AMRITSAR SAHIB, Punjab—In a meeting of Sikh History Research Board held at the management block of SGPC on May 10, the historians resolved to publish history of the last century, in which details of Darbar Sahib invasion by India army will be covered. The invasion, code named Operation Blue Star by the Indian Government took place in June 1984 in which thousands of pilgrims were killed by the army personnel.
In addition, the board will cover other incidents from the later part of the century, including details of Sikh agitations from past and pre-1984. Eyewitnesses that are still alive will also be visually interviewed by the Research Board. These interviews will be made accessible to the the general public.
“SGPC was working for multilingual printing of the factual tract about Sri Harmandir Sahib in which history of other Gurdwaras running under SGPC will also be disclosed,” Makkar told Sikh24. “When writing history of Harmandir Sahib, we must also deliberate upon last century in which Harmandir Sahib and Akal Takht Sahib remained center of Sikh affairs.”
He added that the SGPC was working to digitally record the precious Sikh literature so that it could be re-published as and whenever required. He also informed that the SGPC was working to recruit new scholars in Sikh History Research Board.
Bhai Rajinder Singh Mehta (Executive member of SGPC), Dr. Balwant Singh Dhillon, Dr. Harchand Singh Bedi, Dr. Balkar Singh, Dr. Prithipal Singh Kapoor, Dr. Sarabjinder Singh, Dr. Inderjit Singh Gogoani, S. Diljeet Singh Bedi (Additional Secretary of SGPC), Prof. Sukhdev Singh, Dr. Paramvir Singh and Incharge Gurbachan Singh etc. were present on this occasion.
In March 2016 it was reported the SGPC was getting ready to erase the 1984 attack evidence at Sri Harminder Sahib itself. ‘SGPC decided to tamper with some vital court evidence by deciding to ‘renovate’ the Teja Singh Samundri Hall inside Sri Harminder Sahib. The SGPC took the decision at its executive meeting which was led by Avtar Makkar. The Teja Singh Samundri Hall has long been kept as evidence to show the over 1000 crore damages which the SGPC has filed in a case against the central government following the 1984 attack. Reportedly the case was filed in 1998 when Gurcharan Singh Tohra was head of the SGPC.
EC member Mangal Singh – an insider and whistleblower within the SGPC who could not stomach the treachery of this corrupted and infiltrated organisation – exposed the misdeeds of SGPC in open letter on May 17th 2016 (reported by Parmjeet Singh). ‘Mangal Singh, SGPC’s executive committee member since 2004 has exposed alleged misdeeds of the SGPC in an open two page letter addressed to the Sikh sangat. He said the SGPC has turned into a political body, though for namesake it remains a religious organisation. He alleged that the SGPC was working against the Sikh principle of Miri-Piri and its organisers are working as per wishes of their political masters. Mangal Singh said the SGPC was spending resources on purchasing costly lands and rasing five star buildings and expending money on unnecessary advertisements. On the other hand he added the SGPC has turned a blind eye on confition of Guru Ram Das Hospital (Amritsar) which offers free treatment to the poor. He said the SGPC has provided Rs. 104 crores in its budget for so called Miri-Piri Trust Shahbad Markanda at the behest of the Badal group.’ That is an insider and whitelblower within the SGPC who cannot stomach the treachery of this corrupted and infiltrated organisation.
Fortunately for Sikhs we already have all the evidence from eyewitness testimonies recorded by journalists, victims, in Amnesty International report, Human Rights Watch report, the leaked cables from the US Embassy in Delhi at the time as well as books which painstakingly recorded the eyewitness testimony of victims, so SGPC and their RSS masters cannot rewrite history 32 YEARS AFTER.
You both are correct in your assessment. SGPC lost its credibility on all fronts ie religious , historical or political long time back. Fundamental question before us how to counter SGPC before they do any more serious damage to our institutions
After 32 years they wake up? Will they do?
I don’t trust sgpc idiots to be in charge of writing Sikh history. They already let almost all witnesses die off or turn hostile. There is zero credibility with sgpc kutthe.