The Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee ( SGPC; "Supreme Gurdwara Management Committee") is an organization in

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

responsible for the management of

Gurdwara A gurdwara (sometimes written as gurudwara) (Gurmukhi: ਗੁਰਦੁਆਰਾ ''guradu'ārā'', meaning "Door to the Guru") is a place of assembly and worship for Sikhs. Sikhs also refer to gurdwaras as ''Gurdwara Sahib''. People from all faiths ...

Sikh Sikhs ( or ; pa, ਸਿੱਖ, ' ) are people who adhere to Sikhism, Sikhism (Sikhi), a Monotheism, monotheistic religion that originated in the late 15th century in the Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent, based on the revelation of Gu ...

places of worship in states of

Punjab Punjab (; Punjabi: پنجاب ; ਪੰਜਾਬ ; ; also romanised as ''Panjāb'' or ''Panj-Āb'') is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising ...

and

Himachal Pradesh Himachal Pradesh (; ; "Snow-laden Mountain Province") is a state in the northern part of India. Situated in the Western Himalayas, it is one of the thirteen mountain states and is characterized by an extreme landscape featuring several peaks ...

and the union territory of

Chandigarh Chandigarh () is a planned city in India. Chandigarh is bordered by the state of Punjab to the west and the south, and by the state of Haryana to the east. It constitutes the bulk of the Chandigarh Capital Region or Greater Chandigarh, which al ...

. SGPC also administers Darbar Sahib in

Amritsar Amritsar (), historically also known as Rāmdāspur and colloquially as ''Ambarsar'', is the second largest city in the Indian state of Punjab, after Ludhiana. It is a major cultural, transportation and economic centre, located in the Majha r ...

. The SGPC is governed by the president of SGPC. The SGPC manages the security, financial, facility maintenance and religious aspects of

s as well as keeping archaeologically rare and sacred artifacts, including weapons, clothes, books and writings of

the Sikh Gurus The Sikh gurus ( Punjabi: ਸਿੱਖ ਗੁਰੂ) are the spiritual masters of Sikhism, who established this religion over the course of about two and a half centuries, beginning in 1469. The year 1469 marks the birth of Guru Nanak, the found ...

. Bibi

Jagir Kaur Bibi Jagir Kaur was the president of the Shiromani Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee (SGPC). She was the first woman to be elected president of the SGPC, and has been elected a total of three times. Ms. Kaur's name was put forward by the senior Ak ...

became the first woman to be elected president of the SGPC for the second time in September 2004. She had held the same post from March 1999 to November 2000.

History

Foundation

In 1920 the emerging Akali leadership summoned a general assembly of the Sikhs holding all shades of opinion on 15 November 1920 in vicinity of the

Akal Takht The Akal Takht ("Throne of the Timeless One") is one of five takhts (seats of power) of the Sikhs. It is located in the Darbar Sahib (Golden Temple) complex in Amritsar, Punjab, India. The Akal Takht (originally called Akal Bunga) was built by ...

. The purpose of this assembly was to elect a representative committee of the Sikhs to administer the Harimandir Sahib Complex and other important historical

gurdwara A gurdwara (sometimes written as gurudwara) (Gurmukhi: ਗੁਰਦੁਆਰਾ ''guradu'ārā'', meaning "Door to the Guru") is a place of assembly and worship for Sikhs. Sikhs also refer to gurdwaras as ''Gurdwara Sahib''. People from all faiths ...

s. Two days before the proposed conference the British government set up its own committee consisting of 36

Sikhs Sikhs ( or ; pa, ਸਿੱਖ, ' ) are people who adhere to Sikhism (Sikhi), a monotheistic religion that originated in the late 15th century in the Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent, based on the revelation of Guru Nanak. The term ...

to manage the Harimandir Sahib. Sikhs held their scheduled meeting and elected a bigger committee consisting of 175 members and named it Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee. The members of the government appointed committee were also included in it. Harbans Singh Attari became vice president and Sunder Singh Ramgarhia became secretary of the committee. By that time

Master Tara Singh Master Tara Singh (24 June 1885 – 22 November 1967) was an Indian Sikh political and religious figure in the first half of the 20th century. He was instrumental in organising the Shiromani Gurdwara Prabhandak Committee and guiding the Sikh ...

had started taking interest in Sikh religious affairs. He was one of the 175 members elected to the committee. The formation of Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee provided a focal point for the movement for the reformation of Sikh religious places. The Committee began to take over management of gurdwaras one by one, and were resisted by incumbent

mahants Mahant () is a religious superior, in particular the chief of a temple or the head of a monastery in Indian religions. James Mallinson, one of the few westerners to be named as a mahant, describes the position of a mahant as a combination of an ...

. Starting in late 1920, a large number of reformers both in urban and rural Punjab had joined to form separate and independent religious orders called

jatha A Jatha ( Punjabi: ਜੱਥਾ g ਜਥੇ l) is an armed body of Sikhs. They have existed in Sikh tradition since the beginning of the Khalsa (Sikh community) in 1699 CE. A Jatha basically means a group of people. The Damdami Taksal Jatha ...

s. The primary purpose of a jatha was to gain control over local gurdwaras. A jatha under the command of a

jathedar A jathedar ( pa, ਜੱਥੇਦਾਰ) is a leader of high regard chosen to head and ensure discipline within a jatha, a body of Sikhs. The Jathedar of the Akal Takht is the central head of the Sikhs worldwide, who makes all important decisions ...

would occupy a shrine and try to take over management in its favor from its current incumbents. Sometimes the transfer went peacefully especially in the case of smaller Gurdwaras with less income resources. This was done sometimes with the threat of force. The Sikh leadership was fully aware of the importance of the press for the success of any movement. It enlisted the active support and sympathy of some of the important nationalist papers in the country like 'The Independent', Swaraj (Hindi), The Tribune, Liberal, Kesri (Urdu), Milap (Urdu), Zamindar (Urdu) and Bande Matram (Hindi).Two of the vernacular dailies Akali (Pbi.) and the Akali-te-Pardesi (Urdu), edited by

also played an important role. It brought the necessary awakening among the Sikh masses and prepared them to undertake the struggle for reform. With the direct and indirect support of the Central Sikh League, the

Indian National Congress The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party but often simply the Congress, is a political party in India with widespread roots. Founded in 1885, it was the first modern nationalist movement to emerge in the British Em ...

and the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee, the

Shiromani Akali Dal The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) (translation: ''Supreme Akali Party'') is a centre-right sikh-centric state political party in Punjab, India. The party is the second-oldest in India, after Congress, being founded in 1920. Although there are man ...

started a non-violent struggle against the government for the control of the Gurdwaras. The reports of some immoral acts perpetrated at Tarn-Taran reached the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee at its meeting on 14 January 1921. A fortnight earlier a local jatha was beaten up and not allowed to perform kirtan at the gurdwara. It decided to send a jatha from

under Jathedar Teja Singh Bhuchar. Jathedar Kartar Singh Jhabbar with Akalis from 'Khara Sauda Bar' joined him. On 25 January, a group of about forty workers took over the control of Sri Darbar Sahib Tarn-Taran from its Mahant. In the ensuing conflict two Akalis were killed and several others wounded by the henchmen of the Mahants. The Mahants were ousted from the Gurdwara and the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee appointed a managing committee.

Gurdwaras Act of 1925

In early 1920s, Malcolm Hailey, the governor of the Punjab showed his readiness to assist the Sikhs in taking possession of all the important Gurdwaras in the province through a five-member committee constituted by the Sikh members of the legislative council. Hailey presented a draft of a new Gurdwara Bill to the Akali leaders imprisoned in Lahore fort.

, Bhag singh Advocate, Gurcharn singh Advocate, Teja Singh Akerpuri (Jathedar AkalTakht Sahib) Sohan Singh Josh and Sardar Teja Singh Samundri studied each clause of the bill carefully. The bill met all the Akali demands and was signed into law on 28 July 1925 by the

Viceroy A viceroy () is an official who reigns over a polity in the name of and as the representative of the monarch of the territory. The term derives from the Latin prefix ''vice-'', meaning "in the place of" and the French word ''roy'', meaning "k ...

of India after its ratification by the Punjab legislative council. The Act came into force on 1 November 1925 with a gazette notification from the government of Punjab. The Act made a Central Gurdwara Board elected by the Sikhs to be the custodian of all important Sikh places of worship. The first meeting of the Gurdwara board passed a resolution that its designation be changed to Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee, which was accepted by the government. Thus ended what came to be known in common parlance as the 'Third Sikh War'. The Punjab government withdrew its orders declaring the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee and other Akali organs as unlawful associations and recognized the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee as a representative body of the Sikhs. In making the Punjab government agree to such recognition, the Akali leadership undoubtedly scored a victory over the bureaucracy. The Sikh Gurdwara bill met most of the demands of the Sikhs, but the government was willing to release the prisoners conditionally i.e. on the understanding to be given by the Akalis that they would agree to work for the Gurdwara Act. The Shiromani Akali Dal and the executive declared conditions imposed for the release of prisoners as wholly unnecessary, unjust and derogatory. Among the prominent Akalis, Mehtab Singh and Giani Sher Singh along with twenty other Akali leaders accepted the conditional release. Master Tara Singh, Bhag Singh Advocate, Teja Singh Samundari, Teja singh Akerpuri (Jathedar Akal Takht) and Fifteen other Akalis did not come out as government emphasis on eliciting written assurance and acceptance was to Master Tara Singh, an attack on the self-respect of the Sikhs. He said, "We ourselves have enacted this Act and we are responsible for implementing it, then why this condition?" Teja Singh Samundari died of a heart attack in the jail after some time. The Punjab Government failed to prove the charges against Master Tara Singh and the remaining Akalis, few months later they all were released unconditionally. The courage and sacrifice shown by the Akalis during the trial very soon drove the Mehtab Singh's group out of the political field and led to a rift in the Akali ranks, as the newly released Akalis condemned Mehtab Singh's group as collaborators. Mehtab Singh's group was also known as 'Rai Bahadur Party'. This group had majority in the committee and Mehtab Singh was elected its President. The Akali Party launched a campaign against the conditionally released leaders. When the new elections for the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee were held, the Akali Party won majority and the newly elected Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee elected Kharak Singh as the President and Master Tara Singh as the Vice President. Since

Baba Kharak Singh Baba Kharak Singh (6 June 1867 — 6 October 1963) was an Indian playwright born at Sialkot in British India. He was involved in the Indian independence movement and was president of the Central Sikh League. He was a Sikh political leader and vi ...

had not yet been released the responsibility of the president fell on the shoulders of Master Tara Singh.At the time of 1996 the first time SGPC election is held in Himachal Pradesh and the first person who won from that seat is the candidate of Panthak Akalidal whose name is Satnam Singh Gill.

1953 amendment to Gurdwaras Act of 1925

In 1953, an amendment to the 1925 act allowed the reservation of 20 out 140 seats on the SGPC for the members of the Sikh scheduled castes

2016 amendment to Gurdwaras Act of 1925

The 2016 amendment to the act by the Indian parliament stripped around 7 million ' Sehajdhari' Sikhs of voting in the SGPC elections

Presidents

The president of the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) is elected by the Members of SGPC. The president holds powers to organise the meetings of SGPC and deal with matters related with issues of

religion and oversees the managements of the

s. Since 2008, the president also serves as Chancellor of Sri Guru Granth Sahib World University.Chancellor
''sggswu.edu.in''. Retrieved 27 April 2021. In 1920 SGPC was established when

Gurdwara Reform Movement The Akali movement , also called the Gurdwara Reform Movement, was a campaign to bring reform in the gurdwaras (the Sikh places of worship) in India during the early 1920s. The movement led to the introduction of the Sikh Gurdwara Bill in 1925, w ...

was started. Sundar Singh Majithia was appointed first President of the committee. This post got legal status after the passing of

Sikh Gurdwaras Act, 1925 The Sikh Gurdwaras Act, 1925 was a piece of legislation in British India which legally defined Sikh identity and brought Sikh gurdwaras (houses of worship) under the control of an elected body of orthodox Sikhs. Gurdwara reform movement Prior to ...

by legislation in

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance on the Indian subcontinent. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one ...

. After passing of this act

became the President. The longest-served president of SGPC till now is

Gurcharan Singh Tohra Panth Rattan Shiri Gurcharan Singh Tohra (24 September 1924 – 1 April 2004) was a president of Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC), a Sikh body in charge of controlling Gurdwara (Sikh places of worship). He died of a heart attack ...

and shortest-served is Gopal Singh Qaumi who served only for one day in June 1933. The first and the only woman and also incumbent president is

List of presidents

References

External links

Shiromani Gurdwara Prabhandak Committee
*
Sikh history book by SGPCSikh history bookSGPC Explained
{{Authority control Amritsar Organisations based in Punjab, India Sikhism in India Sikh organisations Gurdwaras in India Organizations established in 1920 1920 establishments in India