By Jose Kavi

New Delhi: A political party of Sikhs has urged India’s federal minister to probe the shifting of religious articles from a gurudwara associated with Guru Nanak, founder of their religion, in Sikkim state in northeastern India.

Media reports from the Sikkim capital of Gangtok say local municipal authorities on August 21 removed religious articles, including Guru Grant Sahib, Sikhs’ sacred scripture, from Gurdwara Guru Dangmaar Sahib.

The gurudwara is situated at an altitude of 18,000 feet at Indo-Tibetan border. It was built in 1971 by Sikh army men amid protests from local people.

Shiromani Akali Dal (supreme Akali party) president Sukhbir Singh Badal on August 22 urged Home Minister Rajnath Singh to probe the incident to assuage the hurt feelings of the Sikh community.

The powerful Sikh politician noted that the controversial gurdwara sat at the spot where Guru Nanak, founder of Sikhism, used a dong to make water spout out from the ground when people complained about lack of water during his visit.

In a statement issued in Chandigarh, Badal said the religious articles were removed from the Sikkhim gurudwara against Sikh religious rules. The articles were later shifted to Gurdwara Nanak Lama, Chungthang.

Badal termed the incident as shocking and noted that the gurudwara had functioned as a place of worship for several decades. He requested restoring the Granth Sahab to its original place.

The Sikh leader said the gurdwara has a special significance in Sikhism because of its link with the first Guru. “No one should be allowed to play with its maryada and it should be restored to its former glory as soon as possible”, he asserted.

Badal also wants the Home Ministry to send an advisory to the local authorities in Sikkim to ensure the sanctity of the gurdwara was not violated again.

The Shiromani Gurudwara Prabandhak Committee (SGPC), the apex administrative body of Sikhs, has sent a three member team, including a retired army officer, to Sikkim to study the matter and prepare a first-hand report.

Meanwhile the website sikh24.com reported August 22 that the villagers acted after local authorities decreed to convert the gurudwara for alternative uses.

The website quoted Bhai Yadwinder Singh, the ‘Granthi’ in the gurudwara, as saying that the local people brought the scripture and other articles to him but he refused to accept them as it was a forced upon him.

“At this, the Buddhists ran away and placed the Holy Scripture and whole religious articles on road,” he added.

Bhai Yadwinder Singh said he respectfully installed the sacred scripture in Gurdwara Sahib with the help of other Sikhs.

Colonel Davinder Singh Grewal, who was part of the SGPC delegation that visited the site, noted that some fanatics had earlier tried to take over the gurudwara.

The Sikh cleric of that time Jathedar Gurcharan Singh Tohra had forced the then Defence Minister George Fernandez to intervene and resolve the matter.

The former army officer also said some miscreants had deliberately removed the Sri Nishan Sahib from Gurdwara premises and had tried to convert it into a prayer place of all religions by placing statues of Hindu and Buddhists prophets.

SGPC President Kirpal Singh Badungar has expressed deep concern over what he said was an unfortunate incident. He said that he would take up the matter with the federal government to sort the matter at the earliest.