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Sikhs refuse red carpet for Sonia at Golden Temple

Congress president Sonia Gandhi is welcome to the Golden Temple as a devotee, but the Sikh clergy won't present her with a siropa (robe of honour), Akal Takht Jathedar Bhai Ranjit Singh has said.

''It is the evaluation of an individual's deeds that makes a person eligible for being honoured with a siropa at the Harmandir Sahib (the sanctum sanctorum),'' the jathedar told reporters at the Akal Takht in Amritsar.

The statement comes on the heels of another by Shiromani Gurdwara Prabhandak Committee president Gurcharan Singh Tohra that Sonia Gandhi would receive no formal welcome.

The Congress president is scheduled to visit Amritsar -- and the shrine -- on October 4, which, incidentally, is the founding day of the holy city.

Tohra had stated that Sonia belonged to a family ''which has caused maximum anguish to the Sikhs and her mother-in-law (former prime minister Indira Gandhi) was responsible for Operation Bluestar''.

When pointed out that Sonia could not be held responsible for the 'wrong doings' of her family, Bhai Ranjit Singh's reply was: ''It does not make a difference.''

The Congress leader's visit, he continued, was nothing but "'vote bank politics''.

Presenting a siropa inside the Harmandir Sahib was within the discretion of the chief granthi (priest), who could not be influenced by anyone, he added.

''I would not present a siropa to Mrs Gandhi,'' the jathedar said.

Replying to another query, Bhai Ranjit Singh said it was for the Sikh community to decide whether to forgive Sonia for the ''sins'' of her family.

''The Akal Takht cannot forgive her until she adopts the procedure laid down for seeking atonement from the Takht,'' he said, specifying that even non-Sikhs can approach the Sikh clergy for seeking pardon for their acts.

Meanwhile, Punjab Higher Education Minister Manjit Singh Calcutta has shot off a letter to the district administration asking that Sonia's visit be postponed, as it coincided with the city's founding day. A large number of devotees pay obeisance at the shrine on this day and they were likely to be harassed by security officials if the Congress president went ahead with her visit, he said.

UNI

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