AMRITSAR SAHIB—Amid conflict between two factions of Dhadis (balladeers) namely Sri Guru Hargobind Sahib Shiromani Dhadi Sabha and Miri Piri Shiromani Dhadi Sabha over distribution of performance hours, the SGPC appointed Akal Takht Jathedar Giani Gurbachan Singh had imposed ban on holding of ‘diwans’ at Sri Akal Takht Sahib on May 1.
The conflict pertains to equal division of performance hours between two factions which comes out to be unjust as there are 31 jathas in Sri Guru Hargobind Sahib Shiromani Dhadi Sabha while the Miri Piri Shiromani Dhadi Sabha has only 10 jathas.
On May 5, the Dhadi Jathas belonging to Sri Guru Hargobind Sahib Shiromani Dhadi Sabha performed ‘diwan’ at the Heritage Street to lodge protest against Giani Gurbachan Singh’s decision. It is for the first time that the ‘diwan’, which has been traditionally staged at Sri Akal Takht Sahib, was staged outside Sri Harmandir Sahib complex.
Despite surprising a large section of common Sikh devotees with this move, the Dhadi jathas were objected by some Sikhs but the protesting Dhadi Jathas continued to perform under leadership of Baldev Singh MA.
Terming the incident as an extremely unfortunate, Sikh activist Bhai Papalpreet Singh has said that the entire development has once again depicted that the management of apex Sikh body is in wrong hands. Taking on Giani Gurbachan Singh for banning holding of diwans at Sri Akal Takht Sahib, he said that there were lot of other ways to sort out the conflict but Giani Gurbachan Singh has interrupted many centuries old tradition by imposing ban on performance of Dhadi jathas.
It may be recalled here that in September-2017, the former SGPC president Prof. Kirpal Singh Badungar had constituted a two member committee comprising SGPC’s executive member Surjit Singh Bhittewind and SGPC Additional Secretary Sukhdev Singh Bhoora Kohna to give an end to the dispute between two factions of Dhadis (Balladeers).
