The author of the controversial Nanakshahi calendar says the Sikh almanac has lost its originality and identity with Sikhism as a consequence of “arbitrary” amendments forced by the Shiromani Gurudwara Prabandhak Committee (SGPC) — the community’s apex religious affairs body.
Pal Singh Purewal, a Canada-based computer scientist and religious scholar, who spent over four decades to create a unique and distinctly Sikh calendar in March 2003, told reporters in Amritsar that “the SGPC and the Akali leadership have together killed the spirit of the almanac by introducing elements from the Bikrami calendar.”
Insisting that the amendments had only served to “widen gulfs within the Sikh community,” Mr Purewal called on the Akal Takht Jathedar, or the head priest, Giani Gurbachan Singh to urgently issue an edict revoking the “divisive” changes.
He said, “having a unique calendar is vital for the integrity of Sikh religion and preserving the distinct cultural identity of the Sikhs.”
The Canadian scholar believes the intermixing of elements from the Bikrami calendar could be the work of “hidden forces” to “hoodwink Sikhs.”
Though refusing to identify the forces, Mr Purewal obliquely hinted as a saffron link in saying it was “the political body that has been pulling the strings of the SGPC and the senior most clergy from behind the scenes.”
Mr Purewal’s criticism, particularly as the original creator of the Nanakshahi calendar, is certain to revive raging controversies amongst Sikhs calendar ahead of elections to the SGPC general house which are expected to precede state legislative elections in Punjab.