Chandigarh: The Jathedar (head of the Sikh clergy) of the Akal Takht at Amritsar, Giani Harpreet Singh, Tuesday announced a slew of unprecedented decisions to streamline the running of the historical gurdwara at Patna Sahib in Bihar.
The decisions include declaring the Takht’s former Jathedar a ‘tankhaiya’ and drug tests for all employees of the gurdwara.
Takht Sri Patna Sahib also known as Takht Sri Harimandir Ji is of immense historical significance as it is built at the place where the tenth Sikh guru, Guru Gobind Singh, was born.
It is also among the five Takhts or temporal seats of Sikh power. Each Takht is headed by a Jathedar. Of these, the Akal Takht on the premises of the Golden Temple is considered to be supreme.
Harpreet Singh’s stringent decisions have come in wake of an ongoing tussle for power among two groups within the management board of Takht Sri Patna Sahib. The matter reached the Akal Takht in Amritsar last week.
After listening to members of the Patna Sahib Gurdwara management board who were summoned, Harpreet Singh announced the rest of the decisions from the ramparts of the Akal Takht in Amritsar. This was done in accordance with a historical ritualistic tradition of announcing punishments and edicts.
The Akal Takht Jathedar declared Giani Iqbal Singh, the former Jathedar of Takht Sri Patna Sahib, a ‘tankhaiya’ (a religious sinner) and asked him to appear before the Akal Takht to atone for his ‘sins’.
He asked Giani Baldev Singh, the acting Jathedar of Takht Sri Patna Sahib, to recite the five daily prayers of Sikhism on camera as a test to prove that he knew them by heart.
Apart from removing former Jathedar Ranjit Singh from all positions of authority, the Akal Takht Jathedar ordered a dope and teeth test of all the employees of the Patna Sahib Gurdwara to check for consumption of intoxicants, including tobacco.
He also ordered the election of a new management board at Patna Sahib before 15 January.
Punishments were announced for two members of the management board — Mahinder Pal Singh Dhillon and Raja Singh — who held an ‘illegal’ meeting at which they declared themselves president and general secretary of the board.
The duo was asked to clean the shoes of the visitors at Patna Sahib for an hour, listen to Kirtan for an hour, wash langar utensils for an hour and recite the Japji Sahib five times.
Also Read: ‘No one above sentiments of sangat’ — why SGPC wants ban on Punjabi film depicting Sikh Guru’s sons
Protests against the decisions
Decisions of the Akal Takht Jathedar were hailed by those present in the Golden Temple premises Tuesday afternoon with cries of ‘Bole So Nihal Sat Sri Akal‘.
Talking to ThePrint, Raja Singh said that he would not accept the punishment and that the Akal Takht had no control over the Takht in Patna Sahib which was independent and had its own constitution. “We were tricked into going there. I refuse to abide by any order,” he said.
Meanwhile, Jagjot Singh Sohi, acting president of the board, told ThePrint that he and other board members would abide by the Akal Takht’s orders in letter and spirit.
The announcements sparked a protest at the Patna Sahib Gurdwara. A crowd of Sikhs gathered outside the gurdwara burnt an effigy of Harpreet Singh Tuesday. The crowd and a section of the staff and supporters of Iqbal Singh started a sit-in protest that night.
“A sit-in protest is going on at the gate of the gurdwara against the decisions of the Akal Takht Jathedar. The situation is pretty tense here,” a staff member at the Patna Sahib Gurdwara told ThePrint Wednesday.
Also Read: Khalistan ideologue Amritpal’s onward march in Punjab, guns & all, aims to ‘spread Sikhism’
Tracing back the steps
A tug-of-war between two groups on the management board of the Patna Sahib Gurdwara has been brewing for months.
An employee at the Patna Sahib Gurdwara told ThePrint on condition of anonymity that problems in the management began in 2019 when then Jathedar Iqbal Singh was unceremoniously removed and replaced with Jathedar Ranjit Singh by then-president of the gurdwara committee Avtar Singh Hit.
In August, however, Hit lashed out at Jathedar Ranjit Singh over allegations of misappropriation of donation money and terminated his services. The next month Ranjit Singh was declared a ‘tankhaiya’ by the Panj Pyare of the Takht Sri Patna Sahib, endorsing the action taken by Hit.
The Panj Pyare are a council of five Sikhs who guide various decisions of the Akal Takht Jathedar and advise the other Takhts.
After Hit died in September, then-senior vice president of the board Sohi was made the acting president. Head granthi (who leads the recitation of Guru Granth Sahib) Baldev Singh was made the acting Jathedar till permanent appointments were made.
In October, Ranjit Singh held a press conference in Chandigarh denying all the allegations against him in a bid to get back his old position as Jathedar.
Meanwhile, Giani Iqbal Singh (who was removed as Jathedar in 2019) also emerged as a claimant to the Jathedar’s post after a Patna court ordered the gurdwara board to reinstate him.
As the battle for the presidency of the board was reaching its peak, acting president Sohi announced that any move to elect a new president or install a new Jathedar would be made only after Gurpurab, celebrating the birth anniversary of Guru Gobind Singh, which would end on 29 December.
“I made this announcement on 16 November. And yet general secretary Inderjit Singh, without my permission, convened a meeting on 30 November to discuss the elections,” Sohi told ThePrint.
But ten days before the 30 November meeting the board’s general secretary Inderjit Singh reinstated Ranjit Singh as Jathedar claiming that two of the Panj Pyare had written to the board that they ordered the removal of Ranjit Singh under pressure.
Inderjit Singh’s move invited protests from other members of the board. On 25 November, the Panj Pyare ex-communicated Ranjit Singh from the Sikh Panth and declared Inderjit Singh as a ‘tankhaiya’.
“On 30 November, some board members went ahead with a meeting in which Mahinder Pal Singh Dhillon declared himself to be the president and Raja Singh declared himself to be the general secretary,” said Sohi.
“When written complaints about claims and counterclaims for the post of Jathedar reached the Akal Takht, the Jathedar intervened in the matter following which board members were called to the Akal Takht on Tuesday for a hearing,” said Sohi who was among those who attended the hearing.
(Edited by Theres Sudeep)
Also Read: Akali Dal fends off party rebel to keep grip over SGPC. What is the Sikh body & why it matters