Won’t approach SGPC for reconciliation, says historian Kirpal Singh

CHANDIGARH: A day after the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) terminated services of Kirpal Singh as director of its Sikh history project, the historian said he would not approach the SGPC for reconciliation.

Kirpal Singh, who was heading a project of translating Suraj Parkash Granth, said he will complete the pending work and keep it to himself. He has published 22 volumes of the Suraj Parkash Granth, completing works up to the ninth Sikh master Guru Teg Bahadur. Currently, he’s working on Guru Gobind Singh.

Suraj Parkash Granth a poetic classic was written by Santokh Singh in 19th century in Braj Bhasha, which traces lives of the gurus and preachers.

Kirpal Singh will continue to head the state government’s syllabus committee that prepared the controversial Punjab School Education Board Class 12 history book. However, the historian rejected the Akalis claim of discrepancies in the book.

The SAD and SGPC demanded resignation of CM Captain Amarinder Singh and registration of a case against syllabus committee for “distorting” the Sikh history.

Reacting to the remarks by SGPC president that Suraj Parkash Granth would be reviewed, Kirpal Singh said he was open to any kind of scrutiny.

He said the SGPC and the SAD have politicised the matter because he was appointed head of the syllabus committee while he was working on the SGPC project. “Even if SGPC has removed me, I have a lot of to do for the Sikh Panth,” he said.