Despite Opposition, SGPC Unwilling to Remove Questionable Artwork from Sri Harmandir Sahib

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AMRITSAR SAHIB, Punjab—Following major backlash by Sikh circles across the world, the SGPC has remained quiet about the inscription of Hindu deities on the walls of Sri Harmandir Sahib.  So far, the SGPC has remained quiet despite being challenged on its position regarding the questionable artwork.  Sikh24 has attempted to get an official comment from the SGPC office in Sri Amritsar, however, our efforts have been in vain.

Yesterday, a vague press statement was shared with Sikh24, in which the SGPC spokesperson Diljeet Singh Bedi mentioned that much of the art within Sri Harmandir Sahib is ancient and SGPC is only working to preserve the original designs.  It had no mention of the recent work performed within Sri Harmandir Sahib.

Earlier, this month, Sikh24 reported about the inscription of Hindu deities on the walls of sanctum Sikh shrine Sri Harmandir Sahib.   Sikh24 was informed about this matter by independent SGPC member and Convener of Singh Sabha (Punjab) S. Hardeep Singh who said that the SGPC has destroyed the earlier floral artwork from the walls of central Sikh shrine under the garb of renovation.

Since then, several prominent Sikh and political leaders have come to the fore against the SGPC.  On October 23, former Cabinet Minister and senior Congress leader Inderjit Singh Zira submitted a memorandum at Sri Akal Takht Sahib secretariat seeking removal of art of Hindu Deities from the wall of sanctum sanctorum Sikh shrine Sri Harmandir Sahib.

punjab page;Congress leader Inderjit Singh Zeera(2nd to left) places memorandum at the table of Jathedar Akal Takht as the latter was not available in his office in Amritsar on Saturday.photo by vishal kumar
punjab page;Congress leader Inderjit Singh Zeera(2nd to left) places memorandum at the table of Jathedar Akal Takht as the latter was not available in his office in Amritsar on Saturday.photo by vishal kumar

Speaking with Sikh24, S. Inderjit Singh Zira informed that he has attached the photographs of art of Hindu Deities inscribed on the walls of sanctum sanctorum. He added that firstly the issue remained hidden and now when it is highlighted the Supreme Sikh body SGPC was silent on the issue.

Warning the SGPC to take suitable action within a week, S. Inderjit Singh Zira said that if the SGPC doesn’t take any action within specified time, e would start agitation against the inscribing of Hindu Deities art on the walls of sanctum sanctorum Sri Harmandir Sahib.

S. Zira informed that SGPC appointed Akal Takht Jathedar Giani Gurbachan Singh was not present on the spot due to which left the memorandum in office of Akal Takht Secretariat.

34 COMMENTS

  1. Waheguru Ji Ki Fateh – just to let you all sikh brothers and sisters that I have just discovered from sikh siyasat news the Harinder Pal Singh – from Armed Forces College is this RSS agent his writing questioning how Sikhs are different from Indians. He has learnt nothing from all the writers here and in particular from Bhai Ji M Singh. He mentions “this is a trap to get you into another Genocide : 4. You will ask for freedom and the Empire will tell the Indian Nation to label you as terrorist and shoot you down by its security forces and more…….” “live peacefully and happily as an Indian”. He lost his battle here and now goes to another news spreading his hinduism and RSS ideology elsewhere….. to see if anyone will agree with him…… what a……

  2. Waheguru Ji Ki Fateh to all except the RSS Agent ….. Hari Guru Ghar is perfect and from today that is what I shall call our Gurdwara….. The sooner we all start x-ing the anything about hinduism from our Gurdwaras – KHALSA WILL REMAIN UNIQUE…. [niara] as our Guru Gobind Singh Ji says.

  3. surely has to be a sikh of authority that could put end to such evil against our Gurduaras, and innocent Sikhs in prison, and Bapu Surat Singh Jio starving for almost a year now…Vahiguroo Jio kirpa dya..

  4. WARNING!! Careful everyone. Beware of “Harinder” who is posting here. He is either an agent, or very sympathetic to cause of destroying Sikhism. He is trolling here trying to instigate fighting and hatred.

  5. I agree all of this Hindu nonsense should be removed from the walls of Sri Hari
    Mandir, we should stop calling it Hari Mandir and call it HariGuruGhar, we should
    Also remove all of the gurbani that mentions Hindu deities.

    We must do all this today, my words are an ode to sarcasm.

    • Your sarcasm is misplaced. There is a strong familial bond between the Sikh and the Hindu which has been put under severe strain in the past 50 years by those wishing to adulterate and somehow absorb Sikhi into a fold where it does not belong. Mention of Hindu deities in Gurbani are there purely for allegorical and allusional purposes as the Gurus were largely preaching to peoples with a Hindu cultural and theological background who would as a consequence then comprehend spiritual concepts and language already familiar to them. The Gurus made it very clear that Hindu deities were not real and that there is only One God (Ik Onkar is the very foundation stone of Sikhi) but incorporating the hymns of some Hindu bhagats into Gurbani (which naturally would be using mention of Hindu deities) also demonstrated that good God minded people of other faiths including Hinduism could also achieve spiritual enlightenment. It is very telling that no Hindu deities either in statue or picture form were ever allowed to be installed in Gurdwaras during the lifetime of the Gurus or indeed in the 200 years that followed the installation of Guru Granth Sahib.

      • You are partly correct in what you are saying.
        See the names of our Gurujis

        1) Guru Ram Das name is after is from Lord Ram
        2) Guru Angad Devji name is from from Maha Bharat
        3) Guru Arjun devji name is from from Maha Bharat
        4) Guru Har kishan name is from from Maba Bharat
        5) Guru Har Govind name is from from Maba Bharat
        6) Guru Guru Gobind Singhs name is from from Maba Bharat

      • You are trying to artificially create connection between Sikhi and Hinduism which just isn’t there. The Gurus were not names after characters in Hindu mythology because of some lineage link but simply because those names would have been very popular boys names for children in Punjab and indeed India at that time and the Gurus families (certainly extended families) like those most of their followers were from a Hindu background in the same way early Christians would have been form and still had family members of the Jewish faith. You are trying instead to create some familial lineage connection which would presumably then give some credence to Hindu mythological characters having actually existed in history in the same way someone in the west named ‘Jason’ might try to give credence to the ‘reality’ of Ancient Greek myths like those of Jason and the Argonauts. It is well worth noting your argument breaks down even more by your complete omission of Guru Amar Das, Guru Har Rai, Guru Tegh Bahadur and the actual founder of Sikhi himself Guru Nanak. Sikhism is not a sect or offshoot of Hinduism and you should not be trying to retro fabricate such a false connection when the only linkage is that synomomous between early Christian and Jew – brotherhood.

      • Parents keep name of children based on the faith they follow.
        In Islam the commonest name is Muhammad after the Prophet.
        In Christianity it is John and Mary.
        So the parents of our Guruji Ram Das were followers of Lord Ram.
        That is why he was named.
        So the link was there ,still exists by intermarriages and shall be there in futures to by Intermarriages.
        So many families are mixed still in Punjab.
        So let us learn to accept our history the way it is and not the way we want it to be.

      • Guru Ram Das’s parents Har Das and Daya Vati were Sodhi Khatris so its perfectly possible they named their son after their own beliefs but really that is no relevance to the child as Ram Das was was popularly addressed as Jetha, being the first-born of his parents (Sanskrit word Jayeshth means the first) and coming to maturity as a man he rejected Hinduism to follow the enlightened teachings of the third Guru Amar Das (not mentioned in your list as he contravenes your fanciful theory). The founder of the Sikh faith was Guru Nanak – not named after any Hindu deity or referenced in any Hindu epic – and his parents too were Hindus and he also rejected the teachings of his parents faith. So you’ve got it all wrong again by trying to draw a direct causal genealogical line connection with our Gurus names and the fictional characters in the fictional ancient Indian epic poems. Certainly you can say that their names were ‘inspired’ by the names found in the epic poems (Sikhism does NOT believe the Mahabharat or Ramayana to be actual historical events as I have previously explained to ad nauseum) just as the modern times name ‘Jason’ is inspired by the Ancient Greek Myth of Jason and the Argonauts but there is nothing else beyond that and a genealogical connection should not be read into it . After all there is no mention of the founder of the SIkh faith ‘Nanak, the third Guru Amar Das, the Sixth Guru was actually Guru Har Rai not Har ‘Govind’ and the ninth Guru Tegh Bahadur is conveniently omitted form your reasoning even though he above all the Gurus sacrificed his all for the sake of Hindus to follow their Hindu faith. There is a close historical not theological bond between the Sikh and his Hindu cousin and you dishonour it by trying to pervert the relationship by trying to claim a theological continuity and congregance between your Lord Ram and our Guru Ram Das when as the fourth Guru he maintained the teachings of the founder of Sikhi’s assertion that the pantheon of Hindu deities bore no relation to actual reality as there was only One God and He had never been immanent in human form upon the earth. Also you state the most popular names in Christianity are Mary and John as evidence that parents pass on their faith to their children through names but Jesus’s human (step?)father was called Joseph.

  6. Whats your point – photographs of Guru Ji’s in homes are reminders of SIKH GURUS and the situation here is that the devta murties entering our Gurdwaras are not acceptable. Keep murties and things within the Mandirs we do not interefere there DO NOT BRING THESE DEVTA MURTIES TO GURDWARAS!!!!

  7. Get it right Sikhs are not destroying any statues from any religion – we dont want to worship drawings and stones paintings in Gurdwaras – take them to the mandirs or homes where they are better off…… amongst hindus – we worship only one AKAL PURKH not statues ! this may be too much for you to understand !!!!

    • Have you seen. the photographs of Gurujis in many of our homes.
      Christianity has Lord Jesus , Buddhism has Lord Buddha, Hindus have million of Gods.
      The history can never be wished away.

      • Those are not photographs as photography was not invented until the mid 19th century! Those images to which you refer to are largely painted by 20th century Sikh artists like Sobha SIngh – they were not painted in the lifetimes of the Gurus and are purely from imagination of the artists and useful only as a way of helping people (largely the immature like children) visualise / conceptualise the Gurus. They are not accurate depictions in any way because they were not taken from life and the reason why none exist from live sittings is that the Gurus were very clear about rejecting idolatory of any kind and over reverence for the messenger rather than the message (which Guru Nanak saw in Islam with Mohammed being over emphasised when Allah and the message of universal love should have taken precedence with its followers). The Gurus did not want paintings and sculptures made of themselves because they were very mindful that those could end up getting worshipped by their largely culturally Indian followers at that time. Indeed there is a centuries old prohibition in Sikhi forbidding depiction of the Gurus which is why there was such upset at the film Nanak Shah Fakir last year. None of these paintings have ever been or are worshipped and have no religious value in themselves but rather as historical artworks. You do not go into a gallery and start worshipping works of art hanging on the walls do you? Also please do not try to draw similiarities with Christianity (which contrary to Sikhism teaches that God was immanent in human form on the earth), Buddhism (which does not believe in a distinct and separate God at all but rather that all humans are God consciousness) or Hinduism (which is a polytheistic faith which believes in caste system both rejected by Sikhism). Indeed all three of these religions you mention Christianity (particularly Catholicism and Russian Orthodox), Buddhism and Hinduism do believe and practice in idolatory which is utterly rejected by Sikhism.

  8. What would you call the RSS hindu dogs ? Do not interfere with Sikhs hiding behind social media on you emails open your eyes and see what Hindus are doing to minorities – do you call that democracy? Perhaps you would be better off reading Gita before speaking about other religions……
    Look around you who is making Punjab unstable now?

    • The extremist thought and lack of scientific temperament is is making Punjab unstable.
      A single Punjab tucked in one corner of world is also making it unstable.
      Till we are able to interact with all citizens of world in every village,city and nation will make us with tunelled vision.

      • Presumably you are referring to the RSS and Hinduvta extremist thought in Punjab making it unstable. Certainly Sikhs do not have tunnel vision and their diaspora is spread right around the world doing great works – Sikhs saving people from drowning with their turbans in New Zealand, Sikhs becoming defence minister in Canada, Sikhs feeding refugees in disaster zones etc. IN fact there is no greater representation of the Punjabi’s humanity abroad than the Sikh.

    • Your language needs to be civilized when addressing people of other faith.
      No one in this world completely understands GOD .
      They are only known to GOD almighty himself.

      • Your language needs to be civilised and less hypocritical when you suggest again and again that Sikhs who dare to follow the doctrine of their faith should somehow adulterate it for you. Guru Nanak said if you are a Hindu, be a good Hindu, if you are a Muslim, be a Good Muslim. Follow that advice even if you are totally unwilling to accept Sikhi’s doctine of religious tolerance towards other people’s faiths and equality for the common man (the caste system is an abomination in God’s eyes no matter what monotheistic faith you follow).

  9. Brahman tells them cow is better than humans, he kills human for cow because cow’s milk is like mother’s milk, what about Formula milk? Who is Taliban? From centuries he is treating Dalits worst than animals, why he doesn’t learns from Gita about Karma? Educated Hindu should think. Don’t interfere in other religions, find the right way of living from your Granths if not from others.

    • If you have discovered a great truth then please reveal it to the whole mankind..
      Let message of Sikhism reach every home,village city ,town and Nation in the world
      Go and preach and spread Sikhism to the whole world .

      • Guru Nanak discovered a great truth and along with his successor Gurus deseminated the knowledge of ‘Ik Onkar’ to the peoples of the India subcontinent and beyond. Humanity benefits from Sikhi’s message of religious tolerance and equality for all of society’s peoples – both are doctrines of which you and your RSS cadre fundamentally disapprove.

      • It would be nice if Sikhism is preached as other religions are in every street,village,town ,Nations of the world and on every planet, Galaxy and Universe.

  10. Beautification of Amritsar & attack on Sikh principals, these leaders should stop playing in hands of Brahmanical soch. Brahman don’t want Indians to know the right path to God, whoever showed the real path, he tried to destroy that religion, that’s what happened with Buddhism in India, now they are attacking sikhs, muslims, christians & dalits. Who is living with Taliban soch? Hindu brothers should study all the religions & find the right way for them. Sikhs always pray the welfare of humanity.

    • In India all religions are flourishing.
      We are also free to propagate our faith but by peaceful means and without demeaning other religions.
      Please go to the world and preach Sikhism.

      • ‘We are also free to propagate our faith but by peaceful means and without demeaning other religions.’ RSS’s Ghar Wapsi re-indoctrination programme slipped your mind? The demolition of Babri Masjid in Ayodhya? It seems to me Sikhism’s religious tolerance message needs to be preached in India, after all there would be no Hinduism in north India were it not for Guru Tegh Bahadur’s supreme sacrifice for Kashmiri Pandits and the creation of the Khalsa to guarantee religious freedom for everyone.

  11. Comparison to Taliban and Afghanistan is completely flawed We are not destroying any ancient art. It is our gurudwara and it is our culture and we have the right to keep it the way our Guru’s instructed us to do. We don’t pray to any Hindu deities and our gurudwaras are free of any kind of sculptures.Also no one is going into Hindu mandirs and removing those. We have every right to keep our religion free of these. It took or Gurus centuries to remove the shackles of Hinduism and established our religion. You keep on talking about a fanatic state. Yes it will be one: Hindu state, because these are the people who are meddling in our religion and not vice versa.Show me one place where Sikhs have gone and destroy any of their scriptures and their deities and on the other hand I can show you several places where these people have gone and destroy our Gurudwars or you have forgotten what happened in 1984. If you want to preach for Hindu religion please do so but not at the expense of Sikh religion just leave us alone.

    • History can never be denied by any one with a rational mind.
      The principles need to have a smooth merger with past and not based on hostility or animosities.

      • ‘History can never be denied by any one with a rational mind’ – yet you believe in Gods, Goddesseses, demons and a flying talking monkey king?! It’s perhaps best you refrain from trying to invoke rationality and pseudo science to try and malign Sikhism: people in glasshouses should not throw stones my friend…

      • This is not history these were inscribed recently it used to floral work until the “renovation” this is clearly not the same thing.

  12. Some Sikhs are behaving like Taliban of Afghanistan who destroyed the Buddha statues.
    History is a fact and should never be denied .
    It will lead Punjab into a theological fanatic state perpetually violent and unstable.

    • What historical fact are you referring to? I have never seen these artworks at the Darbar Sahib in over fifty years of visiting. These idolatorous paintings have been painted and installed recently to replace the floral artworks that were original both to the building and the very ethos of Sikhi which fundamentally rejects notions of deities. I suggest that you go there and have them removed and taken to a mandir where they can be appreciated but they certainly have no legitimacy or place in any Gurdwara. All Sikhs visiting Darbar Sahib and indeed other historic Gurdwaras being run by the untrustworthy SGPC should be taking careful note of the insidious creep going on here of trying to insinuate foreign and antithetical artefacts into Sikhi sanctorums at the same time when Guru Granth Sahib himself is being ousted and torn to shreds from same sanctorums all over Punjab. Sikhs must take videos and photographs of every inch of their Gurdwaras so that we have a separate historical bank of evidence that cannot be corrupted by the infiltrated SGPC as they have again proven they are no longer guardians of Sikh history or theology.

    • WARNING!! Careful everyone. Beware of “Harinder” who is posting here. He is either an agent, or very sympathetic to cause of destroying Sikhism. He is trolling here trying to instigate fighting and hatred. He/she will make comments and replies which do not correlate to the conversation purposely trying be elusive, confusing, and/or skiddish.

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