Akal Takht, the supreme temporal body of the Sikhs, has held them guilty for “religious misconduct.” Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) leaders on Tuesday performed toilet cleaning at the Golden Temple in Amritsar on Tuesday, following the Akal Takht’s directive a day earlier. The Akal Takht, the highest temporal authority of Sikhs, had issued a “tanakh” (religious punishment) for several party leaders, including former Punjab deputy chief minister Sukhbir Singh Badal.
Visuals showed Daljit Singh Cheema, Bikram Singh Majithia and Maheshinder Singh Grewal cleaning a toilet at Amritsar’s Golden Temple, the pre-eminent spiritual site of Sikhism. Meanwhile, Sukhbir Badal, wearing his blue “sewadar” clothes, was at the entrance of the Golden Temple. The ex-deputy CM was on a wheelchair due to a fractured leg. Veteran Akali leader Sukhbir Singh Dhindsa, too, was in a wheelchair because of age.
Small boards hung around Badal’s and Dhindsa’s necks, acknowledging their “misdeeds”. Both leaders served as ‘sewadar’ for one hour. On Monday, the Akal Takht pronounced punishment for Akali leaders for the “mistakes” committed by the Shiromani Akali Dal during its alliance government with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) from 2007 to 2017.
Before the punishment was announced, Sukhbir Badal admitted his “mistakes,” including including pardoning Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim in a 2007 blasphemy case during the Akali Dal’s rule. In August, he was declared a “tankhaiya” or violator of the Sikh religious code.
Additionally, the five high priests, headed by Akal Takht Jathedar Giani Raghbir Singh, asked the working committee of the Shiromani Akali Dal to accept the resignation of Sukhbir Badal as party chief and withdrew the “Fakhar-e-Quam’ (pride of comunity) title bestowed on his father, the late Parkash Singh Badal, a former chief minister of Punjab.
