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Sikh sentiments ignored as Kalgi
relic row continues
WSN
Bureau
 Amritsar:
* A two-member "research team" brings to Amritsar a "Kalgi" from
London in a chartered plane, and it is received by none other than
the Jathedar of Akal Takht. The Kalgi is claimed to beliong to the
tenth Sikh Master, Guru Gobind Singh, which makes it a rare and
reverred artefact.
* It is placed for
public viewing. and thousands of devotees view it.
* Statements
emanating from London question the authenticity.
* SGPC president
sets up a committee to study the Kalgi. There is talk of chemical
tests etc.
* The two
"researchers", one a businessman, the other a police officer, refuse
to reveal the source.
* The Akal Takht
jathedar vouches for its authenticity.
* The SGPC
president gets it removed from public viewing and ensures it is
deposited at the Toshakhana.
Couldn't the entire
affair be handled in a more sanguine manner?
Who had set up the
two-member team? Are they both dedicated Sikhs and volunteered, or
did they care to receive some skill set for preservation of
artefacts?
Who paid for the
entire effort? Which pathic bodies were involved?
Amid so many
questions, the entire row over whether or not the Kalgi was genuine
has been reduced to a sort of clash between the SGPC president and
the Akal Takht jathedar. There seems to be no concern about what it
could be doing to the sentiments of the Sikh Nation.
Now, Avtar Singh
Makkar has ordered a fact finding panel's emergency meeting even as
the Akal Takht Jathedar has convened a meeting of Sikh clergy on
July 8. Makkar has questioned the hush-hush manner in which the
Kalgi was brought, but the Jathedar has stuck to the stand that it
was genuine and claims he has all the records. Neither's
qualifications in understanding the deeper issues of historicity,
preservation, museuology, antique evaluations etc inspire much
confidence.
Meanwhile, the
Tribune newspaper has reported that Rajya Sabha member Tarlochan
Singh, who had visited England in 1975 in search of the Kalgi worn
by Guru Gobind Singh, has cast doubts on the relic brought on June
30.
8
July 2009
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