Hazuri raagis on Sunday decried the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) order, which refrained them from sharing the link to the live Gurbani telecast from the Golden Temple on their personal YouTube and social media pages.
Hazuri raagis are the gurbani exponents who sing hymns, as per Sikh music tradition at the sanctum sanctorum of the holiest Sikh shrine.
“The kirtan is performed by raagis and in a way the channel is run by them. As far as copyright is concerned, did the management take the consent of the raagis while launching the Gurbani telecast channel? How could they claim copyright in our case? There is no signature of the raagis on the links”, said Bhai Onkar Singh, head of the Raagi Sabha, an association of the Hazuri raagis.
In an official communiqué sent to the Golden Temple manager, a copy of which is available with the HT, the SGPC senior official had warned the raagis of stern action if they do not stop sharing the link of the live telecast of Gurbani on their personal social media pages, citing that this is a violation of the SGPC rules and copyright.
“If raagis are playing Gurbani kirtan and running their channels, what’s wrong with that? After all, they are preaching gurbani. And they have not started doing this now. They have been doing it for a long time,” the head of the Raagi Sabha said.
{{/usCountry}}“If raagis are playing Gurbani kirtan and running their channels, what’s wrong with that? After all, they are preaching gurbani. And they have not started doing this now. They have been doing it for a long time,” the head of the Raagi Sabha said.
{{/usCountry}}The raagis launched their channels on social media on demand of the Sikh sangat. How can they be asked to delete content on these channels with immediate effect?”, he said, adding, “Such directive is not fair. If the management had this in mind, they should have called a meeting with the raagis before issuing the order. Any decision in respect of kirtan must be taken taking the ragis into confidence”.
SGPC had recently launched its YouTube channel for the live telecast of Gurbani.