agriculture Minister H S Chatha to file a report after taking the views of the Sikh community in the state. “The report of the committee is awaited. Any decision in this regard will be taken on the basis of what the Sikhs of the state want,’’ said Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda.