Jhinda, associates start sewa in Darbar Sahib

Amritsar, Punjab: Though Haryana Sikh Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (HSGPC-adhoc) chief Jagdish Singh Jhinda and his four associates did sewa on the first day of their tankha (religious punishment) at the Golden Temple, they hit back at the Sikh high priests saying they had been humiliated allegedly under a political conspiracy.

“We are satisfied by doing sewa here but we are far from being satisfied with the way a stern 20-day tankha has been pronounced in our case. We feel that we have been punished with an intention to humiliate us. We have accepted the punishment only to preserve maryada,” said Jhinda and four of his associates—Avtar Singh Chakku, Kanwaljit Singh Ajrana, Joga Singh Yamunanagar and Hazoor Singh Nambardar.

They started their sewa at the Golden Temple by listening to the kirtan at the sanctum sanctorum between 7 am and 8 am, followed by the cleaning of shoes of sangat and langar sewa at the Langar Hall. It was their first day of the five-day sewa at the Golden Temple and after this they will move to Takht Kesgarh Sahib.

“We still feel that all allegations levelled against us that we had usurped the control of Gurdwara Chhevin Patshahi in Kurukshetra on September 13 are baseless. The tankha is politically motivated and it was first such harsh decision of the Sikh high priests, who have been choosing to ignore serious violations committed by leaders of the ruling SAD (Badal),” Jhinda alleged .

He said, “Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal say that the Congress has been interfering in religious matters of the Sikhs, but we want to ask him as to how dharam has come in the way when we are just talking about handing over the control of Haryana gurdwaras to the Haryana Sikhs as per the 1966 Reorganisation Act.”

He alleged that the Sikh high priests had chosen to decide their case in a haste under “political pressure” and had been dilly-dallying on the issuance of edicts regarding old and serious complaints involving SAD leaders and its sympathisers.

Source: TNS