Controversy over broadcast and telecast of the Gurbani from the Golden Temple
Gurbani kirtans are sung when the portals of the temple are open in the wee hours of morning.
The singing stops when the portals close during the evening.
The hymns are sung by Sikh clerics sitting in the gilded complex of the temple.
On June 20, 2023, the Punjab government passed the Sikh Gurdwaras (Amendment) Bill.
Through the Bill, the government is seeking to amend the Sikh Gurdwaras Act, 1925, which was enacted for the administration of certain Sikh gurdwaras in Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, and Chandigarh.
The government’s aim is to ensure that the broadcast and telecast of the Gurbani from the Golden Temple is free for all channels.
The rights up until this point lay with G-Next Media Private Limited, which runs PTC Punjabi, a channel in which Shiromani Akali Dal leader Sukhbir Singh Badal has a majority stake.
Chief Minister said that the Bill aimed to ensure that there was no undue control of a “particular family” over the rights to telecast the Gurbani.
Arguments by SGPC:
On June 26, the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC), the apex governing body of all the Sikh gurdwaras in India and abroad, rejected the Bill.
Terming the move unconstitutional and politically motivated.
As per the rules, since 1998, the SGPC had given the rights to broadcast the Gurbani from the Golden Temple to various channels.
The current agreement with G-Next Media is up to July 2023.
Under the ongoing agreement, G-Next Media had decided to pay ₹1 crore annually, with a yearly hike of 10%, to the education fund of the SGPC.
The government’s moves have created a controversy again, it has also sparked a debate on the SGPC’s autonomy.
COMMENTS