Chandigarh, Apr 13 () Baisakhi festivities in the streets and rush of devotees in gurdwaras were missing across Punjab on Monday as people largely celebrated the festival indoors amid a curfew in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.
Baisakhi is one of Punjab's biggest festivals and it marks the foundation day of the 'Khalsa Panth' (Sikh order) by the tenth Sikh Guru, Gobind Singh. It also marks the start of harvest season.
The Golden Temple in Amritsar, one of Sikhism's holiest shrines, saw very few devotees turn up to offer prayers.
Normally, nearly two lakh devotees visit the Golden Temple on the occasion of Baisakhi.
The Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC), which manages gurdwaras in Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Chandigarh, has also deployed task force staff to discourage people from assembling.
SGPC Chief Secretary Roop Singh said the committee has never stopped anyone from coming to the Golden Temple but one should not violate the government orders.Barricades have been put up at all roads leading to the Golden Temple to prevent overcrowding, a police official said.
A similar scene was witnessed at the Takht Kesgarh Sahib in the holy city of Anandpur Sahib, where the Khalsa Panth was founded in 1699.
Managements of several other gurdwaras across Punjab and state capital Chandigarh politely refused to let devotees inside. They appealed to them to offer prayers at homes and listen to 'Gurbani' by tuning in to their YouTube channels.
"In the morning, 'sangat' (devotees) came to pay obeisance but we requested them to offer prayers at their homes and also asked them to listen to 'kirtan' on our YouTube channel.
"We have shared a link of the video of 'kirtan' with devotees on our WhatsApp group," said an official of Gurdwara Sri Guru Tegh Bahadur Sahib in Chandigarh's Sector 34.
He said normally, 60,000 to 70,000 devotees visit the shrine on Baisakhi every year.
"It is for the first time that we could not enter the gurdwara," a disappointed devotee said.
The management of a gurdwara in Ludhiana said it will reach out to those on the frontlines of the fight against coronavirus on the occasion of Baisakhi.
"We will distribute 'langar' among frontline workers, including policemen and medical staff," a gurdwara official said.
Earlier, the Akal Takht (the highest temporal seat of Sikhs) had asked members of the Sikh community to offer prayers at home on Baisakhi and directed Sikh organisations not to organise religious gatherings on the festival in the view of the COVID-19 outbreak.
On Sunday, Chief Minister Amarinder Singh had also appealed to people not to step out of their homes on the occasion of Baisakhi. TEAM CHS VSD DIVDIV
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