Chandigarh, Jun 17 (PTI) Shiromani Akali Dal president Sukhbir Singh Badal on Wednesday demanded punishment for Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann under the new anti-sacrilege law.
Badal further slammed the chief minister, accusing him of challenging the authority of the Akal Takht, the supreme temporal seat of Sikhs.
His remark came after Akal Takht Jathedar Kuldeep Singh Gargajj declared Mann ‘Guru Dokhi’ (anti-Guru) and ‘Khalsa Panth virodhi’ (anti-Khalsa Panth) over an alleged objectionable video on Monday.
The jathedar directed the Sikh community “not to associate with him” as Mann was accused of lying about a purported objectionable video that hurt Sikh sentiments.
SAD called an emergency meeting of his party’s core committee to discuss the issue.
Speaking to reporters here, Badal said it was a very serious issue. “It is the biggest attack on the ‘Sikh Panth’. I feel that Bhagwant Mann committed the biggest sacrilege.
“Moreover, he also challenged the Akal Takht. The entire Sikh Sangat is committed to the Akal Takht,” he alleged.
Badal said Mann does not deserve to remain in the chief ministerial position for even a minute.
He demanded that Mann should be punished under the new anti-sacrilege law — the Jaagat Jot Sri Guru Granth Sahib Satkar (Amendment) Act, 2026.
The law proposes stricter punishment, including life imprisonment, for any act of sacrilege against the Guru Granth Sahib.
The Sikh clergy’s edict came after Jathedar Gargajj claimed that the video circulating on social media, purportedly showing a man resembling Mann, was found to be “authentic” by two forensic laboratories.
However, Mann on Tuesday rejected the video, saying the person in it was not him.
In a video message, the chief minister expressed surprise over the people occupying the highest positions of religious bodies “indulging in false propaganda at the behest of their political bosses” to defame him. PTI CHS KSS KSS
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