Rahul makes surprise visit to Harmandar Sahib
JAGMOHAN SINGH with AINS, PTI
Monday, 22 September 2008
AMRITSAR: Making a surprise visit here Monday morning, Member Parliament and All India Congress General Secretary Rahul Gandhi arrived at Golden Temple and paid obeisance at Harmandar Sahib here Monday. Tight security cover was thrown for Rahul Gandhi who kept his visit secret from from party workers. His scheduled visit here was earlier cancelled for security reasons. The moment Rahul entered and stepped in the marble periphery in the complex of Golden Temple, a SGPC employee offered him a scarf and he covered his head. SGPC employees also escorted him to the sanctum Sanctorum of the Golden T
emple where he paid obeisance. After paying obeisance Rahul was provided special place to sit in the VIP corridor of the Sanctum Sanctorum and listened Shabad Kirtan (religious hymns) with rapt attention.
After paying obeisance Rahul went to the langar (community Kitchen) of the Golden Temple and took food by sitting among the devotees. Rahul squatted in the building of the Langar hall and spent nearly 20 minutes there.
Rahul folded his hands and declined to talk when media persons attempted for interview. It was probably his first visit in Golden Temple. Some of the members of Electronic media were also pushed away by the personal security guards of Rahul when they attempted to go nearer to Rahul. SGPC task force also provided security in plain cloths to Rahul in the periphery of the Golden Temple.
When Rahul was in the periphery of the Golden Temple press photographers requested him for pose but Rahul again declined and said, “ I am here being a humble devotee and not to give pose for photography. For the next two or three days I am in Punjab for media persons but now at religious place would not prefer to talk”.
Thereafter, Rahul visited to historic Jallianwalla Bagah and paid tribute to the martyrs who were killed in the year of 1919 during the freedom struggle. At Jallianwalla Bagh Rahul visited the historic well which was top up with dead bodies when British Government’s General Dyer killed the freedom fighters with indiscriminate firing. He also showed keen interests to view the bullets marks of 1919 massacre. Rahul also folded his hands before the Amar Joyti (lighting Flame) at Jallainwalla Bagh’s entrance.
Rahul also went to historic Durgiana Temple and paid obeisance where the priest gave him Siropa (robe of honour).
Today Rahul during his visit in Punjab would go with the aim to give a boost to the ongoing recruitment drive in the Youth Congress will head road shows in Patiala, Fatehgarh Sahib and Sangrur districts of Punjab. However, Rahul before initiating his Road Show in Punjab preferred to pay obeisance in the Golden Temple first.
Earlier, yesterday it was announced that Rahul would not come to Amritsar, but it was proved mere rumor, due to security reasons such announcement was disseminated said police intelligence sources.
During his visit in Amritsar, Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee joint secretary Harpal Bhatia and district Rural Congress president Sukjinderraj Singh Majithia were accompanying Rahul.
It may be added here that Sikh community carrying anger for the Gandhi family since Rahul’s Grandmother Indra Gandhi during her tenure as a Prime Minister of India had sent the Indian Army in the Golden Temple in the year of 1984 to flush out the Kharkus allegedly hiding in the premises of the Golden Temple. It was his first visit in Golden Temple may be to attract Sikh votes in the next parliament elections
JAGMOHAN SINGH with AINS, PTI
Monday, 22 September 2008
AMRITSAR: Making a surprise visit here Monday morning, Member Parliament and All India Congress General Secretary Rahul Gandhi arrived at Golden Temple and paid obeisance at Harmandar Sahib here Monday. Tight security cover was thrown for Rahul Gandhi who kept his visit secret from from party workers. His scheduled visit here was earlier cancelled for security reasons. The moment Rahul entered and stepped in the marble periphery in the complex of Golden Temple, a SGPC employee offered him a scarf and he covered his head. SGPC employees also escorted him to the sanctum Sanctorum of the Golden T
emple where he paid obeisance. After paying obeisance Rahul was provided special place to sit in the VIP corridor of the Sanctum Sanctorum and listened Shabad Kirtan (religious hymns) with rapt attention.After paying obeisance Rahul went to the langar (community Kitchen) of the Golden Temple and took food by sitting among the devotees. Rahul squatted in the building of the Langar hall and spent nearly 20 minutes there.
Rahul folded his hands and declined to talk when media persons attempted for interview. It was probably his first visit in Golden Temple. Some of the members of Electronic media were also pushed away by the personal security guards of Rahul when they attempted to go nearer to Rahul. SGPC task force also provided security in plain cloths to Rahul in the periphery of the Golden Temple.
When Rahul was in the periphery of the Golden Temple press photographers requested him for pose but Rahul again declined and said, “ I am here being a humble devotee and not to give pose for photography. For the next two or three days I am in Punjab for media persons but now at religious place would not prefer to talk”.
Thereafter, Rahul visited to historic Jallianwalla Bagah and paid tribute to the martyrs who were killed in the year of 1919 during the freedom struggle. At Jallianwalla Bagh Rahul visited the historic well which was top up with dead bodies when British Government’s General Dyer killed the freedom fighters with indiscriminate firing. He also showed keen interests to view the bullets marks of 1919 massacre. Rahul also folded his hands before the Amar Joyti (lighting Flame) at Jallainwalla Bagh’s entrance.
Rahul also went to historic Durgiana Temple and paid obeisance where the priest gave him Siropa (robe of honour).
Today Rahul during his visit in Punjab would go with the aim to give a boost to the ongoing recruitment drive in the Youth Congress will head road shows in Patiala, Fatehgarh Sahib and Sangrur districts of Punjab. However, Rahul before initiating his Road Show in Punjab preferred to pay obeisance in the Golden Temple first.
Earlier, yesterday it was announced that Rahul would not come to Amritsar, but it was proved mere rumor, due to security reasons such announcement was disseminated said police intelligence sources.
During his visit in Amritsar, Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee joint secretary Harpal Bhatia and district Rural Congress president Sukjinderraj Singh Majithia were accompanying Rahul.
It may be added here that Sikh community carrying anger for the Gandhi family since Rahul’s Grandmother Indra Gandhi during her tenure as a Prime Minister of India had sent the Indian Army in the Golden Temple in the year of 1984 to flush out the Kharkus allegedly hiding in the premises of the Golden Temple. It was his first visit in Golden Temple may be to attract Sikh votes in the next parliament elections
Rahul Gandhi, son of Congress president Sonia Gandhi, arrived at the shrine just before 7 a।m। Clad in a white kurta-payjama and wearing a saffron headscarf, Rahul Gandhi remained inside the sanctum sanctorum for nearly 25 minutes and sat down quietly behind the ‘raagis’ (religious hymn singers) to listen to hymns.
Congress sources said he also went to the community kitchen to partake in ‘langar’। He was not given a ’siropa’ (a religious honour normally given to all visiting VIPs) by the priests at the holy shrine. Though accompanied by his Special Protection Group (SPG) officers in plain clothes, Rahul Gandhi kept the visit strictly private and confidential. Even the local police did not have much idea about the high profile visit.
R.P. Meena, the border range inspector general of police, told IANS: ‘I have no idea about his visit. I don’t know anything about it.’
Rahul Gandhi had a scheduled visit to Punjab lined up from Monday till Wednesday but going to the Golden Temple here was not on his original programme. Congress sources said his visit to the shrine took them by surprise.
‘He was supposed to arrive straight in Chandigarh (Monday morning) and then get on with his engagements and hold road shows in 17 (out of 20) districts in Punjab over the next two days. However, he flew into Amritsar and headed for the Golden Temple,’ a local Congress leader told IANS.
Incidentally, Rahul Gandhi’s visit to the shrine got covered live on a TV channel by default as the morning hymns are telecast live on that channel. Ruling Akali Dal leaders in Punjab have stakes in the Punjabi TV channel.
Rahul Gandhi’s grandmother and former prime minister Indira Gandhi had ordered the June 1984 army assault on the Golden Temple, known as Operation Bluestar, against Sikh youths who had made the temple complex their sanctuary at the height of the Sikh separatist movement.
Indira Gandhi was assassinated by her Sikh bodyguads Oct 31, 1984 in what was widely seen as retribution for the temple assault.
Radical Sikh organisation Dal Khalsa termed Rahul Gandhi’s visit a private affair.
‘We do not want to comment on it. He has not said anything there. It was a completely private visit. He offered no apology for his grandmother’s actions in 1984. We should not assume anything from his visit. It would have been better if he had apologised,’ a Dal Khalsa spokesman told IANS.
Dalmegh Singh, secretary of the Shiromani Gurudwara Prabandhak Committee (SGPC) that manages the Golden Temple and other Sikh shrines in the state, told IANS: ‘I cannot comment on his visit. I don’t know if he came there this morning. The SGPC has nothing to do with his visit.’
Rahul Gandhi later went to the Hindu Durgiana temple here। He also went to the historic Jallianwala Bagh and paid respects to the martyrs of the April 13, 1919 massacre by British forces. Gandhi’s brother-in-law Robert Vadra had also visited the Golden Temple a fortnight ago. Vadra had come on a private visit with two other friends, with whom he has business interests near Jalandhar.
Congress sources said he also went to the community kitchen to partake in ‘langar’। He was not given a ’siropa’ (a religious honour normally given to all visiting VIPs) by the priests at the holy shrine. Though accompanied by his Special Protection Group (SPG) officers in plain clothes, Rahul Gandhi kept the visit strictly private and confidential. Even the local police did not have much idea about the high profile visit.
R.P. Meena, the border range inspector general of police, told IANS: ‘I have no idea about his visit. I don’t know anything about it.’
Rahul Gandhi had a scheduled visit to Punjab lined up from Monday till Wednesday but going to the Golden Temple here was not on his original programme. Congress sources said his visit to the shrine took them by surprise.
‘He was supposed to arrive straight in Chandigarh (Monday morning) and then get on with his engagements and hold road shows in 17 (out of 20) districts in Punjab over the next two days. However, he flew into Amritsar and headed for the Golden Temple,’ a local Congress leader told IANS.
Incidentally, Rahul Gandhi’s visit to the shrine got covered live on a TV channel by default as the morning hymns are telecast live on that channel. Ruling Akali Dal leaders in Punjab have stakes in the Punjabi TV channel.
Rahul Gandhi’s grandmother and former prime minister Indira Gandhi had ordered the June 1984 army assault on the Golden Temple, known as Operation Bluestar, against Sikh youths who had made the temple complex their sanctuary at the height of the Sikh separatist movement.
Indira Gandhi was assassinated by her Sikh bodyguads Oct 31, 1984 in what was widely seen as retribution for the temple assault.
Radical Sikh organisation Dal Khalsa termed Rahul Gandhi’s visit a private affair.
‘We do not want to comment on it. He has not said anything there. It was a completely private visit. He offered no apology for his grandmother’s actions in 1984. We should not assume anything from his visit. It would have been better if he had apologised,’ a Dal Khalsa spokesman told IANS.
Dalmegh Singh, secretary of the Shiromani Gurudwara Prabandhak Committee (SGPC) that manages the Golden Temple and other Sikh shrines in the state, told IANS: ‘I cannot comment on his visit. I don’t know if he came there this morning. The SGPC has nothing to do with his visit.’
Rahul Gandhi later went to the Hindu Durgiana temple here। He also went to the historic Jallianwala Bagh and paid respects to the martyrs of the April 13, 1919 massacre by British forces. Gandhi’s brother-in-law Robert Vadra had also visited the Golden Temple a fortnight ago. Vadra had come on a private visit with two other friends, with whom he has business interests near Jalandhar.
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