Procession held on eve of martyrdom day

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, November 22

The SGPC today conducted a grand nagar kirtan on the eve of martyrdom day of Guru Teg Bahadur.

Led by panj piyaras, the procession comprising devotees from various places, schoolchildren and gatka organisations, started from Akal Takht in the presence of Jathedar Giani Gurbachan Singh. Passing through Chowk Pragdas, Chowk Baba Sahib, Baba Deep Singh Colony, Chowk Jai Singh, Chowk Lachhmansar, Dal Mandi, Chowk Chhatti Khui, Bazar Paparan, Guru Bazaar before culminating at Gurdwara Sahib Guru ke Mahal.

As per the original Nanakshahi calendar, the day has been fixed for November 24 this year, whereas the SGPC that follows Bikrami calendar will observe it on November 23.

On the other hand, the Dal Khalsa has urged the Sikh diaspora to observe the martyrdom day of Guru Teg Bahadur as the ‘Human Rights and Religious Freedom’ day as the Guru attained martyrdom to protect the oppressed class irrespective of their religion and caste.

The organisation reaffirmed that Guru Teg Bahadur was in fact “dharam di chadar” (a cover for religion), and not “Hind-di-chadar” (a cover for Hindus) as was being propagated.

“Guru Teg Bahadur undoubtedly was the first martyr for human rights. His martyrdom was unparalleled in world history as never before had somebody laid down his life to defend the right of followers of another faith to practise their faith,” said Kanwar Pal Singh, Paramjit Singh and Ranbir Singh, office-bearers of the pro-freedom Sikh group.

“The government should correct all errors and misgivings about the Sikh Gurus from the books published by the NCERT,” they demanded, adding that the Sikh thinkers, intellectuals and historians should re-write the Sikh history, freeing it from outside influences and biases.