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Kalgi row has a new twist:
Surrey scholar reveals source
WSN Network
 VANCOUVER: The
row over the kalgi continues to go through one twist after the
other. A Surrey based Sikh scholar, who says he was privy to the
real movements of the kalgi, has now claimed that important facts
were being suppressed in the matter.
Dr Manjit Singh
Randhawa, who showed journalists photos and other important
documents connected with the kalgi at his home, said the Kalgi now
at Sri Akal Takht Sahib was earlier in Canada. Dr Randhawa claimed
that this Kalgi once even was brought to his house. he also claimed
that the kalgi has been obtained from the family of Channan Singh
Chann but for some reason those who procured it are not revealing
the identity of this person.
S. Chann, who
lives in Coventry, had brought the Kalgi to Gurdwara Dasmesh Darbar
at Surrey
in 1999 and later it was kept for Darshan even in
London. It again
came to Canada in 2003 through a person intriguingly named by S.
Chann as "Bhau Ji". S. Chann said Kanwaljit Singh Boparai was trying
to get this Kalgi to India even in 2008 and had told a journalist in
Vancouver
that the Kalgi was in Ontario with a family. Now, this same
journalist has revealed that the kalgi was brought again to Canada
and taken to S. Chann's family from where it was taken to
Punjab
with immense secrecy.
But most
importantly, Dr. Randhawa has claimed that this Kalgi was neither
the one handed over by the Tenth master to Shaheed Bhai Sangat Singh
nor the one kept in Albert Museum in London, nor is this the one
that Lord Dalhousie had obtained. The latter is missing since 1976.
Dr Randhawa said
the mystery around the kalgi seems to be to obfuscate the
contribution and efforts of Dr Chann who died on
July 11, 2004.
He said S. Chann's family still has many documents and there was
need to get to the bottom of the entire affair.
Meanwhile, one
of the two researchers, who arranged the return of the kalgi from
England, has refused to tell a Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak
Committee panel who he got it from. Kamaljit Singh Boparai, who
appeared before the panel constituted to ascertain the article's
authenticity, said he had promised confidentiality to the person who
had it in his possession.
The panel has
decided to do "deep research" on the matter, taking help from
England-based Sikhs. Regarding a proposed carbon-dating test to
determine the age of the kalgi, there is still no consensus.
22
July 2009
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