Three months after excommunicating senior Sikh leaders including former Akali Dal chief Sukhbir Singh on charges of religious misconduct, the five high priests of Akal Takht, the highest temporal power of Sikhs, announced the punishment after the leaders accepted their mistakes. The Akal Takht also withdrew the title, Fakhr-e-Quam, conferred on late Punjab CM Prakash Singh Badal.
Addressing the “guilty” Sikh leaders from the Akal Takht’s pulpit, inside the Golden Temple, the five priests headed by Jathedar Giani Raghbir Singh asked the leaders if they confessed to the the charges against them. They were asked to reply in only ‘yes’ or ‘no’. Badal accepted all the charges, even though earlier he had publicly denied them.
The priests said the guilty leaders should undergo religious punishment by cleaning the washrooms, utensils, shoes of devotees, while wearing a plaque, admitting they were guilty, around their necks. The priests also announced that the resignations of all the Akali leaders be accepted and the process of fresh recruitment be started to strengthen the party, which was initially set up over 100 years ago for protection and representations of the Sikh issues.
Sukhbir Singh Badal, who appeared at the Golden in a wheel chair owing to fractured leg, and Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa, the rebel Akali leader, were asked to perform the duties of a sevadar outside the gurudwara wearing the robes. They will do the similar penance at at Takht Kesgarh Sahib, Takht Damdama Sahib, Darbar Sahib at Muktsar and Fatehgarh Sahib for two days each. They will also clean utensils.
The other Akali leaders like Sucha Singh Langah, Hira Singh Gabria, Balwinder Singh Bhundar, Daljit Singh Cheema and Gulzar Singh Ranike, Bibi Jagir Kaur, Prem Singh Chandumajra, Surjit Singh Rakhra, Bikram Singh Majithia, Mahesh Inder Singh Grewal, Charanjit Singh Atwal, and Adesh Partap Singh Kairon, were also told to clean washrooms at the Golden Temple for one hour.
The charges against the Sikh leaders were for different acts during the Akali government’s 10 years tenure from 2007 onwards. There were on five counts, particularly for granting pardon to controversial Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim on charges of blasphemy as he had tried to impersonate the 10th Sikh Guru.
The other count was if Sukhbir Badal had called the then Takht Jathedars to his residence to pressurise them on granting pardon to Ram Rahim. Sukhbir took a few second before accepting the “crime”.
The Akl Taskt priests adopting a stern tone repeatedly asked the leaders to tell the truth and not lie.
The other charges pertained to firing on the Sikhs protesting against the sacrilege incidents and rewarding those police officers who were responsible of killing Sikh youth in fake encounters.
The Akal Takht gave out religious punishment without imposing any political sentence as it was conjectured. It asked the warring factions of the Akali Dal to strengthen the party and undertake membership drive and conduct internal elections to rejuvenate the party.
The Akali Dal had been paying the political cost as its voting percentage sharply dropped in the last few elections. Now, this sentence may initiate the process of its revival amongst the Sikh masses. But who will assume the leadership and if unity is achieved within the two factions remain to be seen.