Akal Takht chief should first visit sacrilege epicenter Bargari to unite Panthic forces

 

Akal Takht chief should first visit sacrilege epicenter Bargari to unite Panthic forces

Ground Zero

Jagtar Singh

 

The sacrilege of Guru Granth Sahib at Bargari and the related issues is the narrative that has dictated the religio-political dynamics of Punjab since the army attack on Darbar Sahib (Golden Temple) complex code-named Operation Bluestar in June 1984.

It can be termed as unfortunate that no Jathedar (chief) of Akal Takht, the institution symbolising Sikh sovereignty and state power, has ever visited  Bargari.

Not only that.

Sant Jarnail Singh Khalsa Bhindranwale, the commander of the Sikh militant forces during Operation Bluestar, was head of the Damdami Taksal.

However, Baba Harnam Singh Dhumma, present head of this seminary, is the second eminent religio-political leader who has so far shunned Bargari.

The fight that Sant Bhindranwale commanded was triggered by blasphemy committed by the Nirankari sect against which the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee had passed a resolution way back in 1973. It was following this resolution that the Damdami Taksal then headed by Sant Kartar Singh, and the Akhand Kirtani Jatha had started their campaign against Nirankaris.

Following the decimation of the Shiromani Akali Dal in February 2022 Assembly elections, Akal Takht acting Jathedar Giani Harpreet Singh has been calling upon the Sikhs to unite. In his latest ‘outburst’, he lamented the degeneration of the SGPC in the context of Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal not receiving delegation led by H S Dhami. However, he stopped short of pointing out the persons and the politics responsible for that state of affairs.

Bargari is a stumbling block on the way of unity of Panthic forces.

Protest dharna has been going on at Bargari for the last several months demanding action in the cases of sacrilege and against police officers responsible for killing of two Sikh protesters at Behbal Kalan on October 14, 2015 in the avoidable firing. Chief minister at that time was Parkash Singh Badal and Home department was with his son and Akali Dal chief Sukhbir Singh in his capacity as the deputy chief minister.

The House of Badals has been in the eyes of the religio-political storm since then.

A delegation Punjab Assembly speaker Kultar Singh Sandwan including minister Harjot Singh Bains met the protesters at Bargari yesterday and tried to persuade them to postpone dharna by making commitment to take these cases to logical conclusion within the next six months. Earlier, they had been given three months and now they wanted another extension.

It may be mentioned that AAP leaders, in the run up to the elections,  had promised immediate action after forming the government.

The issue here, however, is the role of Akal Takht Jathedar.

He should visit Bargari and meet the protesters to convince the Sikhs at large that he means business when he talks of Panthic unity.

His predecessor Giani Gurbachan Singh earned anger of the Sikhs in 2015 by exonerating Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmit Ram Rahim of the blasphemy on the basis of a flimsy letter in September 2015. His action was sequel to the meeting of the high priests summoned by Badal at his official residence in Chandigarh in September, ostensibly to facilitate the release of Dera Sacha Sausa chief’s film in Punjab. The SGPC defended this exoneration in the newspapers advertisements for which about Rs 90 lakh was spent.

This summoned by Badal was in brazen violation of the Sikh values as the Akal Takht can’t be summoned by anybody. This meeting reduced the Akal Takht chief to just a rubber stamp to the wishes of the political leaders in the Sikh matrix.

Giani Gurbachan Singh was not allowed by the Sikhs to conduct himself even at Akal Takht and faced angry Sikh masses. Giani Harpreet Singh subsequently replaced him in acting capacity and he continues as such.

It is  Dera Sacha Sauda whose name later surfaced during investigations.

When Giani Harpreet Singh talks of fall of the Sikh institutions, he should tell the people as to what went wrong and not give the impression that his every utterance is directed towards reviving the Badals.

Although the Damdami Taksal has recently distanced from the House of Badals, its head should take the next logical step and go to  Bargari. Interestingly, the differences between Taksal and Badals had started emerging following the Bargari narrative but the troubled relationship had continued.

Giani Harpreet Singh should visit Bargari, Behbal and Burj, the three main spots that adjoin each other associated with this highly sensitive sacrilege narrative.

This visit might force him to take the next logical steps towards Panthic unity.