CHANDIGARH, Punjab—In a jolt to the Shiromani Akali Dal (Badal), a prominent Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) member from Haryana Baba Gurmeet Singh Tiloke Wala today revoked support to it and joined former Akal Takht Sahib jathedar Bhai Ranjit Singh-led Panthik Akali Lehar.
He has considerable influence on Sikh families belonging to Sirsa district of Haryana as he heads the management of an old Gurdwara Nirmalsar at village Tiloke Wala. After being elected as an SGPC member independently, he announced his support to SAD (Badal). From 2017 to 2019, he remained a member of the SGPC executive committee during the tenure of incumbent president Gobind Singh Longowal.
He organized a gathering of the sangat of the area at this gurdwara on Saturday. Bhai Ranjit Singh and SGPC member Bhai Gurpreet Singh Randhawe Wale too turned up on the occasion to address the sangat. Along with his aides, Baba Tiloke Wala announced to join the drive initiated by the former Akal Takht Sahib jathedar to liberate the gurdwaras from clutches of Badal family.
The former executive member of the SGPC said, “That the SAD (Badal) has damaged the interests of Sikh community is no secret. The time has come to end an empire of the Badal family. So, we have decided to join the drive as per aspirations of the sangat. Entire panth should be united on the same platform to defeat the Badals”.
Few days ago, a video of Baba Tiloke Wale went viral over social media. This video was recorded at a place in Haryana, where sacrilege of Guru Granth Sahib was committed and he along with other Sikhs staged a protest against this sacrilege and sought justice. In the viral video, he is seen shouting pro-Khalistan slogans.
Prior to this, he shouted slogans against him against Longowal in March, 2019 when he was an executive committee member. Minutes before the budget session, he along with another member Harpal Singh came out of the office of the president Gobind Singh Longowal shouting slogans against him and other office bearers including the then senior vice president Raghujit Singh Virk for not taking the matter of expelled employees seriously.
Enraged over not being heard by the SGPC office bearers, he termed the gurdwara body a bunch of fraudsters and burglars. He also used these words for the SGPC president. Joining the indefinite sit-in outside the SGPC office, he said the SGPC is doing big injustice with the sacked employees who are very poor, and most were given jobs on compassionate grounds.
