Chandigarh: Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee president Harjinder Singh Dhami resigned Monday from his post on “moral grounds”, plunging the SGPC and the Akal Takht, the two top religious bodies of Sikhs, into an unprecedented crisis.
Dhami’s resignation came three days after Akal Takht Jathedar Giani Raghbir Singh had condemned the SGPC for the dismissal of Giani Harpreet Singh as the jathedar of Damdama Sahib.
The Akal Takht is the highest temporal body of the Sikhs, while the SGPC regulates the functioning of all the historical gurdwaras in Punjab, Chandigarh and Himachal Pradesh. Both bodies are the upholders of the Sikh ‘maryada’, or Sikh code of conduct.
Takth Damdama Sahib is among the four other seats of temporal authority of the Sikhs, each of which is headed by a SGPC-appointed jathedar.
Dhami’s resignation comes at a time when a majority of the SGPC executive committee members are in favour of removing Harpreet Singh as jathedar. The five seats of Sikh authority are divided on the matter, with Jathedar Ranjit Singh, heading the Takht at Patna Sahib, coming out openly against Giani Harpreet Singh.
One of its fallouts is the functioning of a seven-member committee, which was formed by the SGPC on 2 December to conduct the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) affairs and supervise the party’s new membership drive.
The panel had held two meetings in February. The next meeting was scheduled Tuesday, but its fate is now uncertain. In his resignation letter sent to the SGPC executive committee, Dhami requested that he be relieved from this committee.
Addressing the media in Amritsar, Dhami referred to Thursday’s video statement of Giani Raghbir Singh alleging that Harpreet Singh’s removal was carried out in a “humiliating” manner.
Dhami announced that he was resigning because he was the SGPC president and was taking moral responsibility for the decision to remove Harpreet Singh. “My resignation is solely out of respect for the jathedar of the Akal Takht.”
He added that the decision to remove Harpreet Singh was taken by the entire executive body of the SGPC after a discussion that lasted more than one and a half hours. Everyone got full freedom and time to express their views, he asserted.
Reacting to Dhami’s resignation through a Facebook post, Harpreet Singh said the move was “unfortunate”, adding that the SGPC president was left with no option but to resign.
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Internal fight
On 10 February, the SGPC removed Giani Harpreet Singh from his position after its executive committee accepted the report of the investigation panel looking into multiple allegations of misdemeanor against him.
The report indicted Harpreet Singh of halting the kirtan (singing of hymns) at Damdama Sahib on 18 December, to address the gathering in a matter that solely concerned him; attending the engagement of AAP MP Raghav Chadha and actor Parineeti Chopra, and also participating in the wedding of former Punjab CM Charanjit Singh Channi’s son.
It found that both these acts were not in accordance with the expected moral behaviour of the jathedar and that Harpreet Singh diminished the position of the jathedar.
Only “three members had registered their dissenting note in this regard, while the remaining members of the SGPC executive committee who attended the meeting agreed to the dismissal of Jathedar Giani Harpreet Singh on the basis of the report,” SGPC secretary Partap Singh said in a statement, regarding Harpreet Singh’s removal.
On his part, Harpreet Singh had refused to join the inquiry as well as to give his statement to the investigation panel.
It was none other than Harpreet Singh who was at the forefront of interrogating Akali leaders on 2 December when the Akal Takht had summoned SAD chief Sukhbir Badal and other senior Akali leaders for declaration of tankhah or religious punishment.
He had lambasted the Badals, pointing out that the Akali Dal under them had actively worked against the ‘Sikh movement’ of the 1980s (the period of militancy in Punjab).
The ousted jathedar has continued the tirade against the SAD, as seen in his address to a gathering organised by the All India Sikh Student Federation at Bathinda last week. He dubbed the Akali Dal as ‘Bhagora Dal’ because they ran away from implementing the Akal Takht’s orders.
The Akal Takht had asked the Akali Dal to accept Badal’s resignation and to constitute a seven-member panel headed by Dhami to oversee membership drive and SAD presidential elections.
Last month, the Akali Dal accepted Sukhbir Badal’s resignation but refused to comply with the condition of creation of a panel ordained by the Akal Takht on the grounds that a religious body cannot be seen as running a political party.
Immediately after Harpreet Singh’s removal, multiple radical Sikh bodies in Punjab came out in his support. Tarsem Singh, the working president of Amritpal Singh’s Shiromani Akali Dal (Waris Punjab De), invited him to join the newly floated party.
Last week, the pro-Khalistan organisation Dal Khalsa accused Sukhbir Badal of orchestrating Harpreet Singh’s removal through the SGPC.
After Giani Raghbir Singh on last Thursday condemned the manner in which Harpreet Singh was removed, Giani Ranjit Singh, the head of Patna Sahib, wrote to the Akal Takht jathedar saying that he seemed to be in a “tearing hurry” to give a clean chit.
He said that the inquiry panel had looked into charges against Harpreet Singh for almost two months before giving its report. He further suggested to the Akal Takht jathedar to not be a “party” to the sins committed by Harpreet Singh.
Last year, senior Akali leader Virsa Singh Valtoha had accused Harpreet Singh of hobnobbing with BJP leaders and working on their behest, orchestrating the fall of Sukhbir Badal and to end the political existence of the Akali Dal.
Subsequently, Harpreet Singh alleged that he and his family were receiving threats from Akali leader, an episode that ended with the removal of Vaohta from the party
On 9 February, a day after winning the Rajouri seat in Delhi, BJP leader Manjinder Singh Sirsa was honoured with ‘siropas’ (an honour bestowed on a individual for their commitment to Sikhism) by Harpreet Singh. Later, SAD’s Delhi chief Paramjeet Singh Sarna suggested that since it was clear that Harpreet Singh was playing in the hands of anti-Akali forces, “he should form his own faction of the Akali Dal to come out openly against them”.
(Edited by Tony Rai)
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