The Akal Takht Sahib, the highest Sikh temporal seat, today asked
cricketer turned politician and Congress MLA Navjot Singh Sidhu to apologize
for wearing a shawl carrying Sikh religious symbols. This act has hurt the Sikh
sentiments, the Takht Sahib cited.
Courting a
controversy, he appeared at a public event on December 27 in a shawl carrying
Sikh religious symbols Sandhawala village in Jalandhar district. He shared a
video of his visit and interaction with residents of the village, wherein he is
wearing a Magenta shawl carrying ‘Ik Onkar’ and ‘Khanda’ embedded on it.
Soon after,
social media was flooded with messages, condemning his act. Despite the
objections raised by the members of Sikh community, he again shared his
pictures which show him in the same shawl. Today, the Sikh activists led by
Paramjit Singh Akali lodged a complaint to the highest Sikh temporal seat.
The Sikh
activists demanded stringent action against the Congress MLA from Amritsar
east. “What he has done is the sacrilege of gurbani,” said Akali.
Acting on the
complaint, Giani Harpreet Singh, SGPC-appointed acting jathedar of Akal Takht
Sahib, said, “This act of Navjot Singh Sidhu is very unfortunate. Being a Sikh,
he should have known that this is against the Sikh maryada. He has hurt the
Sikh sentiments by doing so. This is a condemnable act and he should apologize
to the Sikh community for his blunder”.
SGPC general
secretary advocate Bhagwant Singh Sialka said, “This is very unfortunate. He is
known for such acts. ‘Ik Onkar’ cannot be printed on a cloth meant for wearing.
We shall urge Akal Takht jathedar to summon Sidhu to the Takht. Sidhu knows the
sacred nature of this symbol, but he is deliberately committing these
mischievous acts. He will have to pay for it.”
https://www.sikh24.com/2020/12/29/akal-takht-asks-navjot-sidhu-to-apologize-for-hurting-sikh-sentiments/#.X_SpDFUzbIV