The Nanakshahi calendar: why did the SGPC drop it?

The claim: The case for changing the calendar was made inside the Panth. Gurcharanjit Singh Lamba, writing in Sant Sipahi against the SGPC's 1999 jantri (quoted by Pal Singh Purewal, February 2000), called it "a Christian calendar with the name Nanakshahi", held that the Bikrami calendar is rooted in Gurbani, which mentions tithis, and said Sikhs had entered the new millennium in "intense confusion" over Gurpurab dates. After the 2003 release Takht Patna Sahib and Takht Hazur Sahib refused the Akal Takht's directive and kept the Bikrami calendar for historic days (The Tribune, 23 May 2003). World Sikh News editor Jagmohan Singh, an opponent of the change, writes that it was defended as bringing "the Sant Samaj within the fold", and blames the then SGPC president, his party and the Damdami Taksal for dividing the Sikh nation.

The sourced facts:

• The design. Purewal's paper says the luni-solar Bikrami calendar lets Vaisakhi drift against the seasons and moves Gurpurabs by about 11 days a year. His scheme, from a Calendar Reform Committee of the Institute of Sikh Studies, Chandigarh, counts years from Guru Nanak's birth, starts the year on 1 Chet (14 March), fixes month starts and puts Guru Gobind Singh's Gurpurab on 23 Poh, always 5 January. He says the SGPC decided to implement it from 1999.
• 2003. SGPC president Kirpal Singh Badungar released it at Talwandi Sabo on 14 April 2003; the Tribune adds that it would not govern Divali and Holi. World Sikh News says an Akal Takht committee accepted it "with three reservations".
• 2010. Wikipedia, citing World Sikh News, says the SGPC made month starts movable to match the Bikrami calendar and based festivals on lunar phases. The Tribune (2018) says the 2003 calendar "was further amended in 2010"; the Tribune (2026) says the amendments came "under pressure from various Sikh groups and leaders". Purewal wrote that "yielding to the pressure from the 'Sants', Hola Muhalla date was also made an exception", which "did not appease the 'Sants'".
• 2017 and 2018. A Chicago conference in November 2017 fixed three disputed days on the original calendar: Guru Nanak's Gurpurab on 14 April, Bandi Chhor Divas on 12 February, Hola Mohalla on 14 March. A Tribune report datelined 14 March 2018 says SGPC president Gobind Singh Longowal, at a programme the evening before, urged Sikhs to follow the Nanakshahi Calendar, Samat 549. It adds that the same events fall twice a year, and quotes him on "some anti-panthic forces trying to divide the community."
• Two sets of dates. The SGPC's website still issues a "Nanakshahi Calendar" and heads 21 October 2026 as 5 Katak; Purewal's scheme starts Katik on 15 October. Guru Arjan Dev's martyrdom was kept on 10 June 2024 by the SGPC and on 16 June at Gurdwara Dehra Sahib, Lahore, by the original calendar; Guru Ram Das's birth anniversary falls on 9 October 2026 for the PSGPC and 27 October for the SGPC and DSGMC (The Tribune). A December 2017 World Sikh News list names gurdwaras abroad, among them Dasmesh Darbar, Surrey, and all six in Bradford, marking Guru Gobind Singh's Parkash Purab on 5 January by the original.

The Panthic answer: The Panth is divided; each side is on record. For the SGPC and the Akal Takht: the Tribune (2026) says the amended calendar "has the endorsement of the Akal Takht" and is followed by Nihangs, Nirmalas, Udasis and the Damdami Taksal; DSGMC president Harmeet Singh Kalka says, "We go by the dates prescribed by the calendar endorsed by the Akal Takht." The SGPC rejects the word "amended", and Wikipedia, citing the Hindustan Times, reports Jathedar Giani Gurbachan Singh urging unity behind it in 2018. For the original: Purewal calls it "the signal sovereign symbol of the distinct Sikh faith", and the Chicago conference said delay "would only make the confusion within the Sikhs more acute" (World Sikh News, December 2017). Jaswinder Singh Advocate of Akal Purakh Ki Fauj says, "The original calendar was modified for political reasons"; Sikh Youth of Punjab calls the 2010 changes "an abject surrender" (World Sikh News, 2019); critics, the Tribune adds, call the amended version "a return to the Bikrami calendar system under the Nanakshahi nomenclature".