Former jathedar denied entry into Golden Temple
Officials of the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) on Saturday stopped Gurdwara Chhota Ghallughara (Gurdaspur) chief and former takht Damdama Sahib Jathedar Johar Singh from entering the Golden Temple to prevent him from doing ‘sewa’ (voluntarily service) and listen to the kirtan (hymns) there under ‘tankhah’ (religious punishment) awarded to him by the so-called parallel jathedars of Sikh temporal seats “appointed” in 2015 by radical groups.
On Friday, the duly appointed Sikh clergy, too, declared him ‘tankhaiya’ (guilty) for not appearing before them even as he appeared before the parallel jathedars a day before. At the same time, the clergy excommunicated Buta Singh, secretary of the gurdwara management, for being caught in a compromising position with a woman on the premises of the shrine at Kahnuwan Chhamb, Gurdaspur.
As for the parallel jathedars, awarding Johar ‘tankhah’ on Thursday for being head of the gurdwara where Buta was caught with a woman, they had directed him to clean shoes of devotees and utensils at the langar, besides listening to kirtan daily for a week.
On Saturday, he sought to enter from Guru Ram Das Serai but SGPC men stopped him, considering his giving credence to the parallel jathedars as a challenge to the authority of Akal Takht jathedar Giani Gurbachan Singh and other members of the clergy. Golden Temple manager Sulakhan Singh was at the entry and told him he could not perform ‘sewa’ as it had been assigned “by the so-called jathedars, not by real ones”. Heavy police security and SGPC task force were deployed to counter his supporters. But Johar Singh came accompanied by not more than five persons.
It is worth a mention here that the SGPC had restricted him on Thursday from appearing before the parallel jathedars and evicted him from the shrine. This had led to a clash in which three persons were injured. He had later appeared before the radical “jathedars” just outside and been awarded punishment.
“If you want to perform the ‘sewa’ here, you will have to appear before the Akal Takht jathedar first,” the manager told Johar. When he requested to be allowed to listen to the kirtan at least, the manager did not entertain the plea, “These are directions of the Akal Takht.”
Johar did not resist and returned after doing ardas (prayer) outside the shrine. He later said, “This is the first time in Sikh history that a Sikh who came to perform ‘sewa’ and listen to Gurbani at Sri Darbar Sahib was not allowed to enter.”
He added that he recognised Dhian Singh Mand as jathedar of Akal Takht “as he was chosen by more than 10 lakh Sikhs at the Sarbat Khalsa” held by radical groups in 2015. “In that sense, the Akal Takht awarded me ‘tankhah’.” He said he would write to (parallel) jathedars to ask where he should do the ‘sewa’ now.
Reacting to the SGPC’s act, Baljit Singh Daduwal, one of the parallel jathedars, said, “This is a black day in Sikh history. Parkash Singh Badal and his men have crossed all limits of hooliganism at the holiest shrine and deprived a humble Sikh of doing ‘sewa’. The panth will never forgive them.” Former chief minister Badal is chief patron of the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) that has the controlling majority in the SGPC.
“Now, Johar Singh will sit outside the premises of the shrine and listen to kirtan for three hours daily. If he is harmed in, Badal and SGPC office-bearers and Gurbachan Singh will be responsible,” he added.
HE WAS DECLARED ‘TANKHAIYA’ FOR NOT APPEARING BEFORE AKAL TAKHT OVER GURDWARA CHHOTA GHALLUGHARA ISSUE