Led by Sri Guru Singh Sabha Pres­i­dent Jagji­van Singh, mem­bers of the San­gat of the Gur­d­wara Sahib Chitkora, Patna Sa­heb have pe­ti­tioned Gi­ani Ragh­bir Singh, Jathedar Akal Takht Sahib seek­ing dis­ci­pli­nary ac­tion against the Takht Com­mit­tee as per Sikh tra­di­tion for their vi­o­la­tion of Maryada in push­ing out San­gat from Dar­bar Sahib dur­ing the visit of the In­dian Pres­i­dent Drau­padi Murmu on 18 Oc­to­ber 2023. WSN re­ports.

Ten days ago the Pres­i­dent of In­dia Drau­padi Murmu vis­ited Takht Patna Sahib. The Takht Patna Sahib Com­mit­tee com­mit­ted a great blun­der in throw­ing out the San­gat in­side the Dar­bar Sahib at the Takht un­der pres­sure from the ad­min­is­tra­tion, po­lice, and pro­to­col of­fi­cers of the Pres­i­dent of In­dia. This was un­prece­dented. It has never hap­pened any­where in any Sikh Gur­d­wara. The Sikh San­gat in Patna has taken on the man­tle to ex­pose the Man­ag­ing Com­mit­tee of the Takht Patna Sahib, who up­held ad­min­is­tra­tive pro­to­col over Sikh Maryada.

The pe­ti­tion says that the San­gat is un­happy about the spe­cial treat­ment meted out to the Pres­i­dent de­feat­ing the well-laid out and Pan­thic norms of be­hav­iour in San­gat in Dar­bar Sahib, to make spe­cial arrange­ments, to swarm the Dar­bar Hall with se­cu­rity per­son­nel, to make the Kir­tani Jathas sing Kir­tan with­out San­gat, to re­ceive the Pres­i­dent be­fore she en­tered the sanc­tum sanc­to­rum, has deeply dis­turbed the Sikh San­gat.

The Sikh San­gat in Patna is deeply up­set by the turn of events which has placed the Sikhs of Patna in the spot­light for the wrong rea­sons. If any one is to be blamed it is the Takht Patna Com­mit­tee, the po­lice, the Patna ad­min­is­tra­tion, and the Pro­to­col de­part­ment of the Pres­i­dent of In­dia, who in their anx­i­ety over se­cu­rity threw the Gur­d­wara Maryada to the winds.

Speak­ing to World Sikh News, Gur­jeet Singh, who was one of the first Sikhs to raise his voice through so­cial me­dia about the in­ci­dent said,”We have writ­ten to the Jathedar Akal Takht seek­ing strin­gent ac­tion against the Takht com­mit­tee. This is in­tol­er­a­ble.”

When asked by the re­sponse of the San­gat, he lamented, “We are do­ing our bit but the San­gat at large is un­re­spon­sive. We will still con­tinue to raise our voice and will work hard to en­sure that such non­sense is never re­peated.”

Promi­nent amongst those who at­tended the meet­ing in­cluded Kan­waljit Singh, Ran­jit Singh Chab­bra, Kuljit Singh Bagga along with Gur­jeet Singh and the Gur­d­wara pres­i­dent Jagji­van Singh.

Gur­d­wara Pres­i­dent Jagji­van Singh told WSN, “We learn that the Akal Takht has al­ready sent the Takht Patna Com­mit­tee a show cause no­tice. This is not an is­sue which will die out so eas­ily. Every of­fice bearer, Se­wadar, and oth­ers who ha­rassed the San­gat are guilty and ac­count­able. With the co­op­er­a­tion of the en­tire Sikh San­gat of Patna, we will take this to its log­i­cal con­clu­sion.”

The let­ter writ­ten by the Sri Guru Singh Sabha Chitkora, Patna seeks ac­tion against Takht Patna Com­mit­tee Pres­i­dent Jagjot Singh Sohi, Se­nior Vice Pres­i­dent Lakhwinder Singh, Ju­nior Vice Pres­i­dent Gur­winder Singh, Gen­eral Sec­re­tary In­dar­jeet Singh and Sec­re­tary Har­bans Singh. The let­ter says that these of­fice bear­ers have hurt the sen­ti­ments of all Guru Nanak Naam Leva and that the Jathedar must take early cog­nizance of the mat­ter and sum­mon them to Akal Takht Sahib.

For now, the ball is in the court of the Jathedar Akal Takht, as ear­lier a group from the San­gat of Patna has al­ready sought from Gi­ani Ragh­bir Singh that the Takht Patna Com­mit­tee and its Su­per­in­ten­dent Daljit Singh must be awarded pun­ish­ment for their mis­deeds in­clud­ing de­lay in elec­tions and cor­rup­tions in Gur­d­wara pur­chases.