Harish Rawat Fulfils Promise of Penance, Cleans Shoes, Sweeps Floor at Gurdwara over 'Panj Pyaare' Remark | WATCH

As part of his promised penance for recently comparing Navjot Sidhu and his team to “Panj Pyare”, Congress leader Harish Rawat was captured cleaning shoes and sweeping the floor at a gurdwara today.

In a video posted by ANI, the Congress’s Punjab in-charge was seen wiping shoes of devotees and sweeping the floors of Nanakmatta Gurudwara in Udham Singh Nagar in Uttarakhand.

This comes after the leader faced backlash following his comments, loosely using a Sikh religious term to refer to Navjot Singh and his followers. The controversial remark was made in a bid to resolves differences with Sidhu who he had warned earlier to remove his advisers over their controversial comments on Kashmir and Pakistan or the party would.

“It was my responsibility to meet with the PPCC (Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee) chief (Mr Sidhu), or I would say the Panj Pyaras…,” Rawat was quoted saying in Chandigarh.

However after the minister was criticized for the same, he made an apology to Sidhu and also promise to atone for his behavior.  He said he held the ‘Panj Pyare’ in high esteem and had worked for the betterment of the places related to Sikhism in Uttarakhand. Taking to Facebook on Wednesday, Rawat acknowledged his mistake for his remark.

“Sometimes by expressing respect, you use such words which are objectionable. I too have made a mistake of using the words ‘Panj Pyare’ for my honorable president and four working presidents,” wrote Rawat. “I have committed a mistake. I apologize for hurting the sentiments of people,” he said, adding he would clean a gurdwara in his state with a broom as atonement.

However, the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) demanded that a criminal case should be registered against Rawat for hurting the religious sentiments of the Sikh community.

The Panj Pyare are revered as symbols of loyalty and devotion and are used to describe five ‘beloved men chosen by Sikh Guru Govind Singh for the Khalsa or the Sikh religious brotherhood.

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