A woman was allegedly denied entry at the Golden Temple in Punjab's Amritsar due to a tricolour painted on her face. A video of the incident has been making rounds on social media which shows a guard at the holy shrine turning away the woman.
In the video, the woman can be seen approaching the shrine when the guard asks her to clean the flag tattoo from her face and then enter the shrine.
To this the lady questions, "Is this not India?" The guard answers, "This is not India, this is Punjab." Following this a spat broke out between the visitors and the clip ends with the guard trying to grab the woman's phone.
It is a common practice among many visitors and tourists who go to watch the 'Beating the Retreat' ceremony at the Attari-Wagah Joint Check Post every evening to get their faces painted with the colours of the national flag.
Temple authorities apologise
The Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC), which handles the administration of the Golden Temple, issued a clarification after the video went viral. SGPC general secretary Gurcharan Singh Grewal said the painting 'was not a national flag as it did not have Ashok Chakra on it'.
"This is a Sikh shrine. Every religious place has its own decorum...We welcome everyone...We apologise if an official misbehaved...The flag on her face was not our national flag as it didn't have Ashoka Chakra. It could have been a political flag," Gurcharan Singh Grewal, SGPC General Secretary said on the viral video.
"Due to this this incident, if anybody has felt hurt, I express regret," he said, while adding that violation of Sikh code of conduct cannot be tolerated at any cost. Referring to the narrative being created against the Sikhs after the incident, he said, "No one should try to malign the image of Sikh community by posting objectionable videos on social media."
SGPC president Harjinder Singh Dhami also condemned the narrative being created against the Sikhs on social media after the video went viral on social media. The SGPC president said it was not right to make fabricated and baseless comments on social media to tarnish the image of Sikhs and defame the management of the organisation over an incident.
"Sachkhand Sri Harmandar Sahib (Golden Temple) is a universal place for people of all religions and the pilgrims who reach here are respected. But it is sad that anti-Sikh forces are leaving no stone unturned to tarnish the image of Sikh institutions. Spreading false propaganda on any incident is an act of breaking the brotherhood, which should be avoided," Dhami said.
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