AMRITSAR SAHIB, Punjab—In another instance of indulging in anti-Panthik activities, the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) continues to hurt Sikh sentiments by retaining controversial Gurmukh Singh as head granthi of Akal Takht Sahib for the last two years.
Gurmukh Singh who along with the then Takht Jathedar Gurbachan Singh was amongst the five Sikh clergymen who pardoned Sirsa based Dera chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim and also played role in derailing inquiry of Bargari sacrilege episode case was reappointed on the post in August 2018.
Presently, he is working on the sacred and respected post but owing to the bad reputation he is kept away from any major ceremonies organized at the highest Sikh temporal seat to prevent any demonstration against him. Giani Harpreet Singh, SGPC appointed Takht Jathedar, also has been keeping him away from the meeting of the five Sikh clergymen. He relies upon Giani Malkeet Singh, junior of Gurmukh Singh, instead.
Even as Giani Harpreet Singh ignores him and keeps him away from the key affairs of the seat, the SGPC pays no heed towards this and is allowing Gurmukh Singh to enjoy the key post which is nothing but a reward given to him for helping Badal family that controls the SGPC, in the sacrilege case.
Gurmukh Singh was the Jathedar of Takht Sri Damdama Sahib when the rapist Gurmeet Ram Rahim was pardoned by five Sikh clergymen including him from Akal Takht Sahib on September 24, 2015, in case of imitating 10th Sikh Master Guru Gobind Singh Ji. The controversial edict pardoning him had to be revoked 23 days later on October 17, after a backlash from Sikhs masses.
Later on, Gurmukh Singh had faced the charges that “he played the role of mediator between Akal Takht and Dera Sirsa chief and brought the apology letter”. To get rid of these charges, Gurmukh Singh in April 2017, wrote an open four-page letter to the Sikh community and demanded a probe to check as to who brought the apology letter of the Dera chief refuting the charges against him.
Apart from this, he alleged in the letter and interviews with TV channels that the then Chief Minister Parkash Badal and the then Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Badal managed to grant apology to Dera chief from Akal Takht and a meeting was held in this regard at the official residence of the then Chief Minister in Chandigarh on September 16, 2015.
After turning defiant, he was removed as Jathedar by the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) in a meeting of its executive at Fatehgarh Sahib April 27, 2017. He was transferred to Gurdwara Dhamdhan Sahib in Jind of Haryana. Even his family was evicted from the official residence of SGPC.
His younger brother and then Darbar Sahib granthi Bhai Himmat Singh also resigned from his post alleging harassment by the SGPC officials. After leaving the job, Himmat Singh appeared before Justice Ranjit Singh Commission to hand over the file of statements of his elder brother.
Few days after the commission submitted its report to the state government and the Chief Minister announced to table it in the upcoming Vidhan Sabha session, Gurmukh Singh was brought back to the key post all of sudden. Before serving as Takht Damdama Sahib Jathedar, he served on this post.
As was expected, his younger brother withdrew statements submitted to the commission which underlined the role of Badal family and dera in its report, after a few days. Thus, he helped Badal family by withdrawing the statements which blamed them for pardoning Gurmeet Ram Rahim. The commission also exposed the link of this pardon row with the sacrilege of Guru Granth Sahib.
After being reinstated, the Sikh leaders including SGPC Sukhdev Singh Bhaur asked Gurmukh Singh to clarify if his statements made one year ago before cameras in respect of the dera-apology are true. However, Gurmukh Singh never talked to the media or anyone else publicly after that.
The Sikhs get irritated whenever they see him sitting on the ‘Tabya’ of Guru Granth Sahib at Akal Takht. However, the SGPC is apparently not bothered by it. Giani Harpreet Singh also seems helpless to remove him from the prestigious post as he is enjoying the patronage of Badal family which is paying him back for withdrawing statements against it.
[…] Source: sikh24.com […]