AMRITSAR SAHIB—The SGPC appointed Takht Jathedars on April 17 addressed religious punishment to 39 Sikh leaders of various political outfits for violating the Akal Takht’s edict of 2007 by seeking support from the Sirsa cult chief in recently concluded assembly polls. In 2007, the Sikh masses were directed to socially boycott the Sirsa cult chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim and his disciples by the Akal Takht Sahib authorities after finding Sirsa cult chief guilty of blasphemy charges.
The SGPC appointed Takht Jathedars addressed religious punishment to the Sikh leaders guilty of seeking support from Sirsa cult chief by bifurcating them into categories of apostate and untrimmed hairs.
Of the total 44 guilty Sikh leaders, 21 Sikh leaders with untrimmed hairs have been addressed the punishment to clean the passage leading to sanctum sanctorum Sri Harmandir Sahib from Gurdwara Saragarhi Sahib for a day. Beside it, they will clean the periphery of central Sikh shrine on the next day besides cleaning shoes and serve in the community kitchen of Sri Harmandir Sahib for two hours each. After completing this, they will listen the Gurbani Kirtan inside sanctum sanctorum for an hour and then offer Rs. 5100/- & Rs. 501/- for ‘Golak’ & ‘Karah Pradsad’ respectively for atonement.
Prominent among these leaders are Sikandar Singh Maluka, Parminder Singh Dhindsa, Mantar Singh Brar, Surjit Singh Rakhra, Jeetmohinder Singh and others.
Eighteen apostate Sikh leaders have been asked to perform ‘sewa’ for an hour daily at Gurdwaras in their constituencies for continuously 10 days. It is learnt that among 18 apostate leaders 10 belong to Congress, 7 to Shiromani Akali Dal and 1 to AAP. Prominent among these apostate leaders are Amarinder Raja Warring, Sadhu Singh Dharamsot, Kewal Singh, Karan Kaur and others.
4 out of total 44 guilty Sikh leaders namely Rajinder Kaur Bhattal (Congress), Arjun Singh (Congress), Ajaib Singh Bhatti (Congress) and Janmeja Singh Sekha (Shiromani Akali Dal) failed to turn up while the rest one Manpreet Singh Ayali of Shiromani Akali Dal was let off by the Takht Jathedars.
It may be recalled here that the row had erupted after the Sirsa cult chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim had announced to support Shiromani Akali Dal in the concluded assembly polls. Observing sharp flak against Shiromani Akali Dal among Sikh masses, the SGPC President Prof. Kirpal Singh Badungar had constituted a three member committee on February 6 to probe the matter. The probing committee had then submitted its final report on March 6 in which it found 44 Sikh leaders of Shiromani Akali Dal, Congress and AAP guilty of violating the decree of 2007 by seeking support from the Sirsa cult chief.
Mr Bandugar what sort of punishment is that? Perhaps the Sikh Sangat ought to decide what about who are guilty of letting these culprits let of scott free?