Dera leader apologises to Sikh community

[Harbhajan]

http://www.ndtv.com/convergence/ndtv/story...WEN20070012509#

Dera leader apologises to Sikh community

Randeep Singh Nandal, Vikram Choudhary, Sunetra Ch

Friday, May 18, 2007 (Sirsa, Sangrur, Patiala)

After a five-day standoff between Sikhs and Dera Sacha Sauda followers in Punjab Dera leader Baba Gurmeet Singh Ram Rahim has apologised to the Sikh community for hurting their sentiments.

In a tape released by the Dera Sacha Sauda, Baba Gurmeet said he did not intend to show disrespect to Guru Gobind Singh.

''I had no intention of imitating or being disrespectful to Guru Gobind Singh. I had absolutely no intention of equating myself with Guru Gobind Singh. This is a misunderstanding that is causing a lot of needless harm and it should be cleared,'' he said.

There were violent clashes between Sikhs and Dera Sacha Sauda followers after a picture of Dera Sacha Sauda leader Baba Gurmeet Singh Ram Rahim showing him dressed in the attire of Guru Gobind Singh and baptising people appeared in most newspapers on Sunday.

There's been tension between the Akal Takth and the Dera Sacha Sauda ever since Dera leaders threw their weight behind the Congress in the recent assembly elections, accusing the Akalis of victimising their leaders.

Thousands of Dera followers and Sikhs faced off over the week with clashes in many place. The situation turned increasingly political with the BJP, the coalition partner in Punjab, criticising the Akalis' handling of the situation.

Attacks on Dera followers

Earlier, the Akal Takth had said there would be no question of accepting an apology from Dera Sacha Sauda.

In Sirsa, Haryana, where the Dera is headquartered, about 30,000 men and women gathered to protest the attacks on them by the Sikhs.

Meanwhile in Sangrur on Friday thousands gathered to cremate a Sikh protester who was killed in clashes with police and Dera followers in Sonam on Thursday night.

Sikhs in Sonam burned two homes of Dera followers in retaliation on Friday.

But now, with the Dera leader apologising, there is hope that tempers in Punjab will finally simmer down.

[vinegar]

great

so he showed himself to be the bigger person in the situation

wth is it with Sikhs behaving like hooligans whenever they get upset

[Guest]

If his apology is genuine, he should contact sri akaal takth jathedar and present himself infront of sri akaal takth and apologize infront of 5 takth jathedars. Jathedars should forgive him because sikh faith is not a sharia faith and give him tanakhiya and after apology he should be treated as other brothers.

[guv]

If his apology is genuine, he should contact sri akaal takth jathedar and present himself infront of sri akaal takth and apologize infront of 5 takth jathedars. Jathedars should forgive him because sikh faith is not a sharia faith and give him tanakhiya and after apology he should be treated as other brothers.

He's not a Sikh.

[Malwe Da Sher]

HEs not actually apologised of of iy - all hes said is that he didnt mean to offend anyone.

[Guest]

He's not a Sikh.

point taken, however in his dera they have no problem using amrit rituals/ gurbani/mantars which are very much khalsa traditions to intiate his own followers. He is an off-shoot sikh, thats why he should present himself in Sri Akaal Takth to the jathedars of takth sahibans and apologize. Don't worry sri takth sahiban jathedars will give him punishments - do seva of sangat- joriyan di seva or langar di seva. I am sure tankhiya given he can related them in his dera, most of the stuff they do in dera is hijacked from the gurdwara's anyway.

[Dancing Warrior]

It’s a supply and demand business, so much of it goes on India, Indians, religions cults are a hub for it. The people want it, he provides it. This guys just a dip stick the whole incident has just been “bollywood directed†by the Indian media and its so blatantly obvious! They even provide mood music! LOL Mann Singhs been doing this for years he even had a picture of himself in Guru jis dastar and kalgi like the Sobha Singh painting. I didn’t see certain “panthic groups†going bananas back then. This whole regurgitated sorry mess is a direct product of the very sorry state of certain corrupt institutions that surround us and represent us. I cringe at times when I see and hear the response from some of our Sikh representatives have expressed. As for the dera guy he’s just nonsense and an idiot. What do you do when you see dog mess on the side walk? Walk through it or around it?

[Xylitol]

i'm pretty sure he did intend to imitate. the ad seems clear enough. by waiting 5 days while his followers attacked and clashed with sikhs and police, i don't believe he showed himself to be the bigger person.

he should have just made a clear statement from the start. i believe he wanted to see how far he could go to test the sikh community, and now that he realised things would go badly for him if he continued down this path, he is trying to reverse course while saving face as much as possible.

[gsingh00]

point taken, however in his dera they have no problem using amrit rituals/ gurbani/mantars which are very much khalsa traditions to intiate his own followers. He is an off-shoot sikh, thats why he should present himself in Sri Akaal Takth to the jathedars of takth sahibans and apologize. Don't worry sri takth sahiban jathedars will give him punishments - do seva of sangat- joriyan di seva or langar di seva. I am sure tankhiya given he can related them in his dera, most of the stuff they do in dera is hijacked from the gurdwara's anyway.

if he's not a sikh, he's not going to get summoned to akaal takhat. Same thing happened with Narinder Grewal...he wasnt a sikh so Panj Pyarey said they arent giving him any tankhiya because he isn't a Sikh. A lot of groups copy parts of Sikhi (DSS, Grewal's crew, naamdharis, radhaswamis, etc.) but that doesn't make them Sikh.

[Guest]

oh i see i was saying that because jathedar vedanti sahiban demanded him to come to sri akaal takth and apologize. i saw that in a video.

[chhinderpalsingh]

It seems that his main advisors (Aditya etc) are advising him not to apologize because his image of Purn Guru (complete Guru) will be tarnished with the message that he done a mistake due to which he had to apologise and because he is purn guru (poron guru actually) he cannot make mistake. So, there are very rare chances of doing so heartily or directly by him.

[khalsa123]

waheguru ji kha khalsa

waheguru ji ki fateh.

Has any one watched this film?

I was given a film in the southall area a little while ago. It was the most powerfullest sikh film that i have ever seen.The film was called sawa lakh se ek ladaun . I did not watch this film once nor twice but 4 times the film is constructed in such a way that by watching the film it leaves you shocked at what is really going on in the sikh world.you cant but just help to watch it again and again. The film is availible in punjabi and english.The level of effort which has been poured into this film is amazing.there is also a 1 hour and half speach in the programme which is something quite diffrent to what i have evere heard before it is stromg to the point and true. drugs, superstition, punjab , false saints, rss ,rhada swami, ashootosh have been highlighted in this film. The film is about 5 hours long the (english) 1 dvd. Punjabi version has 2 dvds which has xtra added scenes at the end. the english version does not come with xtra addes scenes so you have to watch the punjabi version to see the xtra footage. I strongly advise people to watch the punjabi version as well as it has some scenes which definatly need to be viewed. It is about time some 1 got up and done something positive. The organisation also does not ask for any money donation this is the 1st time i have ever seen this at a scale of this size. You can see that this film has been made from the heart. You can obtain a copy by visiting www.ukgurdwarasurveyteam.com

waheguru ji kha khalsa

waheguru ji ki fateh.