Chandigarh, Jul 26 (PTI) Shiromani Akali Dal president Sukhbir Singh Badal on Saturday alleged that the AAP government committed an act of “grave sacrilege” against the Sikh religion by trying “shamelessly” to convert the solemn occasion of the 350th martyrdom anniversary of Guru Teg Bahadur into an “entertainment event” at Srinagar.
National Commission for Minorities chairman and BJP leader Iqbal Singh Lalpura too expressed deep anguish, saying the event has gravely hurt the sentiments of Sikhs, and demanded that Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann and Education Minister Harjot Singh Bains should apologise to the community.
The event organised on Thursday by the Punjab Government’s Language Department in Srinagar has sparked a controversy, with the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) taking strong objection to “entertainment performances” and calling it a direct affront to Sikh religious values.
Akal Takht’s officiating Jathedar Giani Kuldip Singh Gargaj on Saturday asked Bains to appear before five ‘Singh Sahiban’ (high priests) on August 1. The Jathedar of the highest temporal seat of Sikhs on Saturday also summoned the director of the state language department, Jaswant Singh.
Reacting to the programme in Srinagar in Jammu and Kashmir, SAD chief Badal said, “This is shocking beyond belief.” This act cannot be dismissed as an inadvertent blunder because Chief Minister Mann, Bains and several other members of this government claim to be steeped in Sikh heritage and come from Sikh families, said Badal.
“No one in Punjab , not even a non-Sikh, is unaware of the profound solemnity of the occasion of the ninth Guru Sahib’s martyrdom and none can think of it as an occasion for entertainment,” he said in a statement.
Badal called it “a part of a deep-rooted conspiracy to dilute and belittle the unrivalled Sikh heritage”.
He said the real motive behind this “act of sacrilege” is to distance future generations from the “uniqueness of our glorious history and religious legacy of our great Guru Sahiban”.
“This is the ultimate disrespect shown to the great Guru Sahib and an act of grave sacrilege,” alleged the SAD president.
Iqbal Singh Lalpura, chairman of the NCM, said it is utterly shameful that during a solemn event in Srinagar, entertainment in the form of Bhangra, songs and dance was allowed.
“This act directly mocked the unparalleled martyrdom of Guru Sahib and constitutes a clear sacrilege,” Lalpura here.
BJP leader Lalpura also pointed out “unfulfilled” promises on the 2015 sacrilege cases by the AAP government.
“Arvind Kejriwal’s electoral promise to establish fast-track courts for sacrilege cases has been proven to be a grand lie,” he asserted.
Lalpura demanded that CM Mann and Bains immediately apologise to the Sikh community and the people of Punjab for the act of disrespect. PTI CHS RT RT
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