While the strug­gle for the real Gur­d­wara Aarti Sahib with the gov­ern­ment of Orissa is still un­der a cloud, in a sig­nif­i­cant de­vel­op­ment, five Singh Sahibans at a meet­ing at the Akal Takht Sahib on 24 Au­gust 2020, has di­rected Baba Shamsher Singh to re­move the name ‘Gur­d­wara Aarti Sahib’ within one month or face ac­tion from the high­est tem­po­ral au­thor­ity of the Sikhs. This pseudo-Gur­d­wara Aarti Sahib was put up in the his­toric city of Puri to mis­lead Sikh San­gat into be­liev­ing that this was the place where Guru Nanak Sahib re­cited the Aarti and thereby at­tempt­ing to di­lute the claim to the orig­i­nal Gur­d­wara  Aarti Sahib at the Mangu Mutt op­po­site Lord Ja­gan­nath Tem­ple in Puri, Orissa.

IN A VERY CLEAR AND DI­RECT STATE­MENT, FIVE SIKH TEM­PO­RAL LEAD­ERS -JATHEDARS,  have di­rected Baba Shamsher Singh to forth­with change the name of the Gur­d­wara that he, his son and some other trustees have built on the sea-shore in the his­toric city of Puri.

The res­o­lu­tion passed by the Jathedars was one of the many res­o­lu­tions on dif­fer­ent sub­jects con­cern­ing the Sikh faith. The res­o­lu­tion num­ber seven di­rects Baba Shamsher Singh to change the name of Gur­d­wara Aarti Sahib within one month, say­ing that it is not the ac­tual place where the Aarti Sahib hymns were re­cited by Guru Nanak Sahib dur­ing his jour­ney to Ja­gan­nath Puri in Orissa.

The res­o­lu­tion fur­ther reads that “even ear­lier the Akal Takht Sahib and Takht Patna Sahib had given ver­bal di­rec­tions to give ef­fect to the change in name but this di­rec­tion has been dis­re­garded.” The Singh Sahibans have added a strong word of cau­tion, “In case this is not fol­lowed through, strict ac­tion will be taken in con­so­nance with Gur­mat prin­ci­ples.”

Pun­jab MLA and SGPC mem­ber Bal­winder Singh Bains who had ear­lier taken up the is­sue when a meet­ing to dis­cuss Mangu Mutt was con­vened at Akal Takht Sahib in De­cem­ber 2019, speak­ing to The World Sikh News said, “This is a wel­come de­ci­sion. I am grate­ful to Jathedar Akal Takht Sahib Gi­ani Harpreet Singh, Jathedar Takht Har­mandir Ji Patna Sahib Gi­ani Ran­jit Singh Ji and all other Singh Sahibans for this long-over­due de­ci­sion. I also ap­peal to Jathedar Akal Takht that such ac­tions must be taken swiftly in fu­ture too so that no one dares to mar Sikh his­tory and cul­ture.”

Au­then­tic­ity of Gur­d­wara Aarti Sahib and du­bi­ous role of Sikh in­sti­tu­tions

“Baba Shamsher Singh and his son Jagdip Singh have at­tempted to change our his­tory. Guru Nanak Sahib re­cited Aarti Sahib at an­other place and this fa­ther-son duo has es­tab­lished a Gur­d­wara Sahib in the name of Gur­d­wara Aarti Sahib for their own self­ish ends at a place of their choice which has no his­toric rel­e­vance what­so­ever,” he added.

Talk­ing about the Mangu Mutt is­sue which is still hang­ing fire, Bal­winder Singh Bains, who was part of the del­e­ga­tion with his brother -Pun­jab MLA Simar­jit Singh Bains and other ac­tivists to Puri early this year said, “We con­ducted a ground study and met high-rank­ing of­fi­cials in­clud­ing the Gov­er­nor and Home Min­is­ter of Orissa. Our re­port is ready. We have sought time from Jathedar Akal Takht. Maybe the lock­down con­di­tions made it dif­fi­cult. We will again seek time from Singh Sahib and pre­sent our full re­port.”

“We as­sure the Sikh San­gat that we will take the Mangu Mutt case to its log­i­cal con­clu­sion so that the orig­i­nal Gur­d­wara Aarti Sahib is es­tab­lished right op­po­site the Lord Ja­gan­nath Puri tem­ple, as his­tor­i­cally that was the place where Guru Nanak re­cited ‘Gagan Mein Thall Rav Chand Deep­ak’ Aarti Sahib,” de­clared Bal­winder Singh Bains.

The strug­gle for re­tain­ing Mangu Mutt, which started nearly a year back is still on. The Orissa gov­ern­ment has given as­sur­ance that the sanc­tity of the visit of Guru Nanak Sahib to the state will be main­tained but so far there has been no fol­low up.

“We as­sure the Sikh San­gat that we will take the Mangu Mutt case to its log­i­cal con­clu­sion so that the orig­i­nal Gur­d­wara Aarti Sahib is es­tab­lished right op­po­site the Lord Ja­gan­nath Puri tem­ple, as his­tor­i­cally that was the place where Guru Nanak re­cited ‘Gagan Mein Thall Rav Chand Deep­ak’ Aarti Sahib.” 

Bal­winder Singh Bains, MLA, Pun­jab As­sem­bly, Mem­ber SGPC

Since con­ser­va­tion ac­tivist Anil Dhir and so­cial ac­tivist and lawyer Sukhwinder Kaur took up the is­sue in Sep­tem­ber 2019, de­spite vis­its by SGPC mem­bers and a huge out­cry by The World Sikh News and other ac­tivists in the Sikh com­mu­nity, the Mangu Mutt was razed to the ground by the Orissa gov­ern­ment. The Guru Nanak Mutt and the Gur­d­wara Baoli Sahib are also un­der threat. The Orissa Sikh Pra­tinidhi Board and the Shi­ro­mani Gur­d­wara Par­band­hak Com­mit­tee have not taken a clear stand on the is­sue.

The pre­sent de­ci­sion of the five Singh Sahibans has once again set the ball rolling to pre­serve the long-lost her­itage sites which have traces of Guru Nanak’s travel on foot in the east­ern parts of the In­dian sub-con­ti­nent. The World Sikh News hopes and prays that the Sikh com­mu­nity in its wis­dom and the con­ser­va­tion fra­ter­nity in sol­i­dar­ity will join hands to en­sure that all her­itage sites around Ja­gan­nath Puri, re­lat­ing to any re­li­gion, which is un­der threat, are pre­served at all costs.