Under fire over Panth, Sukhbir shows ‘gatra’ in public
DIRBA(BARNALA): Under fire from his political opponents over the Panthic issues, Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) president Sukhbir Singh Badal on Thursday displayed his ‘gatra’ (strap that carries ‘kirpan’) at a public meeting here on Thursday.
Sukhbir appeared on the venue of the meeting with two buttons of his kurta opened to facilitate a glimpse of the ‘gatra’, apparently to prove that he is a baptised Sikh.
Though the SAD chief did not answer a media query over the issue, a local Akali leader said, “Pardhanji (the president) has been baptised since 2008, though he doesn’t show it to anyone. He is a true sikh.”
Besides being cornered by some radical bodies over the sacrilege incidents during the previous SAD-BJP regime, Sukhbir has been questioned by some Congress leaders over the status of his baptism in Sikhism.
Cabinet ministers Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa and Charanjit Singh Channi had questioned Sukhbir at the floor of the Vidhan Sabha over the issue in the state assembly last year. They had displayed his pictures in an attire that was drenched due to use of water cannons during a protest in Chandigarh. They alleged that under the wet dress, Sukhbir’s kirpan was not visible, thus he had violated the Sikh ‘maryada’ by violating the tenets of baptism.
However, Sukhbir had replied that his baptism was performed at Anandpur Sahib, and he was “true Sikh of my Guru, Sri Guru Granth Sahib, and answerable to my Guru only, not anyone else.”
The SAD president has been struggling to save the party’s Panthic vote bank, which had been the backbone of the party in the past. The party even suffered a split, when some veteran Akali leaders floated a new outfit, SAD (Taksali), accusing Sukhbir of floundering over the Panthic issues.
According to the constitution of the Akali Dal, only an ‘amritdhari’ (baptised) Sikh can head the party.
However, Sukhbir was not baptised when he took over the reins of party from his father Parkash Singh Badal in 2008.
However, after facing criticism from within the party, he got himself baptised from Takht Kesgarh Sahib, Anandpur Sahib, in September 2008.