Patna Sikhs protest Guru Gobind Singh's armour's auction in UK

Patna, Apr 2 : The Sikh community in Patna on Wednesday protested against the proposed auction of an armour at London's renowned Sotheby's, as they believe it belonged to the Guru Gobind Singh, the tenth and last religious head of the Sikhs.

The protesters came out in large numbers shouting slogans and showing placards voicing their demand and urged Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to step in to stop the proposed auction.

"This auction does not augur well. So far, they have preserved our things and should try to return them at the earliest," said Gyaan Iqbal Singh, Chief Priest, Patna Sahib Gurudwara.

They even went on to say that if the auction took place they would approach the International Court of Justice.

"The government should immediately stop the auction and if they (British Government) continue with it, then it will hurt the religions sentiments of Sikhs and our gurus. Moreover, if our demands are not met, then we shall report against the British Government in the International Court of Justice," added Raja Singh, Secretary of Takht Shri Harminderji Patna Sahib.

For the last few days, Sikhs are up in arms against the planned public sale of the armour and have staged protests demanding that the authorities to intervene to stop the auction.

The apex religious representative body of the Sikhs, the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbhandhak Committee (SGPC) had also appealed to Manmohan Singh to look into the matter.

The auction of Guru Gobind Singh's rare piece of body armour lying in a museum in the United Kingdom is slated to be auctioned on April 9.

ANI