Woman with her cheek painted in tricolour 'stopped' from entering Golden Temple, controversy erupts

A video has surfaced on social media purportedly showing a woman being stopped from entering the Golden Temple because she has the colours of the national flag painted on her face, triggering a row on Monday.

A man who is partly seen in the video is heard asking an SGPC employee at the temple complex entrance, "Is this not India?" The employee replied that "it's Punjab".

According to the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC), the sewadar asked the woman to follow the decorum (maryada) of the religious place.

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The SGPC said it has started an investigation into the matter and alleged that some people are deliberately giving a wrong twist to the incident.

SGPC general secretary Gurcharan Singh Grewal said the painting "was not a national flag as it did not have Ashok Chakra on it".

"The Sikh community has great respect for the national flag since the majority of the people who sacrificed their lives for the nation during the freedom struggle were Sikhs," he said.

Grewal said Sikhs are patriots and they can make any sacrifice for the sake of the motherland.

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."

The incident is believed to have happened on Saturday.

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.

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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.