Respect to every pilgrim visiting Sachkhand Sri Harmandar Sahib, but following Maryada is necessary
Amritsar, April 17 – The Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) President Harjinder Singh Dhami has condemned the narrative being created against the Sikhs on social media about the viral conversation of a female devotee with a sewadar (attendant), who was stopped at Sachkhand Sri Harmandar Sahib (Golden Temple) and asked to follow the Maryada (code of conduct). He said that the conversation between a devotee and a sewadar of Sri Darbar Sahib is being misrepresented and falsely propagated.
The SGPC President said that it was not right to make fabricated and baseless comments on social media to tarnish the image of Sikhs and defame the management of the organisation over an incident.
Dhami said that Sachkhand Sri Harmandar Sahib is a universal place for people of all religions and the pilgrims who reach here are respected.
“But it is sad that anti-Sikh forces are leaving no stone unturned to tarnish the image of Sikh institutions. Spreading false propaganda on any incident is an act of breaking the brotherhood, which should be avoided. In this recent incident, a girl was asked by the sewadar to follow the Maryada. Although the SGPC has also started an investigation into this matter, still some people are deliberately pushing it in the wrong direction”, said Dhami.
He said that every Gurdwara Sahib including Sachkhand Sri Harmandar Sahib has a set Maryada (code of conduct), which is mandatory for the Sangat to follow.
“Sometimes people deliberately act against the Maryada, due to which the watchman and sewadars keep alerting the pilgrims”, he said.
The SGPC President appealed to the Sangat to take care of Maryada while visiting the Sikh shrines so that such incidents can be avoided.
However, video was viral on social media, a lady keeping tattoos of tri color on her cheeks was stopped on the main entrance of the Golden Temple by the sewadar who asked her to remove it as it was against the Sikh religious code of conduct.
In this regard, SGPC General Secretary, Gurcharan Singh Grewal said that the three colored painted tattoos of flag on the face of lady was not a national flag as it san Ashok Chakra. “Sikh community has great respect for the national flag since the majority of the people who sacrificed their lives for the Indian nation during the freedom struggle were Sikhs. Sikhs community people liberated the Indian nation from Britishers and they can die any time to save the country as a reason Sikh people in the Indian Army guarding the Indo-China border are full of boldness. Due to Sikhs, the Chinese military was scared enough to mess with the Sikh soldiers on the international border. So here, no one should try to malign the image of Sikh community by posting objectionable videos on Social media”, he quipped.
Gerewal at the same time also expressed regret over the incident and said, “ All the people, anywhere from the world from any religion are welcomed here. The incident happened here, a day before yesterday when a lady devotee who was stopped by the SGPC Sewadar and told her to follow Sikh maryada led some arguments between them. Due to this incident, if anybody feels hurt, here I being a responsible person of SGPC feel regret but violation of Sikh code of conducts would never be tolerated at any cost.
