This was perhaps the first Baisakhi in decades where the usual revelry and rush of devotees in gurdwaras was missing in Punjab on Monday as people in the state largely celebrated the festival indoors amid a curfew imposed to check the spread of coronavirus.
Baisakhi is one of Punjab's biggest festivals and celebrates the foundation of ''Khalsa Panth'' (Sikh order) by the tenth Sikh Guru, Gobind Singh. It also marks the start of harvest season.
The Golden Temple in Amritsar, one of Sikhism's holiest shrines, saw very few devotees turn up to offer prayers. Normally, nearly two lakh devotees visit the shrine on Baisakhi.
The Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC), which manages gurdwaras in Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Chandigarh, had deployed teams to discourage people from assembling.
SGPC Chief Secretary Roop Singh said the committee has never stopped anyone from coming to the Golden Temple but one should not violate the government orders. Barricades were put up at all roads leading to the Golden Temple to prevent overcrowding, a police official said. Similar scenes were witnessed at the Takht Kesgarh Sahib in the holy city of Anandpur Sahib, where the Khalsa Panth was founded in 1699.
Managements of several other gurdwaras across Punjab and state capital Chandigarh politely refused to let devotees inside. They appealed to them to offer prayers at homes and listen to ''gurbani'' online.
"In the morning, devotees came to pay obeisance but we requested them to offer prayers at their homes and also asked them to listen to kirtan on our YouTube channel. We have shared a link of the video of kirtan with devotees on our WhatsApp group," said an official of Gurdwara Sri Guru Tegh Bahadur Sahib in Chandigarh.
He said normally, 60,000 to 70,000 devotees visit the shrine on Baisakhi every year. "It is for the first time that we could not enter the gurdwara," a disappointed devotee said. The management of a gurdwara in Ludhiana said it will reach out to those on the front-line of the fight against coronavirus on the occasion of Baisakhi. "We will distribute langar among front-line workers, including policemen and medical staff," a gurdwara official said. Meanwhile, Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh thanked the people of the state for responding to his appeal for ''Ardas'' (prayer) at 11 am from their homes, and celebrating the auspicious festival of Baisakhi indoors in the larger interest of all. The chief minister, who led the Baisakhi prayers with an Ardas at his home, hoped that the collective prayers of the people would keep Punjab safe and ensure its victory over the deadly coronavirus.
Earlier, the Akal Takht (the highest temporal seat of Sikhs) had asked members of the Sikh community to offer prayers at home on Baisakhi and directed Sikh organisations not to organise religious gatherings on the festival in the view of the Covid-19 outbreak.