Talwandi Sabo, April 13
Prof Kirpal Singh Badungar, President of the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee, will make a formal announcement for the implementation of Nanakshahi calendar after issuing it from Takht Damdama Sahib on Baisakhi tomorrow.
Prof Badungar has been keeping the format of the calendar secret, as its proposed implementation has already kicked up a debate in the Sikh religious and political circles. So far, the Bikrami calendar, named after Maharaja Bikramajit, was being used for determining important days.
According to the information gathered by the TNS, the SGPC chief would announce the implementation even though no consensus has been reached over the issue among the Sikh masses. Giani Joginder Singh Vedanti, Jathedar of Akal Takht at a seminar on Nanakshahi calendar on March 8 at Amritsar, had said he would take all Panthic organisations and Sikh scholars into confidence before implementing the calendar.
In a General House of the SGPC when Mr Gurcharan Singh Tohra was its President, a resolution was passed to implement Nanakshahi calendar. After Mr Tohra was removed from the post, Bibi Jagir Kaur, next President of the SGPC, had announced its implementation.
However, the then Jathedar of Akal Takht, Giani Puran Singh, had issued a directive and stopped its implementation. Bibi Jagir Kaur, defying the directive of the Jathedar, had, then, announced the date of Gurpurb of Guru Gobind Singh as per Nanakshahi calendar.
Taking a serious note of it, Giani Puran Singh had issued a ‘hukumnama’ (edict) from Guna in Madhya Pardesh and excommunicated Bibi Jagir Kaur. Later, pro Bibi Jagir Kaur executive of the SGPC had removed Giani Puran Singh from his post.
