An Australia-based website has been outed as a carrier of ‘fake news’ by a popular UK-based Sikh preacher at a session in Malaysia. This is almost a cross border affair.

Harinder Singh from the Nirvair Khalsa Jatha (NKJ) lambasted the Gurvichar website which had earlier released a video clip running down the London-based group for some of their views on Sikhi (Sikh faith).

The Gurvichar platform seemed bent on ripping Sikh parcharaks (preachers) apart, said Harinder.

“That’s all that he [Gurvichar] does, he rips people. Just makes clips and any kathawachak (preacher) that comes here, rip him so people stop going to listen,” Harinder said at  Malacca, the historical state of Malaysia, during the annual programme in the memory of granthi-parcharak Baba Sohan Singh, this weekend.

His remarks were captured in a 6-minute video clip entitled ‘Fake News’ uploaded on Saturday (26 May 2018) at the group’s Facebook and Youtube page.

SEE ALSO: This guy makes sense

It is in response to a 9-minute video clip released by Gurvichar on Youtube, believed to be linked to the Gurvichar website run by a Malaysian-born retired engineer Harnaak Singh now residing in Australia.

The volleys from the Gurvichar website were no coincidence. The website has been attacking Sikh organisations, local Sikh preachers and foreign Sikh preachers coming to Malaysia, whom it deemed as having ‘deviant’ Sikh views, for more than a year now.

In this month itself, aside from NJK, the website has also attacked Ranjit Singh Dhadrianwale, another Sikh preacher who has been attracting thousands to his preaching sessions. The connection: Ranjit was invited to a three-day programme in Kampar, Perak, from 11-13 May 2018.

In an article berating Ranjit on the topic of ‘naam simran’, Gurvichar twice calls the preacher ludicrous moorakh. He was also labelled agiani (ignorant) moorakh. Asia Samachar has approached Harnaak to respond on the latest article from Gurvichar.

HARNAAK’S COMING OUT PARTY

His coming out party was at Asia Samachar in September 2016 when the news portal published 5,700-word article entitled ‘The God of Dasam Granth is the God of Sri Guru Granth Sahib’ which he said was co-authored with his wife and retired nurse Ajit Kaur.

The article was a rebuttal on Dasam Granth take by Dr Karminder Singh Dhillon, a Malaysian civil servant who has been active in Sikh preaching locally for more than three decades. That was his first and last article. Harnaak then floated the website Gurvichar from where he has been sharing articles on Sikhi laced with personal attacks.

NAME CALLING

In the latest video clip, Gurvichar attacks both NKJ and Karminder in one breath, calling them moorakh (fools) and nindak (blasphemers). A quick check of the website shows that such adjectives are freely deployed in running down his targets.

This is Gurvichar’s entry at its Facebook on 27 May 2018 (the upper case as per the original entry): “DISTORTING MEANING OF JOONI IN GURBANI  …  NIRVAIR JATHA AND ANOTHER NINDAK. Please watch the video exposing Nirvair Jatha and another NINDAK Karminder, operating covertly HAND IN HAND with OTHER NINDAKS DISTORTING Gurbani. This is MASSIVE EFFORT to DISTORT, DEGRADE and eventually DESTROY the message of Gurbani. WAKE UP SANGAT JI.  STOP THESE MOORAKHS.”

As can be seen, the name calling on Ranjit was not a one-off, but very much part and parcel of the way Gurvichar operates. In the past, they have also lobbed adjectives like maleech (soiled) on their targets.

The genesis of the clash between the likes of Harnaak and others is the way Gurbani is interpreted.

“I’m fine if they interpret Gurbani differently. The problem arises when they spew venom, make claims that are outright lies. And they do this in the name of Sikhi,” one local Sikh parcharak told Asia Samachar.

DON’T MESS WITH THE UK BOYS

The UK jatha was quick to respond to the the latest Gurvichar attack, releasing their own clip via their Facebook page. See here

NKJ is well organised, with Harinder listed as its managing director at its website. They also have directors for media/logistics and program/learning.

In the clip, Harinder asked the Sanggat if they had said anything that ‘broke them away’ from the Sikh scripture Guru Granth Sahib or said something that would attach them to him personally.

He then addressed the topic of junn (rebirth) that was the subject of attack, urging the producers of the clip to avoid taking snippets of a lecture alone without explaining the whole story.

“Listen to it fully,” he said. “One is a physical death and there is a conscious death. The conscious death we know because we are aware (of it). But the physical death, we don’t know what we’re going to be,” he said.

He then touched on the shabad ‘Aakha jivaa visray marjaao’.

“There are people out there that don’t remember God. Are they dead? What is dead? Their t….What I said was: ‘When we forget God – aakha jivaa visray mar jaao – the conscience dies. And when the conscience dies, it goes through the birth cycle,” he said.

SEE HERE FOR THE CLIP

Harinder said that the people responsible for the clips will not succeed as people would eventually understand.  Instead, he urged the audience to read, listen and sing Gurbani themselves.

For those in Malaysia, they are in luck. Harinder and the NKJ jatha will be conducting kirtan and katha (discourse) at Gurdwara Sahib Tatt Khalsa in Kuala Lumpur for five days starting tomorrow (29 May 2019). Their session, from 7.30pm to 9.30pm, runs till 2 June 2019.

[ASIA SAMACHAR is an online newspaper for Sikhs in Southeast Asia and surrounding countries. We have a Facebook page, do give it a LIKE. Follow us on Twitter. Visit our website: www.asiasamachar.com]

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