Amritsar, Punjab: Stating that the cat is out of the bag, the Dal Khalsa today fired a salvo against the SGPC accusing the so-called premier institution of the Sikhs for playing a fraud on Sikhs. The organization has stated that committing sin, the SGPC has killed Nanakshahi calendar systematically and buried it secretly.
Party spokesperson Kanwar Pal Singh said the SGPC has printed and released the new-year calendar as per Bikrami taking the Sikhs prior to the era of 2003. He said the only thing that SGPC has retained is the title of calendar i.e Nanakshahi Samat.
SGPC released Nanakshahi Calendar
Reasserting that the Nanakshahi calendar is manifestation of distinct identity of Sikhs, “the SAD, SGPC, Jathedar of Takhts’ and the Sant Samaj all have connived to virtually kill the Nanakshahi calendar thus giving a severe setback to the on-going Sikh fight to uphold their distinct identity.
With the SGPC reverting to Bikrami calendar arbitrarily and unilaterally, the committee formed by Jathedar Akal Takht to look into the calendar controversy stands irrelevant, he points out. Taking exception over the Jathedar Akal Takht’s version for releasing this Bikrami based calendar as temporary one until the committee submits its report, he said Jathedars’ have made mockery of the community and belittled their position by surrendering their authority before their political masters.
“The calendar is not the property of any particular Samparda, any so-called Samaj, institution/organization or person. It’s the collective asset of the Sikh Panth”. Admitting that there was deep division within the community on calendar issue, he said until there was resolution to the dispute, how can the SGPC break the status quo (referring to amended version of 2010) single-handedly on its own.
Explaining further how dates have been changed making Bikrami calendar as its basis, he said even as per amended Nanakshahi calendar, the date of martyrdom day of Guru Teg Bahadur was fixed for 24 November every year. He said now the SGPC has changed its date and this year it will fall on 16 December. Similarly, going by Bikrami calendar the SGPC has changed the date of birth anniversary of Guru Ramdas ji from 9 October to 29th October. The death anniversary of Guru Amardas will fall on 28th Sep this year instead of 16 Sep. He said date of Gurtagadi of Guru Ramdas ji has been changed from Sep 16 to Sep 26. He further said the date of birth anniversary of Guru Harkrishan Sahib has been changed.