Amritsar: Devotees visiting the Golden Temple under the state government’s Mukhyamantri Teerth Yatra Yojana were asked to remove the identity cards carrying photos of Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, an SGPC official said.
On Saturday, the SGPC Task Force asked devotees in the marbled periphery of the holy shrine to remove the identity card carrying Mann’s picture before entering the sanctum sanctorum.
Last month, Chief Minister Mann was declared ‘Guru Dokhi’ (anti-Guru) and ‘Khalsa Panth virodhi’ (anti-Khalsa Panth) by the Sikh clergy over an objectionable video. Akal Takht, the supreme temporal seat of the Sikhs, declared Mann ‘Guru Dokhi’ and ‘Khalsa Panth virodhi’ over the video.
Mann, however, claimed it was not him in the video, and the person seen in the clip was wearing a mask resembling his face.
An SGPC official said that wearing such ID cards in the gurdwara has no meaning, since no publicity is allowed there.
A video of several pilgrims being asked by the SGPC Task Force to remove the ID cards also went viral on social media.
The Mukhyamantri Teerth Yatra scheme allows Punjab domiciles above 50 years to visit the religious places free of cost.
Earlier, a political row had erupted over an alleged objectionable video, and Akal Takht issued an edict against CM Mann on June 15. The edict came after Akal Takht claimed that the video — purportedly showing a man resembling CM Mann — was found to be “authentic” by two forensic laboratories.
The matter stems from Akal Takht summoning CM Mann in January this year for allegedly making comments on ‘Guru ki Golak’ (gurdwara donation box) and indulging in “objectionable activities” with the pictures of Sikh Gurus and slain militant Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale in the purported video clip.
(Disclaimer: This report has been published as part of the auto-generated syndicate wire feed. Apart from the headline, no editing has been done in the copy by ABP Live.)
