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Sikh clergy acts
action on Prof Darshan Singh will divide quom
If the sangat is Guru panth, then why hide something from it, asks
former jathedar
WSN Network
 AMRITSAR:
Every sane mind in the Sikh community had thought that the clergy at
the Akal Takht, the SGPC and any right thinking group will somehow
prevent things coming to such a pass, that too on an issue as
explosive as this one. But it seems some people have a sinister and
vested interest in pushing an internecine agenda.
So, for the
first time in the more than 400-year-old history of the Akal Takht,
the top temporal seat of Sikhs, a former Jathedar of the takht, Prof
Darshan Singh, was last Saturday declared "tankhaiya" (guilty of
religious misconduct) by the five Sikh high priests.
This, when he
had duly presented himself at the Takht Sahib in deference to the
summons. He went to the Takht as he has already announced and asid
since the summons were from the temporal seat, he will not present
himself before anyone in a closed room but would be available to
answer any questions or clarifications if asked at the Takht.
The five clerics
kept sitting in a room, waiting for him, and he waited outside at
the Takht. Prof Darshan Singh placed his clarification, relevant
material and CDs before the golak, but the Sikh clergy refused to
see reason. There seemed to be a predetermined plan at work that was
hardly aimed at avoiding a confrontation.
By evening, Akal
Takht Jathedar Giani Gurbachan Singh was standing at the ramparts of
the Akal Takht, and pronounced the decision, warning to even
excommunicate Prof Darshan Singh from the community if he failed to
appear at the temporal seat to accept "tankhah" within a month.
"I went there
with all humility. I sat there for over an hour and a half but no
one came to hear me out. They (the Sikh clergy) instead wanted me to
meet them inside their office, but I refused as their personal
office is not the Akal Takht. I wonder why they wanted the meeting
to take place behind closed doors when I was ready to meet them in
the open. I then left my written reply, along with files and CDs of
the speech that I had made in the
US,
before the Guru Granth Sahib placed at the Takht and came back.”
No wonder, Prof
Darshan Singh immediately rejected the decision of the clergy.
The clergy's
decision received widespread flak from Sikh sangat. Prof Darshan
Singh is known for having played a sterling role in the post 1984
phase when he exhorted the Sikh youth and sangat and was single
handedly responsible for keeping the flame alive.
As a jathedar
of the Akal Takht, he had famously punished Surjeet Singh Barnala,
tying him with a pillar and making him do penance for having ordered
police inside the Golden Temple. Prof Darshan Singh said he had
himself never hidden any proceeding from the sangat and there was
no need for him to indulge in any confabulations behind closed
doors.
"If the sangat
is Guru panth, then why hide something from it," he said. Prof
Darshan Singh's recent stance against Dasam Granth and his action of
explaining certain compositions in it which are highly objectionable
for a large number of Sikhs have made him the target of a pro-Dasam
Granth lobby. The recent issue was triggered by provocations created
by Gurcharanjit Singh Lamba who has been lobbying against the former
jathedar.
Prof Darshan
Singh said, "The ego of the Sikh clergy can be gauged from the fact
that without reading the document that I placed before the Guru,
they declared me Tankhaiya. I do not accept the verdict, as it has
not come from the Akal Takht but from some people who think that
they are above Guru Granth Sahib.”
He made a veiled
attack on Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, referring to him as
the “master” of the priests. “It is clear that the ‘master’ of the
Sikh clergy had already asked them to pronounce me guilty. Had they
read my reply, they would have had to do a lot of explanation. So,
they did not read it and took their decision.”
Significantly,
Prof Gurtej Singh told the World Sikh News that it was hughly
objectionable that three of the five clerics have known affiliations
and stand on the issue of Dasam Granth. "Why did they not recuse
themselves from the panel that was to hear or discuss the matter?"
he asked.
Rajinder Singh
Khalsa of the Shiromani Khalsa Panchayat condemned the decision on
Prof Darshan Singh and said the sangat will reject it altogether.
The five
jathedars who took the decision to term Prof Darshan Singh
Taknkhahiya are Akal Takht Jathedar Giani Gurbachan Singh, Takht
Damdama Sahib Jathedar Giani Balwant Singh Nandgarh, Takht Keshgarh
Sahib Jathedar Giani Tarlochan Singh, Takht Patna Sahib Jathedar
Giani Iqbal Singh and Takht Hazoor Sahib Jathedar Giani Partap
Singh.
Prof Darshan
Singh said, “The Sikh clergy should listen to the entire speech,
where I have said that a section of Sikh scholars was creating
fictional tales about the tenth Sikh Guru Guru Gobind Singh, and
stated an example. But after this example, I have said that all
these tales are false.”
On his
references to the Dasam Granth, he said, “I have said this in the
past as well that till the time Sikhs keep placing the so-called
Dasam Granth alongside the Guru Granth Sahib, the damage to the
sanctity of Sikhism and Sikh Gurus will continue.”
Akal Takht
Jathedar Giani Gurbachan Singh, meanwhile, said, “He did not bother
to appear before the jathedars. He will face a harsher punishment if
he continues to be adamant.” Clearly, there is little hope for any
conciliatory gestures.
9
December 2009
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