With several senior Akali leaders opposing the `unceremonious’ removal of Jathedars of Akal Takht and Takht Sri Kesgarh Sahib by SGPC, the crisis in SAD is set to deepen further. The SGPC move follows the clergy’s indictment of Sukhbir Badal for religious misconduct, writes Rajesh Moudgil
With several senior Akali leaders including Birkram Majithia opposing the `unceremonious’ removal of heads priests of Akal Takht and Takht Sri Kesgarh Sahib by SGPC, and the party warning against `indiscipline’, the crisis in SAD is set to deepen further, writes Rajesh Moudgil
The removal of Akal Takht Jathedar, Giani Raghbir Singh and Takht Sri Kesgarh Sahib Jathedar, Giani Sultan Singh from their respective posts, by Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee’s (SGPC’s) on March 7, last, has sparked sharp divisions within the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD). Founded in 1920, SAD is the second oldest party (after Congress) in the country.
Pertinently, since the SAD-controlled SGPC had removed Jathedar of Takht Sri Damdama Sahib, Giani Harpreet Singh, about a month ago and hence, now all the three Jathedars, who had sentenced former SAD president Sukhbir Badal for religious misconduct on December 2, last year, have been removed.
While the SGPC is a religious body responsible for managing gurdwaras in Punjab, Chandigarh and Himachal Pradesh, Sri Akal Takht Sahib in Amritsar and the Takht Kesgarh Sahib in Anandpur Sahib (district Rupnagar) and Takht Damdama Sahib (Talwandi Sabo, Bathinda), are three of the five seats of temporal authority in Sikhism. The remaining two are Takht Sri Patna Sahib (Patna, Bihar) and Takht Hazur Sahib (Nanded, Maharashtra).
With senior Akali leader Birkram Majithia and several other party leaders opposing the “unceremonious’’ removal of the three Jathedars, the differences between former SAD chief Sukhbir Badal and Majithia have come out in the open.
It is the first time that Majithia, who is also brother-in-law of Sukhbir, and other leaders have aired their views after the Akal Takht sacked the party leadership (including Sukhbir Badal) for committing mistakes since 2007 that, it had held, had harmed the Sikh panth.
However, reacting to Majithia and other leaders’ statements, the SAD acting president Balwinder Singh Bhundar, said that the removal of Jathedars is a decision of SGPC and that the SAD is also committed to every directive issued by Akal Takht. Bhundar said that Bikram had wrongly questioned the decision of SGPC – of which his great-grandfather, Sundar Singh Majithia was the first president. The SGPC decision regarding the Jathedars was made after long deliberations, he added and advised him and other leaders to stop becoming part of the “opposition’s conspiracy’’. He has also warned the leaders opposing the said removals, stating that the “indiscipline will not be tolerated at any cost’’.
Meanwhile, reacting over the developments, Punjab chief minister Bhagwant Mann slammed the Akali leadership for, what he held, taking revenge from the Jathedars by unceremoniously removing them. He alleged that the Akalis had indulged in theatrics by apologising for the sins committed by them in full public glare at Sri Akal Takht Sahib. However, after the Jathedars declared the Akali leadership guilty of “unpardonable sins,” they have since been targeted, he added.
The chief minister further alleged in a statement that out of vengeance, the Akali leadership is removing the Jathedars which is unwarranted and undesirable. He said that this has bruised the psyche of the entire Sikh community and they will never forgive them. Mann held that this trend of picking and removing the Jathedar Sahib from the pocket of these ‘rejected leaders’ reflects the sorry state of affairs. The chief minister further said that Jathedars are highly revered by the entire Sikh community and this type of behaviour with them is unwarranted and undesirable.
It may be recalled that in August 2024, a group of senior Akali leaders had revolted, formed an “Akali Dal reform movement’’ and approached the then Jathedar of the Akal Takht – the highest Sikh temporal seat – Raghbir Singh to dissolve the party leadership and roll out the process for setting up a new leadership.
The Akal Takht had on December 2, 2024, declared the then SAD president Sukhbir Badal and some other Akali leaders “tankhaiya’’ (guilty of religious misconduct) for mistakes committed by the SAD and its government from 2007-2017 when he was also Punjab’s deputy chief minister, and formed a panel to carry out a membership drive of the party and elect new leaders. It held that being the deputy chief minister of Punjab and president of the SAD, Sukhbir Badal took such decisions that deeply harmed the image of the Panth and greatly weakened the SAD. This damaged Sikh interests, too, it added.
Among other “mistakes’’, the SAD was also accused of violating the Akal Takht Sahib edict issued against Sirsa-based Dera Sacha Sauda in 2007; while no Sikh is supposed to have any relationship with this Dera, under Sukhbir’s presidency, the SAD had got political support from the Dera.
