A fashion-cum-wellness influencer named Archana Makwana sparked controversy after she performed Yoga at the premises of Golden Temple to celebrate International Yoga Day on June 21. As soon as Archana Makwana's Yoga pictures went viral on social media, she started facing the heat of the Sikh community. As a result, the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) on Saturday filed a police complaint against a woman Instagram influencer for doing yoga at Sri Darbar Sahib, also known as the Golden Temple in Amritsar. The SGPC filed a police complaint against Makwana for allegedly hurting the sentiments of the Sikh community. Now, the question arises who is Archana Makwana? Below is all about Archana Makwana and Golden Temple Yoga controversy-
Who is Archana Makwana?
As per her social media handle, Archana Makwana hails from Vadodara, Gujarat. She calls herself a fashion designer, an entrepreneur, an influencer, a travel & fashion blogger. Going by her LinkedIn profile, Archana Makwana did her BSC in Fashion Design from The Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda. After that, Makwana completed her LLB (Law) degree from The Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda.
Archana Makwana runs a fashion design brand called House Of Archana in Vadodara. She is also associated with the brand 'Healing Tattvas' and shares her travel experiences as a blogger. She has 139k followers on Instagram (while writing).
Talking about Archana Makwana's Golden Temple controversy, she shared an apology video after the backlash. Archana shared her apology video with the caption, "Please accept sincere apologies from me. I never intended to hurt the religious sentiments of anyone… all religions teach us to forgive everyone not to abuse them.. getting death threats & ultra abusive messages & phone calls since morning. Extremely heartbroken & sad to see this kind of outrage."
In the video, Archana says, "On 19th June, I came to Delhi to receive an award in Yoga & Wellness. Then, I thought of going to Gurudwara to seek blessings. On the occasion of Yoga Day, I did my favorite Aasan i.e. Sirshaasan. I do Sirsaasan everywhere. I did that only to thank you not to hurt anyone's religious sentiments. I did not intend to hurt anyone's feelings. I also feel very bad that unconsciously I hurt religious sentiments. Please forgive me. I did not have any intention to hurt any religion or religious institution."
"I have been perceived as a very wrong person. I am getting so many death threats. I have been facing abuse. I only want to say no religion teaches that you disrespect someone at such an extent. I am apologising from the core of my heart," added Makwana.