CHANDIGARH: Punjab's Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) has accused the Congress government of sacrilege over “morphing” of a picture of a 10th Sikh Guru Gobind Singh by using one of French Emperor Napolean Bonaparte. An advertisement released by the Public Relations Department on the occasion of the 350th birth anniversary of the Sikh Guru saw a computer-generated swapping of faces. Sad demanded strict action against the erring officials and the advertising agency concerned.
SAD Senior Vice President Daljit Singh Cheema said, “An image of Guru Gobind Singh ji's face was swapped with that of the French ruler through computer on the picture. The said painting dates back to 1800, almost a century after Guru Sahib's period. I wonder why the Congress government committed this grave sin of passing off the tampered picture as that of Guru Sahib when plenty of the Gurus' paintings are available.”
Cheema said, “The painting has the same horse, with resemblance to face, body, mane, tail, stirrups and other things shown in Napoleon's painting. Even the clothes Guru Gobind Singh ji is shown wearing in the morphed picture are the same as Napoleon's in the original painting.” He also sought an immediate apology from the government over the alleged morphing and removal of the painting from media and public places. Meanwhile, the government rejected all charges of sacrilege. A government spokesperson said, “The assertion is totally ridiculous. The picture has been sourced from a Sikhism website, which is in the public domain. It was neither created nor modified by the government in any manner. The Akalis who claim to be the custodians of Sikh religion are obviously completely ignorant about these basic facts and have merely reacted to a media report without verifying its authenticity.”
