The Indian Panorama

Tag: DSGMC

  • ‘Where is Pannun?’; Manjit GK blasts govt, Sikh diaspora for failure to stand with turban-stripped deportees

    ‘Where is Pannun?’; Manjit GK blasts govt, Sikh diaspora for failure to stand with turban-stripped deportees

    NEW DELHI/NEW YORK (TIP): Delhi-based Sikh leader Manjit Singh GK has called on Sikh leaders and influencers in Canada, the UK, and the US to break their silence over the humiliation of Sikh deportees in the United States, who were forcibly stripped of their turbans before being boarded onto a military plane.

    GK, a veteran Akali, questioned the selective activism of Sikh political figures in the diaspora, reminding them that Sikh rights are not bound by geography. “Where are the Sikh MPs, ministers, and activists who never hesitate to speak on Sikh issues in India? Does their voice falter when Sikh identity is trampled in America?” GK asked.

    GK, who has in the past headed the Delhi Sikh Gurudwara Management Committee (DSGMC), questioned, “Where is Gurpatwant Pannun? Has he gone silent because this indignity happened under Trump’s administration — the same Trump whose inauguration he attended?”

    Drawing a parallel with the collective Sikh response to France’s turban ban, GK reminded the community that the fight for adorning the turban has always been a global fight.

    “When France banned the turban in schools and official documents, Sikhs stood together, across borders, without bothering for visas before raising their voice. Why the hesitation now? Why the silence when Sikh deportees were dehumanized on American soil?” he said. GK also criticized the Indian government for failing to send its own aircraft to bring back the deportees, calling it a national embarrassment.

    But he was equally critical of Sikh-American activists and the dozen-plus Sikh MPs in Canada and 11 in the UK, questioning why not one of them has spoken out against this injustice.

    “If Sikh leaders in the West remain mute when our own people are shamed, they set a dangerous precedent — that Sikh identity can be violated without consequence. The turban is not just cloth; it is our identity. And if we fail to defend it now, we betray our own principles,” GK warned. He urged diaspora Sikhs to demand accountability, emphasizing that their silence at this moment would be deafening.
    (Source: TNS)

  • PM to launch Rs 400 commemorative coin, postal stamp to mark 400th birth anniversary of Sri Guru Tegh Bahadur on April 21

    PM to launch Rs 400 commemorative coin, postal stamp to mark 400th birth anniversary of Sri Guru Tegh Bahadur on April 21

    NEW DELHI/NEW YORK (TIP): The Centre in coordination with the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (DSGMC) will be holding a two-day commemoration event at Red Fort in New Delhi on April 20 and 21, to celebrate the 400th Parkash Purb (birth anniversary) of Sri Guru Tegh Bahadur Ji, the ninth Sikh guru. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and home minister Amit Shah would be attending these events. PM Modi will release a commemorative coin and a postage stamp dedicated to the birth centenary of the ninth Guru on April 21.

    As per the sources privy to the development, the commemorative coin will be of Rs 400 denomination, which will have the picture of Guru Ke Mahal, Amritsar, the birthplace of the ninth Guru on its one side and the writings dedicated to the birth centenary. The coin will also have a line from the writings of Kavi (poet) Senapati, a contemporary poet to the tenth Sikh Guru,

    ‘Pragat Bhae Gur Teg Bahadur Sagal Srisht Pai Dhapi Chadar

    ‘ (Guru Teg Bahadur came forward and saved the entire world from atrocities).

    As per the letter written by Atul Kumar Mishra, deputy secretary (Special Cell/C&M) of the Union ministry of culture to DSGMC President Harmeet Singh Kalka on Monday, April 4, HM Amit Shah will inaugurate the event on April 20, followed by a light and sound show, participation in Shabad Kirtan to be organized by children followed by his address. The letter reads that it has been decided to organize two day closing ceremony.

    Similarly, PM Modi will inaugurate the event on April 21, followed by the release of commemorative coin and postage stamp, 400 raagis will participate in Shabad Kirtan and PM will also address the gathering.

    The ministry of culture hoped for cooperation from DSGMC President Kalka in organizing the commemoration.

    However, it is yet unclear that whether the GOI would be officially inviting the SGPC President or not.

    Sources told that the GOI for deciding and approving the design and details of commemorative coin of Rs 400 with regards to marking this commemoration, roped in the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC), Amritsar, and the same would be released as per the approval given by the Sikh body (SGPC).

    Following a meeting of the SGPC’s Sikh Itihas Research Board on January 23, 2021, the then SGPC President Bibi Jagir Kaur had demanded from the GOI to issue a commemorative coin and postage stamp dedicated to the 400th birth anniversary of the ninth Guru.

    SGPC had celebrated the 400th Parkash Purb on the ninth Guru on May 1, 2021.

    Guru Teg Bahadur Ji was born in 1621 at Guru Ke Mahal, Amritsar and he was executed on the orders of Mughal emperor Aurangzeb at Delhi’s Chandni Chowk in 1675, and presently, historical Gurdwara Sis Ganj Sahib is situated in Delhi at the same spot where the Guru was martyred.