Chandigarh May 2:
Thanks
to political exigencies, the Akali Dal leadership got the Shiromani
Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) to remove militant leader Sant
Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale’s picture from a memorial, constructed for
those who died during Operation Blue Star, within the precincts of the
Harmandar Sahib (Golden Temple) in Amritsar.
SGPC
officials replaced the clock that carried Bhindranwale’s picture with
an ordinary one and erased his name from the golak (service offerings
case). However, his name is still inscribed on a marble slab on top of
the entrance to the memorial, which was constructed by the Damdami
Taksal, a religious seminary where Bhindranwale was the 14th chief when
the Army stormed the Golden Temple in June 1984 to remove him and his
armed associates.
Though
the SGPC, which manages affairs of historic shrines in Punjab, Haryana,
Himachal Pradesh and Chandigarh, entrusted the Taksal with kar seva of
the memorial last year, differences between the two cropped up after
Bhindranwale’s name and photograph appeared on the memorial gate and
inside the shrine. While the SGPC said it was agreed upon that no name
would be put up on the memorial, the Taksal justifies its action saying
that Bhindranwale led the resistance by those who laid down their lives.
SGPC
chief Avtar Singh Makkar asked a three-member committee headed by the
Jathedar of the Akal Takht, Giani Gurbachan Singh, to resolve the issue.
While the Jathedar is away in Delhi, the present chief of the Taksal,
Baba Harnam Singh Dhuma, refused to be part of parleys until he met the
Jatedhar.
The
Akali leadership, which previously defended construction of the
memorial, has expressed its displeasure over the use of Bhindranwale’s
name. Even its alliance partner, the BJP, made known its apprehension
over the building of the memorial which, it said, could jeopardise
communal harmony in the State.