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Gurtej, Gurcharanjit Debate Kala Afghana's Writings: Part I

By ANONYMOUS
Gurbakhsh Singh Kala Afghana retired in 1981 as inspector of police. In 1984, while he was visiting Canada, India cancelled his passport and confiscated his property. Now based in Canada, the Sikh author's books Biparan Kii Riit Ton Sach Daa Maarag and Bachittar Natak: Gurbani Di Kasvuti Te contend that the Dasam Granth was not entirely authored by Guru Gobind Singh. Renowned Sikh scholar Gurtej Singh, jathedar of Takht Damdama Sahib Giani Kewal Singh, and many others have stoutly defended Kala Afghana's writings. Sikh scholar Giani Bhag Singh Ambalavi had to apologise in the late 1970s for having questioned the validity of the Dasam Granth. Gurbakhsh has questioned the commonly held belief that Guru Tegh Bahadur died for Hindus. He has written, 'the only complaint before the emperor was that Guru Tegh Bahadur was fanning insurgency against the government. Thus those claiming that the Guru sacrificed his life for Hinduism are sullying the principles of Sikhism.'

AmericanSikhs (Yahoo! Groups), May 1, 2003



"This is a review of today's airing of a debate between S.G.P.C. National Professor of Sikhism and ex-I.A.S. officer, Gurtej Singh (G.S.), and Advocate Gurcharanjit Singh Lamba (G.S.L.) on Alpha Punjabi television's Khabarsar program. The subject of the debate: Kala Afghana's (K.A.) controvertial writings."
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"In my opinion, G.S. came off much better. He was clear, concise, confident and knew exactly what he had come to say. His appearance on the show didn't seem to be directed at defending any one individual or set of views. More impressively, he appeared to be declaring his own opinions."
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"G.S.L., on the other hand, was continually referring to written quotations that were unnecessarily long and in some respects inappropriate. He was repeatedly ruffling through a pile of books and papers with numerous visible post-it notes. His agenda was crystal clear in contrast to G.S.'s in that he was there to attack G.S. and K.A."
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"I am a law graduate and have taken part in countless debates. I have learnt to recognise that one of the fundamental traits of a good orater is positive body language. Appropriate body language often leads directly to success. And on this count G.S. won out."
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"I would like to clarify that I have made no opinion in regards to the actual subject matter of the debate or the actual views expressed by the participants in this debate. I have simply assessed, at your request, the perception that I formed of the debating skill levels of the participants in this debate."
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