Kathleen Wynne visits Golden Temple, SGPC honours her

Wynne is scheduled to visit the temple on Sunday.

After paying obeisance she was escorted to Information office of the Golden Temple by the senior functionaries of the SGPC where she presented Gold plated photo of Golden Temple along with set of Sikh religious books by the chief Secretary of SGPC Mr. Harcharan Singh.

Wynne’s Amritsar visit is part of her larger 10-day trade mission to India, where she is visiting (just wondering about tense here) several major cities, accompanied by a contingent including nine MPPs and 50 business leaders.

Wynne is Canada’s first openly gay premier and Ontario’s first female premier.

The SGPC had Saturday announced that the premier would not be gifted a siropa due to her support for the same-sex marriage – that Akal Takht is opposed to.

President and CEO of DataWind Inc Suneet Singh Tuli, while thanking the Premier, said, “I and the entire team of DataWind are humbled by her presence as she has taken her time out to visit our Amritsar facility”.

Then Canadian prime minister Stephen Harper visited the Golden Temple complex in November 2009 and Takht Keshgarh Sahib, birthplace of the “Khalsa Panth” and the second most important Sikh shrine after the Golden Temple. “To pay obeisance in the Golden Temple is everyone’s right, but to give siropa to dignitaries, Sikh tenets need to be followed carefully”.

Akal Takht jathedar Giani Joginder Singh Vedanti had issued an edict in 2005 against such marriages and strongly condemned the Canadian government’s move to hold legitimate same-sex marriages.

There were protests when a sizeable section of Sikhs raised voice against her move to introduce sex education curriculum among school students.

Akal Takht Jathedar Giani Gurbachan Singh, who had directed gurdwaras worldwide not to solemnize same-sex marriages, said: “The SGPC’s decision is correct”.

Another sore point with Sikhs is that in 2014, Wynne refused to allow turbaned Sikhs to ride a motorcycle without a helmet. Pictures released by an associate of Kathleen showed her with a siropa.

The Hindustan Times in another report said that former Akali minister Manjit Singh Calcutta disagreed with Makkar, saying that not offering the “siropa” to Wynne would be setting a wrong precedent.