SGPC chief Avtar Singh Makkar today said he had met PM Dr Manmohan Singh and requested him to use his office to stop the move, which was “being engineered by Haryana CM Bhupinder Singh Hooda”.

However, SGPC member from Kurukshetra Didar Singh Nalwi said HSGPC was their basic religious and legal right. “When Punjab state was re-organised through Parliament’s Act in 1966 and Haryana and Himachal Pradesh were carved out, there was a provision in Section 72 of the Act, which allowed creation of a separate Sikh body,” said Nalwi.

He said they were also planning a mega rally on the same day to give a “befitting reply” to the SAD and the SGPC.

Meanwhile, Makkar said, “This is a well-thought-out plan to divide Sikhs. The move is engineered by the Congress with the help of Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (DSGMC) head Paramjit Singh Sarna and others.”

He said they have shot off letters to PM and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi that they should not initiate the move that would hit the 83-year-old body, known as Sikhs’ mini parliament. After the HSGPC is created, there would be more demands, which would further divide the Sikhs, he said, adding that the CM was taking help from the NDA partners to oppose the effort.

Nalwi said, “Badal and Makkar have no right to oppose the separate religious body to control the gurdwara affairs in Haryana. They themselves had been signatories to the Punjab Re-organization Act, 1966, that demand the division of the SGPC on the lines of Punjab Agricultural University in Ludhiana and Panjab University in Chandigarh.”

He said they had also met PM and Sonia Gandhi and told them that while separate agriculture university for Haryana was set up and colleges affiliated to Panjab University were given to Kurukshetra University, why the third provision was not implemented.