In clear violation of orders of the Supreme Court of India and the sentiments of the Sikh community, the Puri administration, under directions from the government of Odisha is all set to demolish the four centuries-old house of Guru Nanak -the Mangu Mutt, opposite the historic Jagannath Puri Temple, where the founder of the Sikh faith had gone for inter-faith dialogue and the propagation of Unity of God.

IN A FEW HOURS FROM THE TIME THIS REPORT IS PUBLISHED, should better sense not prevail and it is unlikely, the tiny little space, consecrated with the footsteps of Guru Nanak, which at one time had the Guru Granth Sahib too and which has been revered for centuries would be demolished to pave way for modern concrete roads and infrastructure by an ill-advised Odisha government, whose Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik is supposedly pro-people and who has Sikh lineage in his family.

From the pictures and details made available by activist advocate Sukhvinder Kaur, a portion of Mangu Mutt, adjacent to the Emar Mutt was demolished today morning, making way for the full demolition of this abode of Guru Nanak, where he is believed to have stayed and where the Aarti “Gagan main thall rav chand deepak’ is believed to have been recited.

Though there is a Supreme Court order that no structural changes be carried out without the express permission and cooperation of all stakeholders, the Collector of  Puri -Balwant Singh Rathod, does not seem to be in a mood to honour either the order of the court or the appeal of the Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh, or the protests lodged by the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee and the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee.

“We have been crying hoarse since the last three months. Not only is the administration not listening, but even the Sikh leadership also has not been serious about the issue.”

Sukhvinder Kaur, lawyer and social activist

Even a personal representation by conservation activist Anil Dhir, social activists Sukhvinder Kaur and Gurmeet Singh and World Sikh News editor and human rights activist Jagmohan Singh to the Governor of Odisha in the recent past does not seem to have any effect on the powers that be.

While friends of the Sikh community, across the world, are engaged in celebrating the spirit and works of Guru Nanak through making the Kartarpur Corridor, declaring Guru Nanak birthday as Equality Day and building new institutions, the Naveen Patnaik government of Odisha seems determined to demolish the traces of Guru Nanak’s footsteps in Odisha.

A shocked Sukhvinder Kaur, on the phone line to World Sikh News, said, “We have been crying hoarse since the last three months. Not only is the administration not listening, but even the Sikh leadership also has not been serious about the issue.”

The silence of the Odisha Sikh Pratinidhi Board, which is working in tandem with the SGPC on the matter is rather confusing and the Sikh world is unaware of any steps that they may have taken to prevent the demolition which is in all likelihood going to happen tomorrow morning.