Nearly 14 months since the constitution of a high powered panel to look into the status of rare manuscripts of holy ‘birs’ of Guru Granth Sahib and other literature returned by the Indian army and Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to Sikh Reference Library, the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) has failed to give a report on the fate of this rare repository.
The Indian army took away many of the rare articles from the library situated on the premises of Harmandar Sahib during the attack it launched on the supreme Sikh shrine to demolish the highest Sikh temporal seat, Akal Takht Sahib, in the first week of June 1984. After some years, the army and the CBI had returned some of the articles to the SGPC.
In June 2019, former library director Dr. Anurag Singh asked the SGPC about the whereabouts of the 185 old handwritten saroops of Guru Granth Sahib and items returned by the army and CBI. He alleged that some of the rare holy ‘birs’ of Guru Granth Sahib and Sri Dasam Granth were sold out in foreign countries. The same is the fate of 28 original ‘hukamnamas’ (edicts) of the Gurus, he stated.
As these claims had brought a storm in it, the SGPC president Gobind Singh Longowal set up a five-member committee comprising former SGPC presidents Kirpal Singh Badungar and Bibi Jagir Kaur, former SGPC secretary Dalmegh Singh, Dr. Amar Singh from Guru Nanak Dev University and SGPC chief secretary (now former) Roop Singh to inquire into the status of these ‘birs’ and other items.
This committee conducted a few meetings at Teja Singh Samundari Hall but these meetings have remained inconclusive so far. And the question about the whereabouts of the handwritten ‘birs’ and other rare literature continues to be unanswered, just like the matter of 328 Guru Granth Sahib saroops which went missing from Guru Granth Sahib Bhawan at Gurdwara Ramsar Sahib, where these saroops are printed by the apex gurdwara body.
Both matters are similar as the SGPC could not maintain a related record. Now, it has nothing to show about where the saroops or other items are. Now, the entire community is demanding the truth be brought to the fore at the earliest as this is a matter of religious sentiments.
Notably, the committee formed on the Sikh Reference Library did not conduct any meeting for the last several months. This fact demonstrates the insincerity of the gurdwara body towards this sensitive issue. In the coming days, this issue may become another headache for the SGPC.
To defend itself, the SGPC cited that 307 rare handwritten ‘birs’ of Guru Granth Sahib and 11,107 rare books and manuscripts are still missing from the library and the gurdwara body has not received them yet. However, it could not produce any record of the items that have been returned.
Dr. Anurag Singh who worked from November 4, 2008, to January 4, 2009, has been working on the rare and old manuscripts of the Sikh scriptures and had drawn the attention of the community toward this side.
Ludhiana-based Satinder Singh, an aide of Dr. Anurag Singh, also filed a petition in Punjab and Haryana High Court seeking directions to the SGPC to disclose the whereabouts of the rare ‘birs’ and articles. In November, last year, the High School sent the SGPC notice in this regard.
Apart from the rare ‘birs’ of Guru Granth Sahib, Dasam Granth and original hukamnamas, janam sakhis, rare paintings, documents and literature are also preserved in it. The Indian army also set this library on fire during the attack causing irreparable loss to the Sikhs. Besides gurmukhi, scriptures in Persian, Arabia, and Tibetan were also kept in the library before 1984, it is told.
