Woman alleges, She was not allowed into Golden Temple over tricolour on face.

Amritsar: ‘Not allowed into Golden Temple over tricolour on face’, alleges woman.

All Sikhs are not Khalistanis, We are not to hurt anybody, All are welcome in Sri Harmandar Sahib (Golden Temple), We apologize if any wrong done by our employee: SGPC.

 Yudhvir Rana | | TNN | Amritsar | April 18, 2023:: A video of a woman claiming to have been denied entry into the Golden Temple, allegedly for having colours of the national flag on her face, has evoked sharp reactions on social media. In the video, which went viral on Monday, the woman and a man are heard arguing with a sewadar, who apparently did not allow her to enter the Golden Temple. “This is Punjab, not India,” the sewadar is heard saying.

Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) president Harjinder Singh Dhami issued a release in the evening, saying the sewadar asked the woman to follow the maryada (decorum) of the religious place. “Every gurdwara, including Sri Harmandar Sahib, has a set maryada which is mandatory for the sangat to follow,” he said and alleged that some people were deliberately giving a wrong twist to the incident.

He appealed to the sangat (community) to take care of maryada while visiting Sikh shrines so that such incidents are avoided. Spreading false propaganda on any incident was an act of breaking the brotherhood and should be avoided, he added. The SGPC said it has started an investigation into the matter.

SGPC general secretary Gurcharan Singh Grewal said Sikhs are patriots. Majority of the people who sacrificed their lives for the nation during the freedom struggle were Sikhs, he said.

Condemning the narrative being created against the Sikhs on social media after the video went viral, he did not rule out the possibility of a machination to defame Sikh.

Referring to a tweet saying: “Khalistanis taking over Golden Temple. Woman denied entry to Golden Temple because she had an India flag painted on her face! The man who denied her entry into Golden Temple said this is Punjab, not India”, he said it was wrong to categorize all Sikhs as Khalistanis. “If feelings of anyone are hurt due to the behaviour of an employee, then I apologise for the same,” he added.

According to agency reports, the incident happened on Saturday. The woman had come to the Golden Temple after witnessing the flag-lowering ceremony at Attari and had painted tricolour on her cheek.

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Courtesy: TOI.