Infighting in SGPC shifts to cyberspace now

CHANDIGARH, JULY 2: Nothing official about it. But like two Jathedars of the Akal Takht and numerous Akali Dals, we now have two websites...

CHANDIGARH, JULY 2: Nothing official about it. But like two Jathedars of the Akal Takht and numerous Akali Dals, we now have two websites of the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee SGPC 8212; one claiming to be 8220;the website8221; and the other, 8220;only official website8221;. The infighting among the Akali factions has now reached cyberspace.

The first site of the SGPC was constructed during the tenure of the former SGPC chief, Gurcharan Singh Tohra. Located at sgpc.org, the first page says 8220;Welcome to the website of SGPC.8221; But yesterday, the new president Bibi Jagir Kaur inaugurated another site located at sridarbarsahibasr.org which now says that it is the 8220;only8221; official website of the SGPC. The first site claims that all contents of this website are authorised by the SGPC. The second claims to be the only official website, suggesting that perhaps the previous one is non-official.

Since the site inaugurated by Tohra had already acquired an address in cyberspace, ie., at sgpc.org, the new sitehad to look for a new address. It is learnt that some devout person had already booked an address at darbarsahib.org, hence even this address was not available.

Both websites have a golden coloured khanda with a bluish globe embedded in it. Both also have pictures of the Golden Temple, although the one at sgpc.org is heavier and also shows the reflection of the shrine in the sarovar holy pond. Both have a section for the daily hukumnama. A calendar in one section of the site suggests that an archive of hukumnamas is being created, so that a surfer has to click on any date and read the vak of that particular day. But attempts to log on did not yield the hukumnama at sgpc.org. On the other hand sridarbarsahibasr.org did have the hukumnama, albeit that of June 30.

The new site has a section on gurdwaras at Anandpur Sahib. The company responsible for hosting the site, Amritsar-based Infonet Services, proudly mentions that the site was inaugurated by BibiJagir Kaur, president of SGPC. Although the much-touted individual e-mail addresses of SGPC members are missing, separate e-mail addresses for suggestions, comments and information are present.

The site sgpc.org was hosted by sysonline.com, a US-based company. This site is more exhaustive, carrying a list of all SGPC members, all Singh Gurdwaras in the country, and details about publications of SGPC, history books and the rehit maryada code of conduct, apart from extracts from the holy scriptures. Interestingly, the list of members includes the names of both the former and the current president, and no claim about anyone being the president.