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Nanakshahi: The Onslaught
Continues
WSN
Bureau
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In a strange explanation, Makkar said this was conceded since
the two days were connected to the two Takhts outside Punjab.
What could have been more shocking for Sikhs to know that the
days connected with Guru Gobind Singh ji and Sri Guru Granth
Sahib ji were being attributed to two physical places in two
cities of Patna Sahib and Nanded? |
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 We need a clergy
that can stand up to pressures from Sants, the RSS, the Badals, the
opportunists, the renegades. If it is asking for too much, then
simply recall that they meet at a Takht set up in the name of the
Akal. What could be a bigger source of power? Why can the Five who
meet there dig in and do all they can to protect and propagate Sikh
interests?
In signs that
the SGPC authorities and those who call the tune in Akali Dal are
ready to buckle before the RSS-BJP pressures and the tactics being
employed by the Sant Samaj to get the Nanakshahi Calendar either
scrapped or diluted, SGPC president Avtar Singh Makkar has been
having back-to-back meetings with representatives of the Sant Samaj,
a motley group of Sikh leaders who each have a certain following but
whose adherence to maryada or commitment to Sikh issues remains
fluid.
That these meetings come not in isolation but as part of a
clear pattern aimed at diluting the Nanakshahi Calendar is no
secret. It was not very long ago that we saw the Akal Takht seeking
suggestions on Nanakshahi Calendar. Efforts have been afoot, mostly
pushed by Sant Samaj but also by the RSS lobby to propagate the myth
that the Nanakshahi Jantri, conceived and designed by Canada-based
Pal Singh Purewal to replace the Hindu calendar hitherto followed by
Sikhs, is somehow controversial. Such efforts have been going on
ever since the new calendar's adoption by the SGPC since 1998. Now
that the SGPC elections stare Akali Dal in the face, and the Sant
Samaj can influence voters no doubt, it is extracting its pound of
flesh from a weak-kneed clergy, a malleable SGPC president and a
forever- ready-for-a-bargain Badal duo.
The fact is that the Nanakshahi Calendar had the blessings of a wide spectrum of
individual scholars and organizations but the Sant Samaj, the two
Takhts of Patna Sahib and Huzur Sahib, the Damdami Taksal and a
number of deras have not accepted the historical dates according to
the Nanakshahi calendar.
At a meeting at Fatehgarh Sahib on December
18, the SGPC president Makkar gave all indications that the
committee can make a tactical retreat, and agree to Puranmasi and
Sangrand observations as per the Bikrami calendar. Among those
present in this meeting were, apart from Makkar, SGPC secretary
Dalmegh Singh, Dr. Darshan Singh, Principal Amarjeet Singh Damdama
Sahib, PA Paramjit Singh, Sant Samaj general secretary Hari Singh
Randhawa, Paramjit Singh Mahalpur, Baljinder Singh Rara Sahib, Baba
Sukhchain Singh Barete wale and Harkaramjit Singh.
At one stage, it
was agreed that an announcement would be made soon, and a sort of
compromise was clinched. Also, it was agreed that the SGPC president
will have a one on one meeting with Sant Samaj chief Baba Harnam
Singh Khalsa the very next day. It was this meeting where the real
face of Sant Samaj became apparent much more clearly. The two-hour
long meeting was held at Jalandhar in the afternoon and Makkar even
conceded that the SGPC will agree to the Sant Samaj's demand that
Guru Granth
Sahib's Guru'ta Gaddi Diwas and Gurpurab of Guru Gobind Singh be
observed as per the earlier Bikrami calendar. In a strange
explanation, Makkar said this was conceded since the two days were
connected to the two Takhts outside
Punjab.
What could have been more shocking for Sikhs to know that the days
connected with Guru Gobind Singh ji and Sri Guru Granth Sahib ji
were being attributed to two physical places in two cities of Patna
Sahib and Nanded? But even as Makkar conceded an inch, the Sant
Samaj was soon demanding a foot. It changed tacks in the meeting and
said that all Gurupurabs be celebrated as per the Bikrami Calendar.
Instead of taking directly upon the Sant Samaj and cautioning it
that the line it is pushing will only nudge Sikhs more into the lap
of Hindutva forces, Makkar seemed to present a conciliatory face. He
has now asked the Sant Samaj leadership, specially Baba Harnam Singh
Khalsa, to meet Akal Takht jathedar Giani Gurbachan Singh. That the
controversy is getting new impetus at a time when the RSS activity
is on the increase is no coincidence. The saffron brigade was
earlier vocal in opposing the adoption of the Nanakshahi calendar by
the Akal Takht Sahib but has since learnt that its rabble rousing
enrages the Sikhs. So the intervention is now happening more subtly.
It is no secret that Giani Iqbal Singh of Takht Harmandirji Patna
Sahib had challenged the authority of the Akal Takht and the SGPC
and had rubbished the calendar, prompting the then Jathedar of Sri
Akal Takht, Giani Joginder Singh Vedanti to seek fresh suggestions
and had set up an 11-member panel for the purpose, headed by Dr.
Darshan Singh. This, when it is widely known that Sikhs, cutting
across party lines in Punjab and dissolving all their differences,
had welcomed the new Calendar and have been celebrating the
festivals in accordance with it. Now, in a separate statement, Takht
Damdama Sahib jathedar Giani Balwant
Singh Nandgarh
has advised the
Punjab
government and the SGPC not to buckle before a self-styled Sant
Samaj in the matter of Nanakshahi Calendar and do nothing that can
lead to reinstating the Bikrami almanac. He said it is possible that
the SGPC president Avtar Singh Makkar may have good intentions
behind the move to hold meetings with the Sant Samaj, as an effort
to prevent any split in the Panth, but the fact remains that these
people only want to bring back the Hindu Bikrami Calendar by getting
the Nanakshahi calendar rejected. He also asked the Sikh
organizations to beware of the activities of this Sant Samaj. A
section of the scholars including HS Dilgeer, Pritam Singh Bhopal
and Lt Col (retd) Surjit Singh Nishan who were part of Nanakshahi
calender inquiry committee had even gone so far as to claim that if
the Sikhs continued to follow this calendar they would eventually
''destroy their religion because of the inherent fallacies." The
truth is that today if there is any move to divide the panth, it was
being led
by those who
were opposing the new almanac. We need a clergy that can stand up to
pressures from Sants, the RSS, the Badals, the opportunists, the
renegades. If it is asking for too much, then simply recall that
they meet at a Takht set up in the name of the Akal. What could be a
bigger source of power? Why can the Five who meet there dig in and
do all they can to protect and propagate Sikh interests?
23
December 2009
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