A visit for ………………?

Visit of Premier  Kathleen Wynne to the holiest of the holy silk shrine The Golden Temple, found an unprecedented mention in the media not only here in Toronto but also in India.

It’s almost customary for leaders from Canada to pay  obeisance at the Golden Temple, and the visit could have remained as a ritual but it was not to be. Visit to Punjab and hence a visit to the Golden Temple by leaders from Canada is seen as creating a political opportunity to garner support of Sikh Community settled in Canada, more than any religious congregation.

As the media got into typical hyperactive mode and came back with the tag that was used to describe her when the Liberal Party won the elections in Ontario-the gay premier. It sparked row this time.

She was accorded a red carpet welcome at the Golden Temple in Amritsar on last Sunday as it is done to any visiting dignitary. One fact that was found to be tantalising was that she was not offered the traditional ‘Siropa’ (robe of honour) by the Shiromani Gurudwara Prabandhak Committee (SGPC). And the reason cited for the same was her views on the same sex marriage. At the Golden Temple, she was received by the senior staff members of Golden Temple, including special staff which usually receives the VVIPs during their visit to the holiest shrine of the Sikhs. Wynne paid obeisance at the shrine and also cooked food at the community kitchen. The Premier was presented a gold plated photo of Golden Temple along with a set of Sikh religious books but was not offered the ‘Siropa’ as per the practice at the sanctum sanctorum. Even before her visit, media in India had reported about the decision of the SGPC not to offer her the Siropa. Wynne, is a supporter of same-sex marriages, a practice opposed by the Akal Takht, the highest temporal seat of the Sikhs.

By not doing so, the SGPC made an attempt not to create any controversy.

The SGPC, which had announced not to present a “siropa” to her, preferred to avoid any further controversy by “recognising” her visit. However, most failed to acknowledge an important part. SGPC officials accompanied her to the information office at the shrine where she was reportedly honoured. When she came out of the information office, she was not sporting a “siropa”. However, a press release by the Canadian High Commission showed her sporting a “siropa” inside the information office. She was also seen holding a gold-plated framed picture of the shrine. However, a very explicit press release titled-“ Premier Kathleen Wynne was honoured to receive the siropa at the Golden Temple‎ in Amritsar on Sunday,” has been made available to media here in Toronto. The release was accompanied with a picture that showed Premier with the saffron Siropa. There in India, the SGPC chief secretary has clarified and told the media that Wynne was presented with a gold-plated picture of the Golden Temple and a set of Sikh religious books, but not a “siropa”.

The mention of having received the Siropa at the information office, goes on to indicate that she was not presented the same at the Sanctum Santorum. By not offering the same at the Sanctum Santorum, the present management at the Golden Temple stood by an edict by Former Akal Takht jathedar Giani Joginder Singh Vedanti who in 2005 had cited that same-sex marriages were against the edifices of the Sikh religion.

Why are we getting controversial reports from the Premier’s office? Siropa or No Siropa, the very fact that Premier Wynne has been accorded the honor should not undermine the importance of her visit to India that the office claims is for increasing bilateral trade and the visit to the Golden Temple should have not been overplayed by the office and the media where the mainstream English dailies from in and around GTA have carried conflicting reports about the visit and the presentation of the Siropa.

The office of the Premier should have done enough home work. Had they done that, they would have been able to extract certain pages from the history. Earlier too, breaking away from tradition, (SGPC) did not bestow a ‘siropa’ on BJP leader L K Advani in the sanctum sanctorum of the Golden Temple in year 2005.  This came in the wake of protests in Punjab in the course of his Jan Chetna Yatra for his comments on Operation Bluestar in his autobiography ‘My Country, My Life’. Advani was given the ‘siropa’ at the SGPC’s information office, located outside the Darbar Sahib.

For many leaders from Canada, the visit to India has to have a visit to Punjab and the visit to Golden Temple has to be there on the Itinerary. Former Prime Minister Stephen Harper, and some newly elected members of the Parliament in the recent past have also done the same, and fulfilling certain political aspirations and objectives can’t be ruled out. However, this time Premier Kathleen Wynne has taken the politics to a  new level, and goes on to prove a point that most of these visit are programmed to suit certain political objectives.