Dr. Gurmohan Singh Walia vice chancellor of SGGSW University withdraws from UC Riverside Conference & to addresses California NRI Sikhs

Santa Ana, California, May 10, 2015
NRIpress-Club/Dr.J.Mann/Gary Singh

Dr. Gurmohan Singh Walia, the vice chancellor of Sri Guru Granth Sahib World University (SGGSW), Fathegarh Sahib in Punjab, was on a visit to the U.S., to deliver a keynote speech at Sikh Studies conference being held at University of California Riverside sponsored by Department of Religious Studies, and Dr. Pashaura Singh, UCR professor of Sikh Studies and Chair Dr. Jasbir Singh Saini Endowed Chair in Sikh and Punjabi Studies.

Dr. Gurmohan Singh Walia did not attend the UC Riverside Sikh Study Conference:

On being informed by the local and global Panthic scholars that Dr. Singh is continuing to academically distort the institution of Sikhism and scripture: Sri Guru Granth Sahib, he reviewed the presented material and immediately sent a communication to Dr. Singh and explained “Due to certain serious differences on issues pertaining to Singh Sabha Movement and authenticity of Sri Guru Granth Sahib… I have reservations on attending the conference… therefore regret to inform you that I shall not be able to deliver the Keynote address on the said subject…. I apologize for the inconvenience”.

• READ More About UC Riverside Study Conference

Dr. Walia addressed the Sikhs of California at Sikh Center of Orange County, Santa Ana and requested that we should live a life based on the teachings of Guru Granth Sahib.

Dr. Walia was candid on the problems faced by Sikhs and their children relating to identity, education, and dissociation from the religion, in diaspora and India as well. According to him SGGSW, under the auspices of Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee, is first Sikh university, which has taken up several education related projects that are going to benefit the Sikh across the globe. He shared his thoughts on Sikh Studies and research with the context of globalization and Millennial Generation and was presented Saropa and a Plaque honoring him for his exemplary work in education.

  The Sikh community has taken serious notice of two of Dr. Singh’s articles published recently in which he has, according to Dr. Jasbir Singh Mann, once again reiterated his misrepresentations and misinterpretations of the Sikh scripture, philosophy, and history, through heretical manuscripts: MS # 1245, Vanjara, Bahowal, Roopa, and Sur Singh Wala pothis. These pothis are being falsely used to redefine formation of Sri Guru Granth Sahib said Ramandirjit Singh Sekhon. The issue has been at the core of the discontent between the local Sikh community and Dr. Singh. According to Sekhon use of these manuscripts by Guru Arjan Dev Ji while compiling Guru Granth Sahib is a fabricated theory to deliberately harm the institution of Sikhs. The management committees of several Gurdwaras of California participated in the discussion. A resolution was forwarded that the controversies surrounding research of Guru Granth Sahib need to be addressed expeditiously.

Sri Guru Granth Sahib World University, Fatehgarh Sahib, Punjab, 140 acre campus, focus on intensive study, research and training in areas of world religions; cultures and civilizations; eastern and western thought and other related disciplines of arts & humanities, social sciences, pure & applied sciences, engineering sciences and medical sciences. The University is fast evolving as a seat of higher learning in the sphere of religious studies as well as in Emerging Technologies.

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