A major controversy erupted after a woman claimed that she was denied entry to the Golden Temple in Amritsar as she was sporting a tattoo of the national Tricolour on her face.
Painting the tattoo of the tricolor on the face is a common practice with the visitors who get it done while going to watch ‘Beating the Retreat’ ceremony held at Attari-Wagah Joint Check Post.
Following the incident, the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) issued an apology if any of its employees misbehaved with any visitor.
However, SGPC general secretary Gursharan Singh Grewal said that the issue was being blown out of proportion to give it a political colour.
"We are apologetic over misbehavior on the part of any of our employees towards the visitors. Taking prompt action, we have replaced him and ordered an enquiry about this incident, yet his bad behaviour should not be stretched to make it a patriotic issue and defaming the Sikh religion,” he said.
He further said that in the recent past, there has been several attempts made to tarnish the image of Sikh religion and challenge its principles under the deep-rooted conspiracies. He said that every religion has its principles and codes that have to be followed.
The 40-second-video shared by the woman has gone viral on social media with the caption as ‘Khalistanis taking over Golden Temple!’
In the widely circulated clip, the woman was seen complaining to a man, who reportedly accompanied her, that a sewadar on the entry passage had intercepted her.
Soon after, an ugly exchange of arguments started after the man questioned the sewadar. “Sardar jee, you stopped this gudia (she) from entering, what was the reason?"
The sewadar said, “She has a flag on her face.”
The man further questioned him “Is it not India? To this, the sewadar said. “This is Punjab, not India.”
The woman too got involved into the argument calling it ‘rubbish’ as if the Golden Temple was not in India.
