12-12-2007, 01:11 AM
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>SGPC removes O'Dwyer's portrait from Sikh museum </b>
Pioneer.com
Jagmohan Singh | Amritsar
In order to avoid controversy over portrait of Sir Michael O'Dwyer, former Lieutenant General of Punjab, the Shriomani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) on Tuesday acted swiftly and removed the portrait from the Sikh museum in Golden Temple complex here.
It may mentioned here that SGPC after uproar over installation of portrait of Sant Jarnail Singh Bhindrawala in the Sikh museum, had landed in another controversy over the portrait of Sir Michael O'Dwyer. The portrait was hanging in Sikh museum since the days of British rule.
An NGO Shaheed-e-Azam Sardar Bhagat Singh Youth Front, on Monday vehemently opposed the presence of portrait of British ruler in the Sikh museum and issued an ultimatum to remove it within seven days.
<b>Sir Michael O' Dwyer was Lieutenant General of Punjab at the time of Jallianwala massacre on April 19, 1919 when Brigadier-General Reginald Edward Harry Dyer had ordered to open fire at people. O'Dwyer was shot dead in Caxton Hall in the heart of London on March 13, 1940, by freedom fighter Sardar Udham Singh, to take revenge for the Amritsar massacre.</b>
<b>A veteran freedom fighter 105-year-old Bapu Shingara Singh who was the eyewitness of the Jallianwala Bagh massacre had also joined issue with the NGO questioned the logic behind installing the portrait in the Sikh museum</b>.
Chairman of Shaheed-E-Azam Sardar Bhagat Singh Youth Front Gurmit Singh Bablu said that <b>Sikh museum of Golden Temple was meant for the portraits of martyrs but not for the traitors.</b>
Bablu said that it was shocking for the people of Punjab and country to see the portrait of O'Dwyer in the Sikh museum. Adding further while quoting the history Bablu said that Jallianwala Bagh, a monument in close proximity of the Golden Temple stand witness to the 1919 massacre.
SGPC president Avtar Singh Makkar said the portrait of O'Dwyer has been removed and facts would be verified that in which circumstances it was installed in the Sikh museum. Moreover, it was installed in the museum around many decades back not recently, he added.
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Pioneer.com
Jagmohan Singh | Amritsar
In order to avoid controversy over portrait of Sir Michael O'Dwyer, former Lieutenant General of Punjab, the Shriomani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) on Tuesday acted swiftly and removed the portrait from the Sikh museum in Golden Temple complex here.
It may mentioned here that SGPC after uproar over installation of portrait of Sant Jarnail Singh Bhindrawala in the Sikh museum, had landed in another controversy over the portrait of Sir Michael O'Dwyer. The portrait was hanging in Sikh museum since the days of British rule.
An NGO Shaheed-e-Azam Sardar Bhagat Singh Youth Front, on Monday vehemently opposed the presence of portrait of British ruler in the Sikh museum and issued an ultimatum to remove it within seven days.
<b>Sir Michael O' Dwyer was Lieutenant General of Punjab at the time of Jallianwala massacre on April 19, 1919 when Brigadier-General Reginald Edward Harry Dyer had ordered to open fire at people. O'Dwyer was shot dead in Caxton Hall in the heart of London on March 13, 1940, by freedom fighter Sardar Udham Singh, to take revenge for the Amritsar massacre.</b>
<b>A veteran freedom fighter 105-year-old Bapu Shingara Singh who was the eyewitness of the Jallianwala Bagh massacre had also joined issue with the NGO questioned the logic behind installing the portrait in the Sikh museum</b>.
Chairman of Shaheed-E-Azam Sardar Bhagat Singh Youth Front Gurmit Singh Bablu said that <b>Sikh museum of Golden Temple was meant for the portraits of martyrs but not for the traitors.</b>
Bablu said that it was shocking for the people of Punjab and country to see the portrait of O'Dwyer in the Sikh museum. Adding further while quoting the history Bablu said that Jallianwala Bagh, a monument in close proximity of the Golden Temple stand witness to the 1919 massacre.
SGPC president Avtar Singh Makkar said the portrait of O'Dwyer has been removed and facts would be verified that in which circumstances it was installed in the Sikh museum. Moreover, it was installed in the museum around many decades back not recently, he added.
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->