The former jathedar or head priest of Sikhism’s highest religious and temporal seat — the Holy Akal Takht — has blamed Indian and American bureaucrats for scuttling President Barack Hussein Obama’s visit to the holiest of Sikh shrines, Amritsar’s historic Golden Temple.
“He (Obama) wanted to come to Harimandir Sahib (Golden Temple) and that is why he sent his people here to work out the modalities. But the officers — both our and theirs — ensured that he stays away from Amritsar,” former Akal Takht Jathedar Bhai Ranjit Singh said. Bhai Ranjit Singh said, “The officials wanted to close down Harimandir Sahib to common devotees for two whole days before and during the presidential visit. They wanted to impose an impossible, curfew-like situation in Amritsar knowing fully well that this could never be permitted.”
According to the former head priest, more than 100,000 devotees from all corners of the world pay obeisance at the sacred shrine every single day and closing the place for the sake of a single individual is both “unprecedented and unacceptable”.