Objectionable booklets revive SGPC-RSS chill

PATIALA: The cold war between the SGPC and the RSS has been revived again. This time, it is over Sikh gurus being called gaubhakts and Hindus in booklets printed by a Nagpur-based publisher, which has the same address as that of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) headquarters in the Maharashtra city.
The Times of India had reported about the booklets on May 14 and it had triggered outrage among a cross-section of Sikh bodies.

Last week, the SGPC had gone to the extent of writing letters to Union human resource development minister Prakash Javadekar and Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis, seeking action against the publisher, Shri Bharati Prakashan, for hurting the religious sentiments of Sikhs.

SGPC additional secretary D S Bedi said the “cold war” between Sikh bodies and the RSS was active once again. “The RSS, having the support of governments for long, has been distorting Sikh history time and again under a deep-rooted conspiracy. Governments should stop playing this politics of Hindutva with Sikhs. A case should be registered against those who have hurt Sikh sentiments and are the conspirators,” he said.

Before this, in 2004, the supreme temporal seat of the community, the Akal Takht, had asked Sikhs to boycott Rashtriya Sikh Sangat, a body of RSS in Punjab. The edict was issued after the Rashtriya Sikh Sangat published “objectionable” content on Sikh gurus and history in pamphlets to be distributed among people on the 400th anniversary of ‘Sampadna Diwas’ (compilation day) of Guru Granth Sahib.

At that time, a five-member committee was formed by the Akal Takht to look into the objectionable content. The committee raised 20 objections, but Rashtriya Sikh Sangat admitted to 19 of them, following which the boycott edict was issued.

A member of the committee, Sukhpreet Singh Udoke, said there were 360 books which had objectionable content. “These booklets have come as a reminder of the RSS’s propaganda. Sikh bodies need to make more efforts and not just stick to making comments over the distortion of Sikh history,” Udoke said.