Harbhajan Singh Khalsa "Maclean's Magazine" in Canada published favorable articles about Harbhajan Singh in 1977, James Wilde of "Time" wrote a critical article that year, titled "Yogi Bhajan's Synthetic Sikhism". Wilde alleged that Gurucharan Singh Tohra, former President of the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC), had stated that Harbhajan Singh is not the leader of Sikhism in the Western World as he claimed, and that Tohra had denied the SGPC had ever given the title of Siri Singh Sahib to Singh. The "Time" article was followed by emphatic rebuttals from Tohra. There was also a demonstration held outside "Time"'s London office and a
Harbhajan Singh World Cup-winning team of 2011 Cricket World Cup. He was conferred the Padma Shri, India's fourth highest civilian honour, in 2009. Harbajan Singh was born into a Sikh family. He is the only son of Sardar Sardev Singh Plaha, a businessman who owned a ball bearing and valve factory. Growing up with five sisters, Harbhajan was in line to inherit the family business, but his father insisted that he concentrate on his cricket career and represent India. Harbhajan was trained as a batsman by his first coach Charanjit Singh Bhullar, but converted to spin bowling after his coach's untimely death