Ahead of US tour, Punjabi singer Gurdas Maan apologises to Sikhs for ‘past mistakes’

Ahead of his tour to the US in October, Punjabi singer Gurdas Maan has reached out to the Sikh community and apologised for “all incidents that happened in the past which unintentionally hurt anyone’s sentiments”.

In an interview to a US-based web channel, an emotional Maan said in Punjabi: “If my words have hurt anyone’s sentiments, I apologise by holding my ears and with folding my hands.”

The apology comes as some members of the Sikh community are opposed to Maan’s US tour.

In 2021, Maan stirred up a controversy during an event in Nakodar when he said Laddi Shah, the chief of Dera Baba Murad Shah, is a descendant of third Sikh Guru Amar Dass. Though Maan had apologised when members of the community protested, a case was registered against him for hurting religious sentiments. However, the police filed a cancellation report in the case in 2024.

During an earlier tour abroad, Maan had allegedly used inappropriate language for youngsters protesting against him at a show.

Later, while talking about his mother tongue, he had said “first Hindi and then Punjabi”. This was also not received well by a certain section of the community.

“There are allegations against me that I had disrespected Guru Maharaj (Guru Amar Das) and that I had said something to the people protesting against me. There was an issue related to Punjabi language. I was misinterpreted. But if my words have hurt anyone’s feelings and sentiments, I apologise to them. It’s the people who have made me a star,” he said.

“I was hurt when people accused me of disrespecting the Guru, I never did that. I have always sung songs about Guru Maharaj. I have apologised for this in the past. I thought Punjabis have large hearts and they must have forgiven me. There is no point continuing with this now. I have everything only because of my Punjabi maa boli (mother tongue),” he said.

During the interview, Maan sang some of his songs referring to Sikh Gurus and his mother tongue to clarify that he had not intended to disrespect anyone’s sentiments.