The Shiromani Gurdwara Prabandak Committee (SGPC) doubts the authenticity of the kalgi (plume) believed to have been worn by Guru Gobind Singh. A team of researchers — Harprit Singh Sidhu, a Punjab cadre IPS officer, and Kamaljit Singh Boparai — brought the plume from England recently. Akal Takht head priest Giani Gurbachan Singh received the relic at the Amritsar airport without taking into confidence the SGPC, which would be its custodian.
Now, SGPC president Avtar Singh favours chemical testing to confirm it, indeed, belongs to Guru Gobind Singh’s era. Avtar has constituted a five-member committee to confirm the plume’s authenticity. The SGPC president said the way the plume was brought by charted plane from New Delhi, without the SGPC being informed, evoked suspicion. Besides, Sidhu and Boparai are not saying who they got the plume from.
“It involves the sentiments of crores of people and nobody should be allowed to hurt them,” he said. “Why was the charted plane hired from New Delhi?” asked the SGPC president. The SGPC received a number of complaints in this regard. Former jathedar Akal Takht Bhai Ranjit Singh, too, questioned its authenticity.
But Sidhu and Boparai have opposed any chemical testing on the plume. The researchers’ report says their conscience did not permit them to take samples or dissect/cut material from the plume for tests to ascertain age. “As the research team is not willing to venture into this area, it is open to Sri Akal Takht Sahib to pursue this option.” The team pointed out that according to experts there was no chemical test that could be conducted on the plume.
The team says it took them many years of work in India and abroad to gain possession of the plume. But they are not saying how they got the relic. “Owing to reasons of confidentiality, the research team regrets that the identity of the collector(s) from whom the possession of the plume was obtained, cannot be disclosed”. The researchers said the issue was to examine whether the plume was indeed original.
