By Navneet Mishra

New Delhi, Apr 2 (IANS): The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), has expressed displeasure over a resolution passed by the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee(SGPC) against the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).

The party's national spokesperson R.P. Singh told IANS: "The SGPC has been unable to stop the conversion of Sikhs in Punjab. There are thousands of instances of Sikh families converting to Christianity in the state. But there isn't even one example of a Sikh being converted to a Hindu. The SGPC has passed the resolution against the RSS for its own political compulsions," said Singh.

Singh further said: "The SGPC said the RSS is turning India into a Hindu rashtra (Hindu nation). I want to ask SGPC office-bearers to tell me how many churches and temples have been built in Punjab in the last 10 years? In fact, not even one temple was built in this period while hundreds and thousands of churches were built. This proves that the SGPC's claims are absolutely false."

In its General House Meeting recently, the SGPC had compared the RSS's activities with those of the Mughals. In its resolution, the SGPC had accused the RSS of interfering in other religions and intimidating minorities to pursue its objective of turning India into a Hindu nation. It said that such attempts were made by the Mughals in the 17th century and the ninth Sikh guru, Shri Teg Bahadur Ji, had sacrificed his life to thwart such attempts.

BJP national spokesperson RP Singh told IANS: "As many as 7.98 per cent Sikhs in Gurdaspur have converted to Christianity. The number in Jalandhar is 2 per cent. The SGPC has never tried to stop these conversions to Christianity. Because of the rising number of Christians, the state government has also been forced to pursue the policy of appeasement. Officials associated with the SGPC also attend events of Christians. The SGPC elections are due this year. I think, by venting out its frustration against the RSS, they are trying to achieve their own political objectives."