AMRITSAR: Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) has censured Uttar Pradesh (UP) chief minister Yogi Adityanath for allegedly stating "Sanatan Dharma" as the national religion of India and warned him to not try to impress upon the people of other religions about the superiority of Sanatan Dharam.
"The ideology which the Yogi is trying to propagate is no different from the one that caused the partition of the subcontinent in 1947," opined Delhi state SAD chief Paramjit Singh Sarna on Saturdy.
Reportedly, Adityanath in a statement had said: "Sanatan Dharma is the national religion of India" which every citizen must respect. He had also stated that if the religious places were destroyed or desecrated in the past, then a campaign to restore them should be run on the lines of the Ram Temple in Ayodhya.
Sarna said, let Yogi run any campaign of the religion he profess but he shouldn’t intervene in the internal affairs of any other religion.
Stating that Yogi was an elected lawmaker and he was oath-bound to treat every citizen and religion equally and respect every custom and tradition, he said the UP chief minister had on several occasions carried Sri Guru Granth Sahib on his head, "so, we expect that Yogi will also be aware of what’s written in Sri Guru Granth Sahib"
Sarna further said "Guru Arjan Sahib, the fifth Nanak, compiled writings of various thinkers, scholars, mystics, and spiritual icons from disparate backgrounds as an ultimate tribute to the diverse creation of the Creator".
"As a Sikh, I would not accept any definition about who Sikhs are because that’s something already defined by our Guru’s," said Sarna.
"From Baba Farid of Pak Pattan, Bengali poet Jaidev, Kabir, Dhanna, Namdev, and so forth, the writings in Sri Guru Granth Sahib span 500 years of the most enduring and the most egalitarian thoughts. We expect Yogi to respect all those traditions from the heart when he has carried Sri Guru Granth Sahib on his head."
