Days after the Sindhi community in Indore removed Guru Granth Sahid from their temples and handed them over to a Gurudwara as demanded by Nihang Sikhs, a new video of Nihangs removing idols from a Sindhi temple in Indore has gone viral on social media. The undated videos are of ‘Poonam Didi Ka Gurudwara’ located at 65 Ex Rajmahal Colony, Indore, Madhya Pradesh. As per social media posts, this particular incident took place on December 19, 2022, a day after Nihangs Shiromani Panth Akali Budha Dal Panjva Takht 96 Crori Chkarvarti visited a Tikana (Sindhi Temple) located in Parshwanath Colony, Indore. However, OpIndia could not verify the exact date.
It is notable that a group of Nihang Sikhs had visited several Sindhi temples in Indore, and objected to the presence of both idols of Hindu deities and the Guru Granth Sahib in those temples. After that, they demanded that the idols should be removed if the Sindhi community wants to keep the Granth in their temples, or else the Granth should be removed from the Sidhi temples and deposited with a Gurudwara by January 12. The Sindhi community decided to return the Granth, and submitted over 80 Shri Guru Granth Sahib at Gurudwara Imli Sahib at Jawahar Marg in Indore on January 11, a day before the deadline.
Now it has been revealed that the Nihang Sikh merely didn’t demand to remove idols of Hindu deities from the temples where the Guru Granth Sahib is also kept, as per Sindhi tradition, but actually forcefully removed idols from some temples.
Idols were forcibly removed near the Guru Granth by some Sikhs who entered the house of a Hindu family. These people are saying “idol worship is hypocrisy”.See how they are removing the idols roughly. Is the sacrilege only of Sikh scriptures not of idols ? shameful act ! pic.twitter.com/B7lEvi0eFQ
— PunFact (@pun_fact) January 13, 2023
In the latest video, Nihang Singhs of Sarkar Committee, Punjab, could be seen removing Hindu idols and asking the family to stop following Hindu practices if they want to worship Sikh Gurus. Multiple Punjabi News Channels on YouTube have shared the videos, and there are additional videos on the Facebook page of Satkar Committee’s member Dawinder Singh who was also seen in the videos.
OpIndia examined multiple videos by India Sikh Channel, TF News, Akaal Channel and others to understand what happened at the Sindhi Temple. A video of ‘Poonam Didi Ka Gurudwara’ appeared on social media, where a woman has seen blessing devotees while sitting next to Shri Guru Granth Sahib. The video reached to Satkar Committee, and their team visited Indore to verify the claims in the video.
As per the reports, when members of the Satkar Committee reached the Sindhi Temple, they found multiple Swaroop of Shri Guru Granth Sahib and Hindu idols in the same room. There were idols of Sikh Gurus as well, which is prohibited in Sikhism as the religion is against idol worship. Nihang Sikhs asked the family that is administering the Temple to follow Maryada (Dignity) and maintain the sanctity of Shri Guru Granth Sahib as per the regulations set by Akal Takht.
Meanwhile, some of the members of the Satkar Committee started removing Hindu idols. The members of the Sindhi family could be seen opposing the step and repeatedly requested them not to remove the Hindu idols. One of the senior Nihang, who was part of the team, asked the other Nihangs not to remove the idols as the family promised they would remove themselves.
A senior member of the team also asked the Sindhi Hindu family not to “ride on two boats”. He told them if they had faith in Sikh Gurus, they should stop following “Pakhand” or Imposture, that is, Hinduism. The remarks by Nihang Sikh are being criticized over social media. On multiple occasions in the video(s), the members of the Satkar Committee could be seen asking the family not to follow the Hindu rituals if they want to follow Sikhism, which is being objected to by the Hindus on social media.
Furthermore, in one video, it appears the team again visited the Sindhi temple later to check if the directions they provided were followed or not. However, upon seeing some Hindu idols, including Bhagwan Ganpati and Sindhi Bhagwan Jhoolelal, still in the room, they decided to take away copies of Shri Guru Granth Sahib. While leaving the premises with Guru Granth Sahib, they again told the Sindhi Hindu family to stop following the rituals of Hinduism. A clip of that conversation has also been shared in our previous report.
The group reportedly visited other Sindhi Temples in Indore and took away copies of Shri Guru Granth Sahib with them. All the copies were submitted to Shri Imli Sahib Gurudwara. Following that, many Sindhi Temples have submitted copies of Shri Guru Granth Sahib after multiple meetings were held between a 5-member committee from the Sindhi community and Sikh religious leaders.
Notably, Satkar Committee has made headlines several times in the past. In 2021, Sri Guru Granth Sahib Satkar Committee leader Tarlochan Singh in a statement claimed that they are not sorry for what happened with Lakhbir Singh, who was killed by Nihang Sikhs. When asked if lynching someone for alleged sacrilege was justified, Tarlochan said, “Yes, absolutely. For us, our religion, our faith, our Granth holds more value than a person’s life.” “We have no remorse for what happened. We will do it again if anyone touches our Granth, doesn’t matter if he is a government agent or some minister himself,” added the committee leader. Lakhbir Singh was allegedly killed by Nihang Sikh during the farmers’ protests for allegedly committing sacrilege of Holy Sikh Scripture Sarbloh Granth. They also objected to letting his cremation done as per Sikh rituals.
The committee was also accused of taking away rare Bir of Shri Guru Granth Sahib on multiple occasions and not returning it despite multiple requests. A 2020 report in Times Of India noted how they took away a handwritten Bir of Shri Guru Granth Sahib in 2016 and did not return it for years claiming the family that had the Bir committed sacrilege (Beadbi).
Unable to follow regulations
The Sindhi community has said in multiple statements that they can’t follow the regulations laid down by the Nihang Sikhs to ensure the sanctity is maintained while keeping Guru Granth Sahib at Tikana or Sindhi Temples. For example, the Nihangs told them to remove all the Hindu idols. Furthermore, only an Amritdhari Sikh can do Sewa, whereas Guru Granth Sahib is ‘Virajmaan’. It was not possible for the Sindhi families who had Guru Granth Sahib at their temples to follow all the regulations; thus, they decided it would be better to give Guru Granth Sahib to the Gurudwara. In a statement, Sindhi community leader Prakash Rajdev said, “We can always visit Gurudwara to do darshan of Guru Granth Sahib, and no one can stop us from doing that.”
Notably, it has been reported that some of the Guru Granth Sahib copies were torn and had tapes pasted on it. As per Sikh norms, in such cases, Guru Granth Sahib’s Bir has to be submitted to Agni as per the rituals. There have been many reports where Satkar Committee members or Akal Takht leaders took away copies of Guru Granth Sahib from the houses of Sikhs on the pretext of not maintaining the sanctity of Guru Granth Sahib.
Sindhi Temples in other cities started giving up Guru Granth Sahib
Following multiple incidents in Indore, Sindhi Temples in other cities have reportedly started giving up Guru Granth Sahib. As per a report by Sindhu Prabhat News, Baba Karandas Darbar, Raipur, Chattisgarh, has also submitted a copy of Guru Granth Sahib to the Gurudwara. Speaking to OpIndia, Naresh Vasvani of Sindhu Prabhat News said, “The Sindhi Temples in other cities have started the process, and it appears every Temple will submit their copies in 2023 itself”. Vasvani added that over 70 copies of Guru Granth Sahib had been given up by the Sindhi community.
It is notable that the Sindhi community is keeping the Granth in their temples for a long time, and it has become a part of their ritual to worship the Granth. The reason for it goes back several hundreds of years, when most of the Sindh community used to live in present-day Pakistan.
The Sindhi Hindus were greatly influenced by Guru Nanak’s teachings as he had visited the Sindh region and had spread his philosophy in the area. From that period onwards, Sindhi people have been following Guru Nanak and Guru Granth Sahib in their temples. They keep the Granth along with other Hindu scriptures in their temples. But now the Nihang Sikhs have started to object this, and as a result, the Sindhi community is having to give up an ancient tradition.
OpIndia is trying to get in touch with the administration of Poonam Didi Ka Gurudwara and Baba Karandas Darbar. We will update the reports accordingly.
