Amritsar’s Golden Temple sees poor attendance of devotees due to Bharat Bandh

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Market places remained closed in Amritsar on Friday (March 26) due to the Bharat Bandh call given by Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM) in protest against recently introduced three farm laws. The attendance at the Golden Temple remained poor owing to the suspension of bus and rail services. 

The majority of the tourists who had arrived in the holy city to pay obeisance at the Golden Temple from far-flung places had to remain confined to their hotels in the absence of local transport while a few managed to reach the Gurdwara on foot.

Zee News visited the Golden Temple and interacted with a few tourists who were caught unaware of the shutdown. They were of the opinion that both the government as well as hotel administration should have warned the tourists about the shut down so as to save the tourists from inconvenience.  

Tanaya, a resident of Goa who had arrived at Golden Temple said that she had arrived in Amritsar on Thursday night and didn’t have any information about the shutdown. She said though it didn’t take much time to pay homage in the sanctum sanctorum but she was disappointed at the poor attendance of devotees in the Golden Temple.

Echoing her, Vishal Bhatia of Jhansi said, “Yesterday it took me three hours to pay homage in the temple but today it took just thirty minutes”. He said due to lock down people chose to stay at home to avoid any possible unpleasant situation due to the Bharat Bandh.”

Notably, to extend support to the farmers the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) which manages the administration of historical Gurdwaras including Golden Temple have kept its offices closed.

Meanwhile, to attract attention, the activists of the Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh Committee took off their shirts to hold a ‘bare body’ protest against the three agri laws introduced by the Centre government. Groups of farmers staged dharnas to block the vehicular traffic as well as rail traffic at various places.

Most of the market places, shopping plaza’s remained closed and the bus stand and railway station bore the deserted look.