CHANDIGARH: The president of Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) Harjinder Singh Dhami resigned on Saturday.The SGPC is known as mini-parliament of the Sikhs.Dhami submitted his resignation to the SGPC executive committee.The resignation of Dhami comes after the Akal Takht Jathedar (High Priest) Giani Raghbir Singh condemned the sacking of Giani Harpreet Singh (High Priest) of Takht Damdama Sahib by executive committee of SGPC.Akal Takht is the highest temporal seat of Sikhs. Dhami said he is committed to the Akal Takht. He demanded that he also be removed from the seven-member committee constituted by the Akal Takht on December 2 last year to supervise the re-organisation of the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD).Referring to a February 13 Facebook post of Jathedar Raghbir Singh on the termination of services of Giani Harpreet Singh, “Once again, I want to say from my heart that terminating the services of Giani Harpreet Singh is an extremely condemnable and unfortunate act which has harmed the independent existence of the Takht Sahibs,’’ Singh said.Dhami noted that he wrote that Harpreet Singh’s removal was “highly condemnable” and “unfortunate”. “After the statement of the Giani Raghbir Singh, I take moral responsibility for the decision and resign from the top post of SGPC on moral grounds with immediate effect,’’ he said.Dhami added that he had written to the Akal Takht Jathedar to relieve him from his position in the seven-member committee formed to supervise the new membership drive of the SAD. “Besides, I also appeal to the Singh Sahib to remove me from my role as head of the seven-member committee. Circumstances for the sikh community are very serious and the government is trying to weaken Sikh organisations,’’ he said.Commenting on the decision to terminate the services of Harpreet Singh due to which the SGPC and SAD leaders faced a backlash from across the community, Dhami said, “In the executive committee meeting there was detailed discussion on this issue. All the member expressed their views. This is not the first time that the executive committee has terminated the services of a jathedar.”
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