Embarrassed SGPC orders the transfer of the ‘ardasia’ Balbir Singh
Amritsar : The SGPC has marked a probe into an incident in which a senior ‘ardasia’ (Sikh priest) refused to offer a ‘siropa’ (traditional religious robe of honour) to Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal during a visit to the holiest of Sikh shrines ‘Harmandar Sahib’, a senior SGPC official said here on Saturday.
The Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC), left embarrassed by the incident, ordered the transfer of ‘ardasia’ Balbir Singh to a gurdwara in Machhiwara near Ludhiana.
Balbir Singh had, on Friday, refused to offer the ‘siropa’ to Badal, 88, when the chief minister went to offer prayers inside the sanctum sanctorum of the Golden Temple complex.
The priest gave a ‘patasha’ (traditional sugar-based sweet) to Badal but refused to give him the ‘siropa’ (saffron cloth), contending he could not do so as none of the miscreants who had desecrated the Sikh holy book, Granth Sahib, in a spate of incidents last year, had been arrested.
Badal, who is the chief patron of Punjab’s ruling Shiromani Akali Dal, which dominates the biggest Sikh religious body SGPC, was left embarrassed. However, he left the sanctum sanctorum after offering prayers.
“We have ordered a probe into the incident. Two ardasias have been transferred to gurdwaras in Ludhiana and Sangrur districts,” SGPC additional secretary Daljit Singh Bedi said here.
SGPC sources said that Balbir Singh came on duty inside the sanctum sanctorum ahead of his schedule as another priest, Gurcharan Singh, left early.
The SGPC will probe whether this happened deliberately to embarrass Badal.
Balbir Singh had, in January this year, also refused to offer a siropa to Deputy Chief Minister and Akali Dal president Sukhbir Singh Badal. However, no action was taken against him at that time.
Aam Aadmi Party leader S S Chhotepur lauded the act of the priest. “His conscience did not allow him to give the siropa to Badal,” he said.-IANS
