|
Banning The Granth Law and the Absence of Logic
The
Punjab Government has finally imposed a ban on anyone other than the
SGPC printing and selling the birs of Sri Guru Granth Sahib. The ban
has unclear legal standing, muddled idea of jurisdictional domain
and is clearly a thoughtless imagination-challenged way of tackling
what is a sensitive issue.
Guru Granth Sahib is revered by Sikhs worldwide and the Guru's Word
being regarded as the Guru is a unique religious concept. Ever
since the Punjab government and the SGPC have announced abrogation
of all rights to the SGPC, Sikhs are upset over the politics being
done on the issue. We are in the thick of another controversy which
is causing deep anguish amongst all devout Sikhs.
There is no doubt that the Shiromani Akali Dal party is the
controlling authority of the SGPC as the party has a majority in the
general house of the SGPC. However, everyone knows that there are
many other established organizations and institutions which have a
proven track record of their Panthic activities and it would be
certainly wrong and absurd to exclude them from the domain of
printing of publishing of Granth Sahib and other religious texts.
In
all sincerity, the authorities should have applied their mind on
these points, and particularly the Governor should have been
informed of other views on the matter. Along with the SGPC, there
are other religious institutions that have played the historic role
of being custodians of the religious traditions of the Sikhs. There
are many established and representative organizations in various
parts of the Sikh world that are also capable of upholding the
dignity and decorum involved in the printing processes relating to
Granth Sahib and other religious publications. All such
organizations that can take care of upholding and implementing the
Sikh Rehat Maryada and other traditions should have the right to
publish religious texts.
All
printing work of Granth Sahib, anywhere and by any organization
should have been made open to mandatory scrutiny of a high-powered
committee of independent-minded religiously devout scholars and
personalities, drawn from the community worldwide and impartially
nominated jointly by Jathedar of the Akal Takht and the General
house of the SGPC. Only printing and publication by commercial
establishments or individuals should have been banned altogether.
The
Punjab government failed to recognize that the law it has put in
place leaves ample room for mischief beyond the frontiers of Punjab.
It was not only undemocratic but also unwise to pass an ordinance
without discussion on such an important and sensitive issue. This is
a crucial issue which has long-range ramifications. The one thing
that the government as well as the Governor failed to do was to get
on board the concerns of the Sikh Sangat, which went totally
unheard.
Clearly, it was too well known that the haste being shown by the
SGPC and the Akali Dal was only because the ban would bring some
trouble for some people politically opposed to the Badals. The
Sarnas and the DSGMC they have established hegemony on would feel
uncomfortable. In the process, there will be ample scope to deal
with the opponents through the clergy, an old stratagem.
What is more saddening is that the Governor failed to call any other
Sikh, organizations, activists, members of the civil society for a
discussion and went along in a textbook manner to sign on the dotted
line. Rest assured, the issue has only become more convoluted after
this new ban.
14
November, 2007
|
Read Also
