A video has surfaced on social media purportedly showing a woman being stopped from entering the Golden Temple because she has the colours of the national flag painted on her face, triggering a row on Monday.
A man who is partly seen in the video is heard asking a Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) employee at the temple complex entrance, 'Is this not India?' The employee replied that 'it's Punjab'.
According to the SGPC, which is the apex religious body of Sikhs, the sewadar asked the woman to follow the decorum (maryada) of the religious place.
The SGPC said it has started an investigation into the matter and alleged that some people are deliberately giving a wrong twist to the incident.
The sewadar reportedly objected to the flag painted on the woman's face.
It is a common practice among many visitors and tourists who go to watch 'Beating the Retreat' ceremony at the Attari-Wagah Joint Check Post every evening to get their faces painted with the colours of the national flag.
SGPC general secretary Gurcharan Singh Grewal said the painting 'was not a national flag as it did not have Ashok Chakra on it'.
"The Sikh community has great respect for the national flag since the majority of the people who sacrificed their lives for the nation during the freedom struggle were Sikhs," he said.
Grewal said Sikhs are patriots and they can make any sacrifice for the sake of the motherland.
Grewal expressed regret over the incident and said, "All people, they may be from anywhere around the world or from any religion, are welcome here. The incident happened when a lady devotee who was stopped by the SGPC sewadar and asked to follow Sikh maryada that led to some arguments between them."
"Due to this this incident, if anybody has felt hurt, I express regret," he said, while adding that violation of Sikh code of conduct cannot be tolerated at any cost.
Referring to the narrative being created against the Sikhs after the incident, he said, "No one should try to malign the image of Sikh community by posting objectionable videos on social media."
The incident happened on Saturday, he said.
SGPC president Harjinder Singh Dhami also condemned the narrative being created against the Sikhs on social media after the video went viral on social media.
The SGPC president said it was not right to make fabricated and baseless comments on social media to tarnish the image of Sikhs and defame the management of the organisation over an incident.
"Sachkhand Sri Harmandar Sahib (Golden Temple) is a universal place for people of all religions and the pilgrims who reach here are respected. But it is sad that anti-Sikh forces are leaving no stone unturned to tarnish the image of Sikh institutions. Spreading false propaganda on any incident is an act of breaking the brotherhood, which should be avoided," Dhami said.
Dhami said that every gurdwara has a code of conduct, which is mandatory for people to follow.
"Sometimes people deliberately act against the maryada, due to which the watchmen and sewadars keep alerting the pilgrims," he said.
