Politics behind radicals’ ruckus at Akal Takht

CHANDIGARH: Tension again kept its date with the Golden Temple on June 6, the anniversary of 1984 Operation Bluestar. In the past, the solemn occasion was marred by confrontation and even violent clashes between the Sikh radicals and the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) that manages the shrine.

Things didn’t go out of hands this time, but a band of radicals did create a ruckus by disrupting the customary speech of Akal Takht jathedar Giani Gurbachan Singh. Pro-Khalistan slogans rent the shrine. HT unravels the politics behind the recurring spat in the Harmandir Sahib: has “lost the trust” of Sikh community after his flip-flop on pardon to the Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim over an allegedly blasphemous act that had offended the Sikhs. In 2015, hardliners had rejected the SGPC-recognised head priests and announced a parallel set of head priests including Jagtar Singh Hawara who is in jail after his conviction in the 1995 assassination of then Punjab chief minister Beant Singh Singh.

SGPC rejected the radicals’ move and has resisted pressures to remove Giani. Though SGPC was the organiser of the show, radicals opposed jathedar delivering from the Akal Takht pulpit his ‘sandesh’ (ceremonial message) to the Sikhs. Instead, they wanted the parallel acting Akal Takht jathedar Dhian Singh Mand, former Lok Sabha MP, to do that. SGPC didn’t allow that, leading to a tense rumpus at Akal Takht.