Taking strong exception to the viewpoint of PS Pasricha, president of the managing committee of Takht Hazoor Sahib, published in a national magazine, Sikh radical body Dal Khalsa and SGPC member Manjit Singh Calcutta today sought apology from him for distorting historical facts. They also criticised the honouring of Pasricha by Sikh high priests in the presence of SGPC chief Avtar Singh Makkar in violation of the maryada at Nanded during Guruta Gaddi Diwas celebrations. Calcutta said the assertion of Pasricha that “Guru Gobind Singh came to Nanded to ask Marathas to help him strengthen his forces in order to fight the Mughal empire, which at that time was under the supremacy of Aurangzeb” was wrong. Aurangzeb died in 1707 AD, long before the tenth Guru visited Nanded, he said, adding that Pasricha distorted facts to appease a Marathi lobby in the government.“The second blasphemy that Pasricha committed was when he said that as per historians, Guruji was attacked by some of his own men and he died owing to severe injuries in his back,” said Calcutta. “But the fact is that Wazid Khan, chieftain of Sirhind, was afraid of Guruji and sent one of his Pathan couriers to assassinate him and he was successful in the nefarious design. He attacked Guruji when he was resting at his camp in Nanded,” he added. Dal Khalsa general secretary Kunwarpal Singh said that the five Takht Jathedars had accorded Pasricha a siropa during the celebrations, violating the moral Sikh code of conduct, as he dyes his beard.
