Nanded – The Maharashtra Government’s move to appoint BJP MLA Tara Singh as the chief of Takht Sri Hazur Sahib Management Board has sparked outrage in Sikh circles with intellectuals condemning it for various reasons.
Sikh scholar Ashok Singh Bagarian said, “There cannot be a greater disrespect to the sacred memory of Guru Gobind Singh than a non-baptised Sikh heading the board for administrative control of the place dedicated to the sacred ‘amrit’ river.”
This is like following a wrong pattern set against the sacred tradition dearest to the community. This needs immediate attention and serious consideration of Akal Takht, in particular, and Sikhs, in general. There is an urgent need to curb the trend of compromising the basic tenets of the Sikh faith, he said.
Former SGPC secretary Manjeet Singh Calcutta said, “The saffron brigade has taken over the management of Takht Hazur Sahib.” He said, “Where is the ruling Akali Dal today and why doesn’t it hold a ‘morcha’ against the BJP or sever its ties with it over the issue.”
He said SGPC chief Avtar Singh Makkar didn’t waste any time to wrest control of Takht Sri Patna Sahib Management Board from the SAD (Delhi), but now he was merely paying lip service when the BJP had “captured control of the Hazur Sahib board”.
Meanwhile, according to media reports, Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal today opposed the Maharashtra Government imposed Chief of Management Board of the Takhat Sri Huzoor Sahib, Nanded against the Sikh maryada (code of religious ethics).
In a letter to the Prime Minister, Badal apprised him that this move on the part on the Maharashtra government was in complete violation of the highly venerated Sikh Maryada and was likely to gravely hurt the religious sentiments of Sikhs all over the world. He described this decision as “extremely unfortunate, anti-Sikh and direct interference in the religious affairs of the Sikhs.