SGPC delays decision on former prime minister Manmohan Singh's museum portrait for over a year

More than sixteen months have passed since the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee paused its plan to place a portrait of former Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh inside the Central Sikh Museum. The executive committee of the SGPC had originally cleared the proposal on May 13 last year to feature the former prime minister at the museum located within the Golden Temple complex in Amritsar.

The Pause And Objections

Just ten days after the approval, SGPC President Harjinder Singh Dhami directed officials to hold the decision temporarily following pushback from multiple groups. Convicted former militant Balwant Singh Rajoana, currently held in a Patiala jail for the assassination of former Punjab Chief Minister Beant Singh, sent a letter of opposition on May 14 last year. Rajoana argued that the former prime minister belonged to a political party linked to the killing of Sikhs and asserted that his picture had no place in a sanctuary honoring Sikh sacrifices. The Dal Khalsa also raised objections against the move.

Calls For Action

The stalled decision drew public attention when former Punjab civil servant K.B.S. Sidhu issued a press note on Dr Manmohan Singh's 94th birth anniversary, urging the committee to lift the sixteen-month freeze. Sidhu recalled serving as the Amritsar deputy commissioner between 1992 and 1996, during which he frequently accompanied Dr Singh on visits to Sri Darbar Sahib. He noted that the SGPC executive committee had approved five portraits initially, including that of Dr Singh, before the president set it aside. In the event that consensus remains out of reach, Sidhu suggested the SGPC instead set up an economics school or an academic chair named after Dr Singh at its university in Fatehgarh Sahib.