Deeply con­cerned at the pos­si­bil­ity of Maryada vi­o­la­tion by the se­cu­rity pro­to­col of the high-level dig­ni­taries to Takht Patna Sahib, for­mer gen­eral sec­re­tary, le­gal ad­vi­sor, and mem­ber-des­ig­nate of the Sri Takht Ha­ri­mandir Ji Patna Sahib Pra­band­hak Com­mit­tee, Cha­ran­jeet Singh ad­dresses an open let­ter to the Prime Min­is­ter of In­dia, Shri Naren­dra Modi, on the eve of his visit to the Takht Patna Sahib-the birth­place of Tenth Mas­ter Guru Gob­ind Singh Ji. Through this mis­sive, he ex­tends a re­spect­ful in­vi­ta­tion to Prime Min­is­ter Modi but also seeks to en­gage him in ad­dress­ing piv­otal is­sues that af­fect the gov­er­nance of Sikh re­li­gious in­sti­tu­tions and the broader sen­ti­ments of the Sikh com­mu­nity. WSN re­ports.

CHA­RAN­JEET SINGH -A VET­ERAN OF TAKHT PATNA SAHIB AF­FAIRS, a sep­tu­a­ge­nar­ian de­vout re­li­gious ac­tivist, who wields re­spect amongst the Sikh San­gat in Patna, raises poignant con­cerns about the Sikh San­gat in Patna and around.  He cau­tions that there should be no forcible re­moval of Sikh San­gat from Dar­bar Sahib as it hap­pened dur­ing the visit of the In­dian Pres­i­dent in Oc­to­ber 2023. The Sikh San­gat in Patna had pe­ti­tioned the Akal Takht over the Maryada vi­o­la­tions then and were deeply per­turbed at the be­hav­iour of the Takht Man­age­ment Com­mit­tee. He ex­presses wor­ries about un­de­mo­c­ra­tic in­ter­ven­tion at ad­min­is­tra­tive and ju­di­cial lev­els and the need for re­form of the con­sti­tu­tion of the Takht Patna Sahib Com­mit­tee, the bla­tant in­ter­fer­ence of the Ma­ha­rash­tra gov­ern­ment at­tempt­ing con­trol of Takht Hazur Sahib, Nanded and the decades-old ques­tion of the need for amend­ment of Ar­ti­cle 25(b) of the In­dian Con­sti­tu­tion to es­tab­lish the dis­tinct iden­tity of the Sikhs. Here is the let­ter ver­ba­tim.

Re­spected Shri Naren­dra Modi Ji,

Wa­he­guru Ji Ka Khalsa Wa­he­guru Ji Ki Fateh!

I learn that you are vis­it­ing Takht Patna Sahib, the his­tor­i­cal birth­place of Guru Gob­ind Singh Ji on 13 May and as a mem­ber of the Sikh San­gat, I wel­come you very warmly.

Takht Patna Sahib holds im­mense sig­nif­i­cance not only as a cen­ter of the Sikh faith but also as a sym­bol of the en­dur­ing spirit and re­silience of the Sikh com­mu­nity. As we pre­pare to re­ceive you, we are hope­ful that the pres­ence of your es­teemed self will en­able us to echo the sen­ti­ments of the Sikh San­gat here in Patna.

Dur­ing the re­cent visit of the Hon’ble Pres­i­dent, Smt. Droupadi Murmu, in Oc­to­ber 2023, we en­coun­tered cer­tain chal­lenges re­gard­ing the in­ter­ac­tion of the San­gat with our Dar­bar Sahib due to se­cu­rity mea­sures. We re­spect­fully re­quest that such sce­nar­ios are not re­peated, en­sur­ing that the sanc­tity and ac­ces­si­bil­ity of our Dar­bar Sahib re­mains unim­peded dur­ing your visit. In keep­ing with our tra­di­tion and cus­toms, the San­gat will freely par­take in the spir­i­tual am­biance of Takht Patna Sahib with­out any con­straints.

We re­quest that the sanc­tity and ac­ces­si­bil­ity of our Dar­bar Sahib re­main unim­peded dur­ing your visit. The San­gat will freely par­take in the spir­i­tual am­biance of Takht Patna Sahib with­out any con­straints.

More­over, we wish to bring to your at­ten­tion some press­ing is­sues con­cern­ing the gov­er­nance and man­age­ment of the Takht.

A re­cur­ring pat­tern of ad­min­is­tra­tive and ju­di­cial in­ter­ven­tions and de­lays has sig­nif­i­cantly ham­pered our elec­toral and ad­min­is­tra­tive ef­forts. Such in­tru­sions man­i­fest in de­layed elec­tions and other man­age­ment com­pli­ca­tions, which un­der­mine the au­ton­omy of our re­li­gious in­sti­tu­tion.

A re­cur­ring pat­tern of ad­min­is­tra­tive and ju­di­cial in­ter­ven­tions and de­lays has sig­nif­i­cantly ham­pered the elec­toral and ad­min­is­tra­tive ef­forts at Takht Patna Sahib. Such in­tru­sions man­i­fest in de­layed elec­tions and other man­age­ment com­pli­ca­tions, which un­der­mine the au­ton­omy of our re­li­gious in­sti­tu­tion. 

A sim­i­lar sit­u­a­tion pre­vails in Takht Hazur Sahib Nanded. Un­nec­es­sary in­ter­ven­tion by the Gov­ern­ment of Ma­ha­rash­tra to force un­de­mo­c­ra­tic new leg­is­la­tion has posed se­ri­ous ob­sta­cles to the smooth man­age­ment of the Takht Hazur Sahib Com­mit­tee. The Sikh San­gat in Patna and Nanded stand at the thresh­old of an ag­i­ta­tion to re­store their rights.

The Sikh San­gat in Patna and Nanded stand at the thresh­old of an ag­i­ta­tion to re­store their rights.

Ad­di­tion­ally, we earnestly seek an amend­ment to Ar­ti­cle 25(b) of the In­dian Con­sti­tu­tion. Sikhism must be rec­og­nized as an in­de­pen­dent re­li­gion, dis­tinct and sep­a­rate, which will re­in­force our iden­tity and the re­spect due to it.

Fur­ther­more, the Gov­ern­ment of Bi­har must ad­here to the di­rec­tives of the Supreme Court of In­dia to en­act fresh leg­is­la­tion tai­lored to the gov­er­nance of the Takht Patna Sahib Com­mit­tee. We pro­pose that this new leg­is­la­tion be com­pre­hen­sive, ad­dress­ing the needs of Sikhs, not just in Bi­har but across east­ern In­dia.

The gov­ern­ment of In­dia and Bi­har must work for a new leg­is­la­tion for the man­age­ment of Takht Patna Sahib, which should be com­pre­hen­sive and ad­dress the needs of Sikhs, not just in Bi­har but across East­ern In­dia.

As we stand at this junc­ture, for re­spect of Sikh rights and sen­ti­ments, con­crete ac­tions that re­flect a gen­uine ac­knowl­edg­ment and sup­port for our com­mu­ni­ty’s as­pi­ra­tions are es­sen­tial for fos­ter­ing a re­la­tion­ship based on mu­tual re­spect and un­der­stand­ing.

We trust that your lead­er­ship will guide these changes, en­sur­ing that our her­itage and rights are pre­served and pro­moted. We look for­ward to your visit with op­ti­mism and the hope that it starts a pos­i­tive di­a­logue and ac­tion­able out­comes ben­e­fi­cial to the Sikh com­mu­nity.

Thank you for your at­ten­tion.

Warm re­gards,

Cha­ran­jeet Singh
Mem­ber and Chief Le­gal Ad­viser,
For­mer Gen­eral Sec­re­tary
Takht Patna Sahib Pra­band­hak Com­mit­tee
Patna, Bi­har