Removal of Jathedars issue raised in Punjab Assembly

     Chandigarh, Mar 28 (PTI) The issue of the removal of three jathedars (head of clergy) by the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) was raised in the Punjab Assembly on Friday with ruling and opposition MLAs coming together to denounce the move which has "hurt every Sikh".
     During the Zero Hour on the concluding day of the budget session of the Punjab Assembly, state Cabinet Minister Harjot Singh Bains said the removal of Jathedars was a serious issue and demanded a discussion.
     On March 7, the SGPC removed Giani Raghbir Singh as Jathedar of Akal Takht, located in Amritsar, and said that in the face of growing challenges, his leadership was deemed "inadequate in guiding the 'Panth' (Sikh community)" and his "inconsistent approach weakened the 'Panthic' unity." Giani Sultan Singh was also removed as the Jathedar of Takht Kesgarh Sahib in Anandpur Sahib of Rupnagar district.
     Before these two jathedars, Giani Harpreet Singh was discharged from his duties as Jathedar of Takht Sri Damdama Sahib in Talwandi Sabo, Bathinda district, in February.
     These takhts are among the five seats of power in Sikhism, with Akal Takht being the highest temporal seat of Sikhs.
     During the Zero Hour, SAD MLA Manpreet Singh Ayali said every Sikh across the world accepts the edict of the Akal Takht, and the three Jathedars, who were part of the five 'Singh Sahibans', had pronounced one edict on December 2 last year.
     While pronouncing religious punishment for the then SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal and other leaders for the "mistakes" committed by the party and its government in Punjab from 2007 to 2017, the Akal Takht had also formed a seven-member committee for starting the membership drive and holding the elections for the post of party president and other office bearers within six months.
     Ayali said that the SAD leadership neither accepted the edict nor approved the committee.
     "Being a Shiromani Akali Dal member, I strongly condemn the removal of the Jathedars," asserted Ayali, who is part of the Akal Takht-appointed committee.
     Such a framework should be developed after consulting the Sikh organisations so that there should be no threat to the religious institutions, he said.
     Meanwhile, the Shiromani Akali Dal condemned Ayali, accusing him of aligning with Minister Bains to seek "interference" of the Vidhan Sabha to make rules and regulations for the appointment of the Jathedar of Akal Takht.
     SAD leaders Dr Daljit Singh Cheema and Arshdeep Singh Kler said Ayali, "who claims to believe in the supremacy of Sri Akal Takht Sahib, undermined the authority of the Takht by making it smaller than the State assembly.
     This shows that Ayali and the rebel Akali leaders are only using the name of Akal Takht for their political ends as on the one side, they are conducting a membership drive in the name of Akal Takht but on the other hand, they are discussing on creating regulations for the appointment of the Jathedar as well as laying down the service conditions for the same," they said.
     In January, the SAD working committee formed its own panel to oversee the membership drive, with dissident Akali leaders accusing the SAD of not complying with the Akal Takht's December 2 edict.

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)