Amritsar: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi visited the Golden Temple for the second consecutive day on Tuesday and performed ‘seva’ (voluntary service) by peeling vegetables at the ‘langar’ (community kitchen), serving food to devotees and washing dishes.
In the ‘langar’ hall, Gandhi sat with women devotees as he peeled vegetables and interacted with them.
Wearing a blue scarf on his head, the former Congress chief served chapattis to the visiting devotees. Later, he partook ‘langar’. He spent almost an hour at the community kitchen.
In the evening, Gandhi performed ‘seva’ at the ‘Jaura ghar’ (shoe house). Then he paid obeisance inside the sanctum sanctorum before leaving.
Gandhi had also visited the Golden Temple on Monday after arriving in Amritsar. He had performed ‘seva’ by offering water to devotees and cleaning their bowls.
He had listened to the ‘Shabad Kirtan’ (religious hymns) and taken part in the traditional ritual of ‘palki seva’, the closing rite in which the Guru Granth Sahib is taken for ‘Sukhasan’ to the Akal Takht.
Punjab Congress chief Amarinder Singh Raja Warring had said on Monday that Gandhi is on a personal visit to the Golden Temple.
The Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) on Tuesday said it extended all cooperation to Gandhi during his visit to the Golden Temple.
SGPC general secretary Gurcharan Singh Grewal said Gandhi was facilitated in every way during his visit to the Golden Temple and all support was extended to him while he performed ‘seva’.
The Sikh community is very generous and never keeps any personal animosity or hatred towards anyone, he said, referring to the anti-Sikh riots in 1984, when the Congress was in power at the Centre.
He, however, added many women lost their husbands and family members in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots in Delhi but the Gandhi family never bothered to visit them.
Gandhi never bothered to say anything on these issues that could show his repentance, Grewal said referring to the riots and Operation Blue Star.
PTI