After the Maharashtra Government suspended its controversial move to replace the 1956 Hazur Sahib Act with a new law, the issue resurfaced in the state Assembly.
Congress MLA Aslam Shaikh on June 29 prominently raised the matter in the state Assembly, challenging any move to dilute or replace the Nanded Sikh Gurdwara Sachkhand Sri Hazur Abchalnagar Sahib Act, 1956, terming it an “injustice” to the Sikh community.
Shaikh’s intervention comes at a time when Sikh religious authorities — the Akal Takht, the Nihang Sikh organisations and the Damdami Taksal (Chowk Mehta) — have rallied behind the ‘gurmata’ (a collective religious edict), rejecting the Maharashtra Government’s proposal to repeal the existing Act and replace it with a new legal framework.
The “gurmata” was read out by priest Giani Ram Singh in the presence of Takht Hazur Sahib Jathedar Giani Kulwant Singh and was positioned as a binding and collective decision taken in the name of the Guru.
The controversy stems from the Maharashtra Cabinet’s June 22 decision. In the meeting chaired by Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, the Cabinet cleared a proposal to repeal the 70-year-old Act that governs Takht Sachkhand Sri Hazur Abchalnagar Sahib in Nanded, one of Sikhism’s five temporal seats and the site of Guru Gobind Singh’s final days.
The government had proposed replacing it with a new statute, tentatively titled the Takht Sachkhand Sri Hazur Abchalnagar Sahib Gurdwara Act, with the suffix “2026” to be formalised upon passage in the Assembly.
The proposal of new legislation was placed before the House by state Revenue Minister Chandrashekhar Krishnarao Bawankule, saying that many provisions of the 1956 Act had become outdated.
Raising a ‘Point of Order’ in the House on June 29, Shaikh lodged his objection, describing it as an attempt to “take over” the Nanded shrine without wider consultation.
A four-term legislator from Malad West, Shaikh said it was incumbent upon the state to consult Sikh representatives, particularly Amritsar-based apex bodies such as the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) and the Akal Takht.
Parallel to the political pushback, religious mobilisation has gathered momentum.
Akal Takht officiating Jathedar Giani Kuldeep Singh Gargaj asserted that the entire Sikh Panth stood by the ‘gurmata’ issued at Hazur Sahib.
“No one has the right to repeal the 1956 Act. Any law concerning Sikh Takhts or shrines cannot be acceptable without the approval of the Panth,” he said.
Nihang leader Baba Balbir Singh, head of the Shiromani Panth Akali Budha Dal said all Nihang sects were united in support of the Hazur Sahib Jathedar’s position.
“We ask the Maharashtra Government to maintain the status quo and honour the existing 1956 Act,” he said.
