Mr. Mann said he does not run any channels of his own and is not asking for rights to his channel.
New Delhi:
Gurbani is for everyone and I want to make sure that everyone can listen and watch it on any channel they want, Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann said when the Sikh Gurdwaras (Amendment) Bill was passed today 2023 in the state assembly.
The bill adds a section to the Sikh Gurdwara Act, 1925 to make the broadcasting of Gurbani free for all. Mann said the bill also includes a clause that no channel broadcasting Gurbani – which has been broadcast from the Harmandir Sahib in the morning and evening since 1998 – can air any advertisement half an hour before or after of the emission.
Broadcast rights have belonged to the PTC chain, owned by the powerful Badal family, since 2007. The chain pays the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) – which manages the Harmandir Sahib – 2 million rupees a year for this
Speaking in the Assembly after introducing the bill, Mann attacked the Badals and said they do not have any channel of their own. “I’m not asking for the broadcast rights to my channel. So why do the Badals have a problem?”
He said that Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami has stated that Gurbani has always been free to broadcast. “If so, why aren’t all the channels airing it,” Mann asked.
Stating that the same channel, PTC Simran, has been broadcasting Gurbani for 11 years and the contract between SGPC and the PTC network expires in July 2023, Mann said the organization should not oppose the measure “I am not stopping the channel from broadcasting Gurbani, all I am saying is that every channel should have the right to do so,” he said.
The proposal of Mr. Mann had provoked strong reactions from the opposition and the SGPC. While the SGPC had alleged that the government was interfering in religious matters, the opposition had argued that the Sikh Gurdwara Act, 1925 is a central government law that cannot be amended by the state.
Sukhpal Singh Khaira of the Congress had questioned how the Punjab government could make a change to a central law and Daljeet Singh Cheema of the Akali Dal had called the move “unconstitutional” and “direct interference in the religious activities of the Sikh community”.
