SGPC faces hypocrisy claims after yoga FIR, ablution video sparks outrage

The Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee moved quickly against Archana Makwana for doing yoga on the Golden Temple’s parikrama path, but its response to a Muslim youth seen using sarovar water for wuzu has revived accusations that the rules are being enforced unevenly inside Sikh sacred space.

Makwana, a Vadodara-based fashion designer and influencer, performed yoga on June 21, 2024, International Yoga Day, and posted photos and videos on Instagram. The SGPC filed a police complaint the next day, and police registered an FIR under Section 295A of the Indian Penal Code for allegedly hurting religious sentiments. The committee also punished its own staff over the lapse, dismissing or suspending three employees and fining each of them Rs 5,000.

Makwana later apologized publicly and removed the posts from Instagram. She said she did not intend to offend anyone, then said she was receiving death threats. Reports said police protection was arranged for her in Vadodara after the uproar.

The newer controversy began with a viral video dated January 13, 2026, showing a Muslim youth identified as Subhan Rangrez of Ghaziabad washing his hands and feet and gargling with sarovar water at the Golden Temple. The footage showed him near the Ghanta Ghar side, and he later said no one had stopped him. The Tribune reported that SGPC manager Rajinder Singh Ruby and others filed a complaint, and police registered an FIR against Rangrez on January 25, 2026. He was booked for hurting religious sentiments, and teams were formed to arrest him.

The contrast has sharpened criticism of the SGPC, with many seeing a double standard between the yoga case and the ablution video. Hindustan Times reported that SGPC chief secretary Kulwant Singh Manan said people from other religions sometimes make mistakes and that the videos would be investigated. He also said the committee had taken note of visitors treating the Golden Temple like a tourist site and making social-media videos.

For yoga readers, the dispute lands in a familiar fault line: is yoga being treated as exercise, as religious expression, or as a cultural flashpoint when it enters a sacred site? In one case, the committee treated the act as a punishable offense fast enough to trigger an FIR. In the other, it drew outrage over a ritual act that some view as spiritually benign and others as another breach of the temple’s boundaries. The debate has now become less about a single video than about who gets to decide what belongs in sacred space.