Amitabh
Shukla | Chandigarh
Reminiscent
of the dark days of terrorism, confusing signals are emanating from the Sikh
religious establishments and the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC)
after the Panj Pyaras (five beloved ones of the Guru) summoned the head priests
of all the five Sikh Takhts (seats) on their decision to pardon Dera Sacha
Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh in a case of blasphemy.
The
crisis triggered in early October this year when the ruling Shiromani Akali Dal
(SAD), through religious body SGPC, prevailed on the five high priests in
getting pardon for the Dera chief on blasphemy in which he apparently wore an
attire similar to that of Guru Gobind Singh way back in 2007. The SAD, which is
eyeing for electoral gains in the crucial Malwa belt — a stronghold of the Dera
— ahead of the Assembly elections in early 2017, it thought that getting a
pardon for Dera chief would result in rich electoral dividend.
Following
the pardon, there were clear signs of unrest in the Sikh community and the
SGPC, controlled by SAD, with dissenting voices emerging from all over the
State and numerous Sikh organisations-hardliners as well as the liberals. The
reaction forced the five head priests to cancel the pardon given to the Dera
Sacha Sauda chief.
Even
though the head priests — Gurbachan Singh (Akal Takht), Mal Singh (Kesgarh
Sahib), Gurbaksh Singh (Damdama Sahib), Iqbal Singh (Patna Sahib) and Ram Singh
(Hazoor Sahib) cancelled their decision to pardon the Dera chief, the Panj
Pyaras rejected their U-turn. They claimed that the flip flop had hurt the
sentiments of the Sikhs and the five head priests need to explain their conduct
of pardoning Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh in the first place — something which is
unprecedented in Sikh history.
The
five head priests were summoned to Akal Takht, the supreme temporal seat of
Sikhism.The Panj Pyaras owe their genesis to 1699 when Khlasa panth was
established by Guru Gobind Singh and since then, they were mainly into
conducting religious ceremony for baptism of the Sikhs and lead the Nagar
keertan on important religious occasions. They were also authorised to mark
religious punishment for the baptized Sikhs who do not follow the tenets of the
religion.
But
for the first time in Sikh history, the Panj Pyaras - immaculately dressed with
sword drawn and seen leading religious contingents - came out of their shell
and said they were authorised to summon the head priests of the five Takhts.
The moment the hitherto low profile Panj Pyaras decided to summon the head
priests, the SGPC suspended them and transferred three to Sikh Mission Office
in Hapur, UP, and two to Kurukshetra in Haryana saying they had exceeded their
brief. SGPC president Avtar Singh Makkar said the Panj Pyaras’ decision to
summon Takhts’ heads is aimed at causing dissension and division in the
community and is also against office rules of the gurdwara body.
Technically,
Panj Pyaras are appointed by the cash rich SGPC and report to this religious
body. But Sikh scholars argued that when the Panj Pyaras take a decision, it
has to be followed and suspension does not mean anything. They said that Akal
Takht takes a call on the wayward behavior of Sikhs and determines a punishment
but when the head priest himself takes a wrong decision, Panj Pyaras can summon
the priest concerned. Sikh scholars cite the incident of 1699 when the tenth
and last master, Guru Gobind Singh obeyed the directions of the Panj Pyaras to
leave Anandpur Sahib after the Mughal army surrounded the town.
But
the five head priests refused the summons and did not appear before the Panj
Pyaras --- Satnam Singh Khanda, Tirlok Singh, Mangal Singh, Satnam Singh and
Major Singh on October 23. Taking a stand, the Panj Pyaras asked the SGPC to
remove the Jathedars of five Takhts (seats of Sikh religion), alleging that they
had “created furore and restlessness in the community”.
As
the stalemate continued on Saturday, hectic parleys were made throughout the
day and several SGPC members met Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal to build a
consensus on the contentious issue. All eyes are now on the crucial emergency
meeting of the SGPC on October 26, to be held in Chandigarh which would discuss
the act of the Panj Pyaras of removing the five jathedars. (October 25, 2015)
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