Haridwar

Haridwar is a pilgrimage city on the Ganga in Uttarakhand. For Sikhs it is a place of Guru Nanak's first udasi: the Tribune reports the belief that he taught the pandits there a lesson on false rituals and idol worship. Wikipedia dates the visit to 1504 and 1505, and tells the story that when he saw Brahmins at sunrise offering water to the sun, he began to throw water the other way, saying he was watering his crops at Kartarpur.

Key moments

• 1504 to 1505: Guru Nanak at Haridwar on his first udasi. The Tribune says Guru Nanak visited Gurdwara Sri Gian Godri Sahib at Har ki Pauri.
• 1979: Gurdwara Gian Godri was demolished. The Tribune says the demolition was mob-led and gives 1979. Wikipedia says the Haridwar administration acquired the building, Landhaura House, to widen Har ki Pauri, and that Sikhs were not allowed to rebuild.
• 2017: the SGPC and the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee began a joint move to rebuild, and the then Akal Takht Jathedar, Giani Gurbachan Singh, urged the Sikh community to unite for its reconstruction.
• 26 July 2019: activists of the All India Sikh Conference under Gurcharan Singh Babbar restarted the movement, with an ardas at Akal Takht before leaving for Haridwar. Babbar said that the SGPC, the Delhi committee and the Damdami Taksal, which had launched campaigns under the Akal Takht, had never taken concrete steps.
• February 2021: SGPC president Bibi Jagir Kaur said a delegation would seek a meeting with the Uttarakhand chief minister, and that efforts were being made to re-establish the gurdwara at Har ki Pauri.

Today: the Tribune's reports do not say who holds the land or what its legal status is, and the latest we opened (February 2021) has the SGPC still seeking a meeting. For the Panth, Haridwar is a place of Guru Nanak's teaching against empty ritual, and a demand to restore a gurdwara that stood at the ghat.