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Hindustan Times
07-08-2025
- Politics
- Hindustan Times
Akal Takht-panel may not get nod to hold session at SGPC HQ
The Akal Takht–appointed panel, mandated to recast the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), may not get the nod to hold a delegate session to hold party elections on August 11 at Teja Singh Samundri Hall, the headquarters of the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC). Jathedar Giani Kuldeep Singh Gargaj at the Akal Takht in Amritsar on Wednesday. (ANI) This comes after a meeting of Sikh clergy held under Akal Takht acting jathedar Giani Kuldeep Singh Gargaj. In the decree issued on Wednesday, Giani Gargaj said that no group or committee can claim to be patronised by Akal Takht. 'The Akal Takht has received complaints from different Singh Sabhas, Sikh political parties and religious organisations that 'some groups are trying to gain political mileage by claiming to be patronised by Akal Takht Sahib. In the December 2 edict, the Sikh clergy directed all the Akali factions to bury hatchets and unite, but nothing has happened so far. If no group wants to comply with the December 2 decree, then so be it. However, they should not create confusion among the sangat by claiming to be patronised by Akal Takht. Aspiration behind the December 2 edict cannot be fulfilled by keeping factionalism intact,' the decree reads. In separate development, people privy to matter said that in a letter to SGPC, the Akal Takht hinted that the 'five-member panel's work holds no legitimacy.' The letter's content has not been made public yet. The sources in the know of things said that the letter says that the panel is not complete as the Takht had appointed a seven-member committee, not five, 'thus it cannot work and holds no legitimacy'. The December 2 decree had appointed a seven-member panel including SGPC president Harjinder Singh Dhami, former president Kirpal Singh Badungar, Bibi Satwant Kaur, Manpreet Singh Ayali, Iqbal Singh Jhundan, Gurpartap Singh Wadala and Santa Singh Umaidpur. Dhami and Badungar had resigned, after which the five members started a membership drive in March this year. Furthermore, the letter asks SGPC to make arrangements for the venue if any Sikh institution or organisation raises a demand for conducting any gathering, leaving out words like 'committee' or 'panel'. 'This implies that the Takht panel is not likely to get a nod for organising the election at Teja Singh Samundri Hall, a historic venue for Sikh gatherings. The SGPC may allot it some other venue,' the sources within the gurdwara body said. The fresh edict hasn't gone down well with the different segments of the Sikh political class. A leader of the Akali Dal Sudhar Lehal, and SGPC member Kiranjot Kaur took to Facebook and said, 'Debating over hukamnamas is not in accordance with Panthic maryada (tradition). But then again, creating an 'Office of Akal Takht' and issuing vague decisions is also not Panthic maryada. Giani Kuldeep Singh Ghargaj should clarify whether he accepts the hukamnama dated 2nd December 2024 or not'. Parampal Singh, a leader of the Alliance of Sikh Organisations, said: 'Why did the jathedar not remember the unity when Sukhbir Singh Badal was being elected? Why did he present him with a siropa (robe of honour) after his election as president? What happened today is unfair.'
Indian Express
29-07-2025
- Indian Express
Akal Takht Jathedar Kuldeep Singh Gargaj's brother-in-law Gurvinder Singh passes away; Sikh clergy meeting postponed
Gurvinder Singh, brother-in-law of Akal Takht Acting Jathedar Giani Kuldeep Singh Gargaj, died on Tuesday following a road accident near Gohalwar on the Amritsar-Tarn Taran road in Punjab. According to initial reports, he suffered a serious head injury after a collision between his motorcycle and a cow caused him to fall on the road on Monday night. Gurvinder Singh succumbed to injuries while undergoing treatment at a hospital in Amritsar. Gurvinder Singh, who hailed from Khara village in Tarn Taran district, was serving as an assistant sub-inspector with Punjab Police and living with his family at Grand Estate on Bhai Manjh Road in Amritsar. In the wake of the bereavement in the acting jathedar's family, a meeting of the Sikh clergy scheduled for August 1 has been postponed, said Bagicha Singh, in-charge of the Akal Takht secretariat, adding that a new date and time for the meeting would be announced later. Bagicha Singh said that minister Harjot Singh and Punjab Languages Department Director Jaswant Singh, who were summoned for the August 1 meeting, would also be informed of the revised schedule. The Akal Takht have summoned both after a controversy erupted over song and dance performances that took place at a Punjab Government event organised to commemorate the 350th martyrdom anniversary of Guru Teg Bahadur earlier this month. The Sikh clergy meeting was also important as, according to sources, jathedars had to discuss the fate of a five-member committee formed on December 2, 2024, to reorganise the Shiromani Akali Dal. Additionally, Jathedar Giani Kuldeep Singh Gargaj has postponed his visit, along with Takht Sri Damdama Sahib Jathedar Bhai Tek Singh, to Takhat Sri Harmandir Ji Patna Sahib and related religious sites scheduled for July 29-31.
Hindustan Times
25-06-2025
- Politics
- Hindustan Times
Akal Takht summons CKD panel over ‘non-compliance' of Sikh ‘maryada'
Jun 25, 2025 06:14 AM IST Akal Takht acting jathedar Giani Kuldeep Singh Gargaj has summoned the executive committee of the Chief Khalsa Diwan (CKD) over various issues, including non-compliance of Sikh 'maryada' by its majority members, said spokesperson on Tuesday. Akal Takht acting jathedar Giani Kuldeep Singh Gargaj has summoned the executive committee of the Chief Khalsa Diwan (CKD) over various issues, including non-compliance of Sikh 'maryada' by its majority members, said spokesperson on Tuesday. (HT File) Bagicha Singh, in-charge of Akal Takht secretariat, said the CKD executive committee has been asked to appear before the highest Sikh temporal seat in person in 15 days following a number of complaints received by the Akal Takht secretariat. The summon was issued to the CKD president Dr Inderbir Singh Nijjar, who is also AAP MLA from Amritsar south. As per sources, the complaints claim that majority of the members are not 'amritdhari'. The CKD is a historic Sikh organisation which is nearly 12 years old and runs more than 50 educational institutes in Punjab. Dr Nijjar said, 'Akal Takht is supreme for Sikhs. We are answerable to it.'
India Today
09-06-2025
- Politics
- India Today
Operation Bluestar: Is a quiet anniversary a turning point in Sikh politics?
On June 6, something unusual happened at the Akal Takht in Amritsar. For the first time since 1999, the anniversary of the June 1984 Operation Bluestar passed without the jathedar of the Akal Takht addressing the Sikh annual message—typically a mix of homage to the 'martyrs' of Bluestar, a reaffirmation of Sikh identity, and often, veiled or open criticism of the Indian state—conspicuously did not come. The moment, hushed but loaded, has thrown into sharp relief the silent churn underway in Sikh religious politics. It was not the absence of noise that made the day historic—it was the withdrawal of the voice that has traditionally defined the community's moral decision of acting Jathedar Giani Kuldeep Singh Gargaj to not deliver a 'sandesh' was reportedly voluntary, a conscious act amidst pressure and protest. Ever since his controversial appointment in December 2023 by the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC), he has faced stiff resistance from key panthic groups and rival religious factions, Damdami Taksal, and various bodies that see themselves as protectors of Sikh orthodoxy have refused to recognise his authority. In their eyes, he is not a leader of the panth but a political nominee with little theological or moral standing. Gargaj's silence on June 6, then, was not just about respect for decorum or restraint. It was an admission that the Akal Takht, once the undivided pulpit of the Sikh world, is today a contested scene at the Golden Temple complex was otherwise familiar. Portraits of Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale adorned the walls, slogans calling for 'justice' and 'Khalistan' rang out from pockets of the crowd, and the SGPC facilitated tributes to those killed in the 1984 operation by security Punjab police maintained an unusually large presence in and around the shrine, a precautionary measure given the history of clashes and radical posturing associated with the anniversary. But in a rare departure from previous years, there was no violence, no public scuffles, no visible crackdown. The choreography of memory played out—intense, symbolic but curiously subdued. The vacuum at the top shaped everything meaning of this moment cannot be divorced from the deeper institutional crisis in Sikh religious life. The Akal Takht jathedar, in theory, is meant to embody collective spiritual authority. In practice, the position has been hollowed out by opaque appointments, politicisation and diminishing community the past decade, multiple jathedars have been appointed, removed or boycotted by different factions, leading to an unprecedented erosion of the institution's moral clarity. The current acting jathedar is merely the latest in a series of contested figures, lacking both grassroots endorsement and panthic legitimacy. His decision to step back on June 6 may have been the wisest possible course—but it is also a sign of how rudderless the institution has the SGPC tried to step into this void. While Gargaj did not issue a message, the SGPC held its own tributes and honoured families of those who died during Operation Bluestar. This subtle power play reflects the current recalibration within Sikh institutions—between symbolic authority and administrative SGPC, led by president Harjinder Singh Dhami, has been attempting to reassert its influence in religious matters even as it continues to be accused of political partisanship and encroaching upon decisions meant for the Akal Takht. But with no credible jathedar in place, the SGPC is clearly positioning itself as a proxy religious authority—an evolution that has alarmed traditionalists and reformists silence of the mainstream Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) this year also stands out. Once the dominant political force in Punjab and the principal claimant to Sikh leadership, the SAD has been a pale shadow of its former self since the 2020-21 farmer protests and its electoral drubbing in the 2022 assembly the Bluestar anniversary, its leaders kept a low profile, perhaps wary of reigniting controversies or provoking criticism from either radicals or moderates. This caution is symptomatic of the party's current identity crisis—caught between reclaiming panthic relevance and appealing to a broader, more pragmatic Punjabi electorate. The space it has vacated is being occupied, unevenly, by groups, particularly the SAD (Amritsar), led by Simranjit Singh Mann, and outfits such as Dal Khalsa, used the anniversary to project defiance and repeat separatist claims. The iconography of Bhindranwale was used as it has been every year—a symbol of resistance for some, of unresolved anger for others. Yet, even these groups, for all their noise, seemed to understand the limits of provocation this were no flashpoints, no incitements that could turn symbolic protest into street confrontation. It was as though everyone—radical, moderate, institutional—was operating under an unspoken understanding that the community is in no position for fresh strife. The wounds of the past have not healed but neither is there appetite for reopening them with fresh to this changing dynamic is the emergence of a stronger, more vocal cohort of moderate Sikh voices from within India, who are increasingly challenging the monopolisation of the Bluestar narrative by Khalistani groups. Diplomats, professionals, academics and Sikh veterans of public life have begun pushing back against what they see as the hijacking of a tragic chapter in Sikh history for separatist agendas. Their view is that the memory of Operation Bluestar must be observed, but it cannot be allowed to become a Trojan horse for reviving militancy or distorting Sikhism's fundamentally inclusive Indian diplomat Amarjit Singh's recent comments calling out 'vultures who keep feeding off 1984' reflect a growing sentiment among India-based Sikhs who want to protect both the sanctity of their religion and the integrity of the Indian voices are not always amplified, particularly in contrast to the loud social media campaigns run by diaspora groups abroad. But they are gaining traction, especially among Sikh youth disillusioned with both the politics of grievance and the inaction of established institutions. In cities like Delhi, Chandigarh, and Ludhiana, young Sikh professionals are increasingly rejecting the binaries of radicalism versus silence. They want spaces for dialogue, memorialisation without radicalisation, and a panthic leadership that does not cede its voice to fringe nurtured, this could be a pivotal generational shift—one that reorients Sikh discourse away from exile-driven extremism toward grounded, democratic engagement with India's muted tone also reflects a deeper generational shift. For many older Sikhs, especially those who lived through the 1984 operation and its aftermath, the anniversary remains sacred and painful. But for younger generations, both in Punjab and in the diaspora, the memory does not carry the same political concerns are shaped less by historical grievance and more by present-day anxieties—drug abuse, unemployment, farm distress, and cultural alienation. The institutions that speak the language of 1984 often find themselves unintelligible to those born after it. Even in the diaspora, where pro-Khalistan sentiment still finds expression, the idioms of identity are changing—from calls for sovereignty to cultural revivalism, from slogans to social media influence. The Akal Takht jathedar's silence, in this context, may have been more in tune with the moment than any speech could have the absence of a message does not mean the absence of meaning. In fact, it may mark the beginning of a quiet reckoning. Many in the Sikh intelligentsia and civil society believe the time has come to reform the process by which jathedars are years, there has been talk of convening a Sarbat Khalsa, the traditional assembly of Sikh representatives empowered to take panthic decisions and restore legitimacy to institutions. Such calls have repeatedly faltered due to lack of consensus, fears of state reprisal and internal divisions. But the events of June 6 may lend fresh urgency to the idea. A leaderless community cannot remain so forever. Silence can be powerful, but it cannot be the Indian state, the peaceful conduct of the Bluestar anniversary is likely to be read as a positive sign—an indicator that normalcy has returned to Punjab and that radical sentiments are on the wane. But this would be a superficial reading. The underlying issues—of representation, institutional trust and generational drift—are far from resolved. If anything, the crisis of leadership within Sikhism presents a different kind of challenge: not one of militancy but of vacuum. Not a rebellion, but a recession of coherence. And in such spaces, uncertainty the most striking aspect of the 2025 observance was its emotional ambiguity. It was not marked by catharsis or confrontation. It was, in a sense, a holding pattern—an uneasy truce between memory and modernity, between tradition and transition. The community did not speak through a single voice because it no longer has one. The institutions did not guide the moment because they are still finding their way. And yet, the day passed peacefully. That, in itself, is worth remains to be seen is whether this moment of quiet becomes a turning point or merely an interlude. Will Sikh religious institutions seize the opportunity to reform, reconnect and regain credibility? Will the SGPC resist the temptation to entrench its control and instead build consensus? Will the political class, both in Punjab and in Delhi, learn to read the signals from Amritsar not just as law and order inputs but as reflections of a complex community in transition?The silence of the Akal Takht on June 6 was not a void. It was a mirror—showing a fractured religious polity, a disillusioned youth, a contested past and an uncertain future. But it was also a chance. A rare one. For reflection, and perhaps, for to India Today Magazine
NDTV
06-06-2025
- Politics
- NDTV
In A First, No Message By Akhal Takht Leader On Op Blue Star Anniversary
Amritsar: For the first time during the anniversary of Operation Blue Star, the acting Jathedar of Akal Takht, the highest temporal body of Sikhs, Kuldeep Singh Gargaj, did not deliver the customary message to the Sikh community. Instead, Kuldeep Singh Gargaj performed a prayer during which he stated that the message was being conveyed through the prayer itself. This marks a significant break from tradition. In previous years, the Akal Takht Jathedar would directly address the community with a message on the anniversary. However, this year, the event was conducted under heavy security in Amritsar, and tension was visible over whether Mr Gargaj should be allowed to speak. Several Sikh organisations had objected to Mr Gargaj delivering any message, arguing that his appointment as acting Jathedar was not conducted in accordance with established religious traditions and ceremonies. To avoid confrontation, Mr Gargaj chose not to deliver a speech and limited his role to offering prayers inside the Golden Temple complex on Friday, the 41st anniversary of Operation Blue Star. Tensions with Damdami Taksal Chief The controversy deepened due to open opposition from another Sikh organisation called Damdami Taksal and its chief Harnam Singh Dhumma, who has been vocal against Mr Gargaj's appointment since March. Mr Dhumma has claimed that the selection process lacked adherence to traditional religious procedures and did not enjoy widespread support among the Sikh community. According to sources, Mr Dhumma had placed a condition that Mr Gargaj must refrain from issuing any message to ensure peaceful observance of the anniversary. In light of this, Mr Gargaj avoided any direct address and limited his communication to what was expressed during the prayer. Prayer Mentions Sikh Concerns During the prayer, Mr Gargaj raised several issues, including alleged targeting of Sikhs in India and abroad, the ongoing concept and discourse around a Sikh homeland and perceived discrimination faced by the Sikh community. Speaking to NDTV, Mr Gargaj said, "I have conveyed my message in the ardas (prayer) which I performed during the anniversary." He further added that he wanted to avoid any confrontation within the Sikh community. During the prayer session inside the Golden Temple, emotions ran high. Some Sikh organisations reportedly raised slogans in support of Khalistan. In the wake of Operation Blue Star's anniversary, several Sikh organisations called for a bandh (shutdown) in Amritsar. Heavy security was deployed across the city, especially at sensitive locations and around the Golden Temple complex, to prevent any incidents. Police personnel in plain clothes were also stationed inside the Golden Temple to ensure peace and monitor any signs of confrontation or unrest.
