HSGMC to promote Nanakshahi calendar

Nitish Sharma

Tribune News Service

Ambala July 10

The Haryana Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (HSGMC) has decided to follow and promote the original Nanakshahi Calendar launched in 2003.

Talking to The Tribune, HSGMC chief Jagdish Singh Jhinda said as many as 10,000 calendars were being printed in Chandigarh. After circulating the calendar in the state, the committee would promote it in other states too under the banner of the Sarv Pradesh Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee, he said.

Jhinda said, “The original calendar based on solar charts must be implemented as it was made after a lot of hard work and brainstorming. It has been amended twice in the last few years which has created confusion over important dates.”

He said prior to the Nanakshahi calendar, the dates for various events kept changing as they were fixed according to the Bikrami calendar which is based on lunar charts.

The amended version, he said, was a mix of the original Nanakshahi calendar and the Bikrami calendar which was the prime reason behind the confusion.

Jhinda alleged the original calendar had the acceptance of both the SGPC and the Akal Takth, but under the pressure of the RSS and in order to reap political gains, the ruling party had abolished the Nanaksahi calendar.

He claimed that several Sikh organisations in India and abroad, including the American Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee and the Pakistan Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee still follow the original Nanakshahi Calendar. The committee will send a calendar and a letter each to the SGPC and the Akal Takht appealing them to implement the original calendar, Jhinda said.