Punjab has 2 dates for Martyrdom Day

The Nanakshahi calendar denotes June 16 as the Martyrdom Day and the Sikh community is likely to go by this new almanac. The row has helped Parkash Singh Badal-led Akali Dal in defining the state’s politics in religious terms, a turf Chief Minister Amarinder Singh finds slippery to tread.

Meanwhile, Khalsa schools and colleges, many of them run by the SGPC, remained open today. SGPC president Kirpal Singh Badungar today said he has written to the Home Ministry, all MPs and Chief Ministers of all states urging them to follow the Nanakshahi calendar as far as Sikh religious days are concerned.

‘‘The Home Ministry has asked us for an English version of the calendar and we will be sending it soon. I am sure the Centre will accept the Nanakshahi calendar,’’ Badungar said. The state government has told the SGPC ‘‘to take up the matter with the Union Government.

Ambiguity was clearly, and sources said deliberately, written into the government statement. ‘‘The government will follow the national calendar and be guided by the Union Home Ministry in the matter of determining the dates of national holidays,’’ the official release said.

The Nanakshahi calendar however does not feature any national holidays, and every single holiday mentioned in it falls within the purview of the state government if it wanted to make any changes.

Experts point out that the SGPC has deliberately kept out the holidays which could have involved the Centre, such as Guru Nanak’s birth anniversary or Diwali festival. This, said political analysts, was done to prevent Amarinder from throwing the gauntlet back at the Akalis to get the BJP-led Centre to affect a change in the national holidays’ list before asking for a change in state government calendar.

‘‘The government will have to buckle on this issue as gurpurab dates fall within the purview of the Akal Takht and SGPC, and it is not for the government to decide when to observe a religious day,’’ said Daljit Singh Cheema, Akali Dal spokesman.

A rare unanimity marks Akali polity on the Nanakshahi calender issue as factions led by Badal, Tohra and Mann, apart from radical organisations like Khalsa Panchayats, Dal Khalsa and others have backed the calender.

Meanwhile, a jatha of Sikh pilgrims is visiting Pakistan to observe the Martyrdom Day of fifth Guru. It will leave on June 9 for the June 16 functions and the clearance given to the delegation by the Union Home Ministry is being interpreted as Centre’s nod to the Nanakshahi calendar.